And his highs are so high that sometimes the depths of the lows are surprising. But not all. When you make as many movies as Spielberg, there will be ups and downs.
Spielberg lived in Phoenix , went to Arcadia High School and made his first films here. He is by far the most successful director of all time. He was not. An unfunny mess. For all of his strengths, Spielberg struggles with comedy. He comes back to help another pilot, who falls in love with Dreyfuss' girlfriend.
Neat trick. The sequel is just a tired shell of the original. It would not be the last of the franchise — but it is the last one Spielberg stuck around for. They got greedy.
Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford had revived the franchise once after a moribund sequel. They should have quit while they were ahead, or at least not too far behind. This installment, with aliens, no less, did not connect. Later installments of franchises are often a matter of diminishing returns. This is a prime example. Hook Dustin Hoffman, overacting even by his standards kidnaps the children of grown-up Peter Robin Williams.
Julia Roberts plays Tinkerbell. Tye Sheridan tries to win control of a massively popular virtual world, where he and much of the future population spend a lot of time. It has its fans, but ultimately it is an excuse for admittedly jaw-dropping effects, which Spielberg tries to substitute for soul.
More incredible animation, plus more heart. Based on the comics of Herge, it follows the adventures of boy reporter Tintin and his dog, Snowy, who search for treasure. In addition to directing, Spielberg has been instrumental in numerous projects as an executive producer.
Spielberg also served as executive producer for the record-breaking blockbuster Jurassic World. Spielberg again tapped Hanks for a leading role in The Post , pairing him on screen with acclaimed actress Meryl Streep for the first time. The movie centers on the actions of The Washington Post publisher Streep and editor Hanks as they attempt to go public with the Pentagon Papers, a portion of a Defense Department-commissioned report on military involvement in Vietnam, over the objections of President Richard Nixon 's administration.
Spielberg was strongly drawn to the contemporary relevance of the story, which earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and an Oscar nod for Best Picture. Along with delving into the issue of governmental cover-ups, The Post explores the treatment of women in the workplace. On the other hand, Ready Player One marked a return to action and adventure.
Based on the best-selling book by Ernest Cline, the CGI-infused spectacle tells the story of a teenage orphan and his friends' attempts to crack an elaborate virtual reality game that immerses users—and the audience—in a world of '80s pop culture-icons. In April, it was announced that he was teaming up with Warner Bros. Spielberg was on board to produce and potentially direct the adaptation. His classic, Jaws , was one of the very first movies to make extensive use of animatronics, and although those early efforts may appear a little clunky to the modern eye, they terrified audiences of the time, and laid the groundwork for Spielberg to return to animatronic monsters in 's Jurassic Park , with hyper-realistic success.
The director has also been at the forefront of developments in the animation world, with his Dreamworks Animation company pioneering works of 3D animation such as Shrek , Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. His latest movie, Ready Player One , meanwhile, is a benchmark in Virtual Reality VR films, in large part because it is one of very few films set in a VR universe that actually succeeds in being fun, and intelligent.
Tye Sheridan in Ready Player One. Historically, the two seem to have been hard to reconcile on film. While movies such as the Wachowski's The Matrix and Katherine Bigelow's Strange Days score highly on the conceptual, brooding sci-fi scale, representing the very worst-case scenarios of a VR future, you couldn't really describe them as fun. At the other end of the scale, films such as The Emoji Movie may succeed in being fun, at least if you're four years old, but no one is likely to trouble them with the intelligent tag.
Spielberg has successfully delivered both with his latest vision, and he has a gift for making movies that are wacky enough to keep the kids smiling, while being thoughtful enough to not patronise the adult audience. This talent is a large part of what has has enabled Spielberg to prosper for so long. He's proved himself capable of appealing to both audiences individually plenty of times — the likes of Jaws or Schindler's List are very much ones for the grown-ups, while Hook , for example, is unquestionably for the youngsters.
Unsurprisingly then, his greatest successes come when he unites both demographics in films such as ET , Raiders of the Lost Ark or his latest. ET , for example, on face value, is a cutesie tale of a sweet little alien trying to go home but its power-hungry military, meditations on otherness and the nature of friendship coupled to an intelligent script take it out of the realms of children's filmdom.
Raiders of the Lost Ark , meanwhile, serves as perhaps the most tangible example of Spielberg's ability to blur the lines between films for the young and grown-up movies — its sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actually led to the creation of the PG rating in thanks to some decidedly adult material. Prior to this, either everyone could go to a film, or only overs could attend, with no grey area between. Raiders represents a stand-out in Spielberg's career for another reason.
You can begin a careering mimicking people, but you sustain one telling the world what you have to offer. What are your truths and messages? The imagination of the audience is scarier than the actual thing you show. Think about how Spielberg used a broken shark in Jaws to let the audience's imagination run wild. You don't have to have things perfect on-screen, sometimes you can play on what is expected or unseen to surprise people.
The audience wants to be entertained. When that happens, start writing scenes on the spot and put the story together immediately. Carry a pen everywhere you go. You never know when you're going to want to put ideas onto napkins or jot yourself an email on your phone. When inspiration strikes, be ready to chase it. What else have you learned from Spielberg?
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