A Merry Christmas to you and yours! You list earns a solid "A"! An equally acceptable "A" is as follows:
1. "West Side Story" goes. Not to the Honorable Mentions but off the list completely. The singing and dancing are first rate, but the gentrification back story and the casting of Ansel Elgort as Tony (the worst case of miscasting since Sofia Coppola in Godfather III) make you long for the elegance of the original.
2. "Minority Report" should swap places with "Temple of Doom". Is there some rule that says you can't have more than one Indiana Jones movie on the list? IJTOD is a thrill ride that never lets up and gives you real character development for Indy--from an overeducated grave robber to someone who believes some pieces belong in a museum. It is the first, most important part of the Indy trilogy which wrapped up with Last Crusade. (There are conspiracy mongers who claim two other Indy movies were made, but that has never been proven.) I could even accept swapping out CMIYC for IJTLC, but that might be too much Indy. If there is such a thing.
3. In place of "West Side Story", move "Munich" up the list. It's not just a taut, lean action movie, but the combination of Eric Bana and the pre-007 Daniel Craig illustrate the moral complexities of fighting terrorism.
JD, your note made my day! I have a lot of thoughts but, yes, I did have an internalized rule to only have one Indiana Jones movie on the list. As Graham can attest, those movies mean the absolute world to me, and I didn’t want that bias to influence or obstruct from the other accomplishments.
I will say that I liked both the gentrification context and Ansel’s casting in WSS. I don’t think he’s as bad as people have made him out to be.
I do like Munich. It was hard not include that one in the list, but CMIYC is such a light and breezy romp that handles the father/son narrative with a lot more grace and empathy than what Spielberg showed in CEOTTK or ET. Plus, Leo emerging from the car with the air stewardesses accompanied by “Come Fly With Me” is such an iconic image.
I’ve got a soft spot for Catch Me If You Can - that was one of those movies that really stuck with me as a teen.
Spielberg is one of the rare filmmakers with such a deep catalog that almost every top 10 list you see makes you nod your head as you get closer to 1.
Great piece, T!
Thanks, DP! It's honestly down to Spielberg and Scorsese when it comes to both quantity and quality. No one else has that deep of a bench.
Tyler,
A Merry Christmas to you and yours! You list earns a solid "A"! An equally acceptable "A" is as follows:
1. "West Side Story" goes. Not to the Honorable Mentions but off the list completely. The singing and dancing are first rate, but the gentrification back story and the casting of Ansel Elgort as Tony (the worst case of miscasting since Sofia Coppola in Godfather III) make you long for the elegance of the original.
2. "Minority Report" should swap places with "Temple of Doom". Is there some rule that says you can't have more than one Indiana Jones movie on the list? IJTOD is a thrill ride that never lets up and gives you real character development for Indy--from an overeducated grave robber to someone who believes some pieces belong in a museum. It is the first, most important part of the Indy trilogy which wrapped up with Last Crusade. (There are conspiracy mongers who claim two other Indy movies were made, but that has never been proven.) I could even accept swapping out CMIYC for IJTLC, but that might be too much Indy. If there is such a thing.
3. In place of "West Side Story", move "Munich" up the list. It's not just a taut, lean action movie, but the combination of Eric Bana and the pre-007 Daniel Craig illustrate the moral complexities of fighting terrorism.
JD, your note made my day! I have a lot of thoughts but, yes, I did have an internalized rule to only have one Indiana Jones movie on the list. As Graham can attest, those movies mean the absolute world to me, and I didn’t want that bias to influence or obstruct from the other accomplishments.
I will say that I liked both the gentrification context and Ansel’s casting in WSS. I don’t think he’s as bad as people have made him out to be.
I do like Munich. It was hard not include that one in the list, but CMIYC is such a light and breezy romp that handles the father/son narrative with a lot more grace and empathy than what Spielberg showed in CEOTTK or ET. Plus, Leo emerging from the car with the air stewardesses accompanied by “Come Fly With Me” is such an iconic image.
Hope you’re having a very Merry Christmas!
I would like to see Last Crusade higher 😊 I can’t pick a favorite because they all are amazing, but ET is pretty special!
I wanted to put Last Crusade higher, but E.T. was so important to the 80s that it felt lazy to ignore it. 😅
I knew Lincoln would make the cut!
I have a brand to maintain! Haha. Merry Christmas, Juliet!