lizard

^I voted Close Encounters also and I saw it in the theater during the original run. Lots of hype at the time, wasn't that great. (I don't have much patience for UFO stuff anyway, unless it's played for laughs.)


Haven't seen some of the other famous Spielberg movies, such as Jaws, E.T., and Saving Private Ryan, so I can't say whether or not they are overrated or not.

bobwil54

Where's that POS War of the Worlds???????

JumpCutz

It's hard to actually pick one. A lot of his films are wildly overrated. His technique is superb but his sentimental tendencies and ill placed happy endings undo more than a few of his films.

I'm going with a three way tie between Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List and E.T.

Rival11

I just voted on Close Encounters as well. The movie has a great slow burn build up without a payoff of any kind. Then upon revisiting it multiple times; the slow burn no longer works as well. I was always hesitant (even as a kid) when it came to re-watching this film because it didn't do anything for me.

JAWS is still tops for me....I think anyway.

asullivan00

Temple of doom remains the worst of the four indiana jones movies, although Crystal Skull is largely a repeat of it. I love the first Indy film, the Last Crusade is the best of them.
It is Lucas, not Spielberg that is to blame for the unevenness of the indy films.
The worst Spielberg film remains AI, even though it is one of the most beautifully filmed.
But the most overrated? Schindler's List.

inri222

Rob V

+1

Travis McClain

You can hate Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skullall you want, but I have to set you straight on something. The latter, as well as The Last Crusade, are paint-by-numbers attempts to recreate Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Temple of Doom is the only one of the three sequels that actually breaks free from this and tells its own story, and since it is now one of only four films that doesn't adhere to the formula, it's the only unique Indy film.

In case you're wondering, here's the formula:

1. Indiana Jones is drawn into a race against the opposition government (Nazis/Soviets) to find a supernatural artifact - he is motivated by seeking fortune and glory for himself, as well as contempt for the enemy
2. Along the way, Indy is reunited with someone from his past (Marion/His dad/Marion again) with whom he squabbles but eventually makes peace
3. The bad guys get hold of the artifact, but before it empowers them to conquer the world, it backfires on them and Indy escapes safely

In Temple of Doom, Indy winds up in India by accident. He already knows Short Round, but he was part of the story from the beginning so it's not a reunion. Willie Scott is someone new to him; yes, they too squabble, but we're in on it from the beginning--their arguments aren't infused with exposition to catch us up. We can understand why each is frustrated with the other. And he sets off to retrieve the stolen stones and kidnapped children because it bothers him and he feels he can do something about it. It's the only time we see Indy act selflessly in all four films.

Yes, he's tempted to abscond with the stones, but he doesn't seem to actually value doing so; it's more a force of habit that he shirks off rather quickly. And in the end, it's not the supernatural artifact that saves the day. Indy has to fend off the Thugees himself.

Like I said, you're perfectly welcome to continue hating the movie; but it's flat-out wrong to say that any of the other movies is a clone of it.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

dvdjunkie32

How about Empire of the Sun? That movie is depressing as hell. Might make someone want to shoot themselves.

Hiro11

My vote for overrated is "Saving Private Ryan". Other have already talked about this one and I agree with the points already made. I still give it a pass because its success allowed the much superior Band of Brothers to be made.

Unrelated to the thread, but my vote for underrated Spielburg film is "War of the Worlds". It's a little up-and-down quality wise, but the high points are pretty incredible. The set up to the first tripod appearance is masterful in building tension, you especially notice it if you watch it again. The actual emergence is one of the most unsettling sequences I've ever seen, it's up there with the beginning of SPR as the best Spielburg sequence of all time, if you ask me. The entire harbor sequence is also a very effective portrayal of wartime chaos. There are certainly flaws: the cellar sequence is too long and Robbins is hamming it up, the ending is very slap-dash (but true to the book) and the characters are very thinly drawn. Overall, I think it's a much sharper and unrelentingly efficient movie than most people give it credit for.

Deadman31

Hot Tub Time Machine

JumpCutz

I agree with all of the above, especially the bolded part.

JimRochester

I enjoyed his early stuff like Hard To Kill and Above The law but things went downhill after Under Seige 2 and he got fat.

Pizza

Hook. I so hate Hook. Always was another disappointment.

The Bus

Schindler's List 8.9
Raiders of the Lost Ark 8.7
Saving Private Ryan 8.5
Jaws 8.3
ET 7.9
Jurassic Park 7.9
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 7.8
Munich 7.8
Minority Report 7.7
Artificial Intelligence 6.9

Out of the above IMDB ratings, Artificial Intelligence is rated too high. Jurassic Park and Minority Report are also overrated, but not by much.

The Valeyard

Hey. Are you the same asullivan00 who made this video (amongst many others)?

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qZd8aAXPLWQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qZd8aAXPLWQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>


Brilliant!

Solid Snake

Jesus...that's horrid.