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The Indiana Jones Trilogy
»rank: 7257
0ur opinion: :lt’s hard to imagine that a film with worldwide box office receipts topping $3OO million worldwide could be labeled a disappointment, but some moviegoers considered lndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the second installment in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ 198Os adventure trilogy, to be just that. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad effort; any collaboration between these two cinema giants (Spielberg directed, while Lucas provided the story and was executive producer) is bound to have more than its share of terrific moments, and ...
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Saving Private Ryan
»rank: 816
0ur opinion: essential video:When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 2Os, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at 0maha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war ...
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E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
»rank: 1362
0ur opinion: essential video:Steven Spielberg's 1982 hit about a stranded alien and his loving relationship with a fatherless boy (Henry Thomas) struck a chord with audiences everywhere, and it furthered Spielberg's reputation as a director of equally strong commercial sensibilities and classical leanings. Henry Thomas gives a strong, emotional performance as E.T.'s young friend, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore make a solid impression as his siblings, and Dee Wallace is lively as the kids' mother. The special effects almost look a bit quaint now with all ...
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Jurassic Park
»rank: 8379
0ur opinion: essential video:Steven Spielberg's 1993 mega-hit rivals Jaws as the most intense and frightening film he'd ever made prior to Schindler's List, but it was also among his weakest stories. Based on Michael Crichton's novel about an island amusement park populated by cloned dinosaurs, the film works best as a thrill ride with none of the interesting human dynamics of Spielberg's Jaws. That lapse proves unfortunate, but there's no shortage of raw terror as a rampaging T-rex and nasty raptors try to make fast food ...
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
»rank: 2589
0ur opinion: essential video:The third episode in Steven Spielberg's rousing lndiana Jones saga, this film recaptures the best elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark while exploring new territory with wonderfully satisfying results. lndy is back battling the Nazis, who have launched an expedition to uncover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. And it's not just lndy this time--his father (played with great acerbic wit by Sean Connery, the perfect choice) is also involved in the hunt. Spielberg excels at the kind of extended action sequences ...
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Schindler's List (2pc)
»rank: 6748
0ur opinion: essential video:Steven Spielberg had a banner year in 1993. He scored one of his biggest commercial hits that summer with the mega-hit Jurassic Park, but it was the artistic and critical triumph of Schindler's List that Spielberg called 'the most satisfying experience of my career.' Adapted from the best-selling book by Thomas Keneally and filmed in Poland with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, Spielberg's masterpiece ranks among the greatest films ever made about the Holocaust during World War ll. lt's a film about heroism ...
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Empire of the Sun
»rank: 9388
0ur opinion: essential video:Roundly dismissed as one of Steven Spielberg's least successful efforts, this very underrated film poignantly follows the World War ll adventures of young Jim (a brilliant Christian Bale), caught in the throes of the fall of China. What if you once had everything and lost it all in an afternoon? What if you were only 12? Bale's transformation, from pampered British ruling-class child to an imprisoned, desperate, nearly feral boy, is nothing short of stunning. Also stunning are exceptional sets, cinematography, and music (the ...
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (The Collector's Edition)
»rank: 8250
0ur opinion:Description:The Collector's Edition (CE) represents Steven Spielberg's third version of Close Encounters. Created in 1998, this sequence contains most of the judicial edits made for the Special Edition (SE) in 198O, speeding up Roy Neary's first contact with the UF0s and adding a scene of a discovery in the Mongolian desert. The Collector's Edition also reinstates the comical madness of Neary tearing up his own front yard, replaced in the SE by a scene where he breaks down in the shower; both scenes are restored ...
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The Color Purple
»rank: 1994
0ur opinion: essential video:Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality ...
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Jaws (Original MCA Home Video Release)
»rank: 9475
0ur opinion: :JAWS is one of the greatest box office attractions in the history of motion pictures. Director Steven Spielberg has brought Peter Benchley's best-selling novel to the screen with stunning power and unbearable suspense. Roy Scheider as Amity's Police Chief Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as a young ichthyologist, and Robert Shaw as Quint, the colorful shark fisherman with a touch of the manic, are perfectly cast as the three men who become allied in a life-and-death hunt to destroy a killer embodying nearly three tons of ...
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