View Poll Results: THE BFG

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Thread: The BFG (Steven Spielberg)

  1. #26
    Bridge of Spies was dull. Competent, but dull.
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  2. #27
    Moderator TGM's Avatar
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    Bridge of Spies > The BFG

  3. #28
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    Ugh. Bridge of Spies is the safest movie Spielberg could have ever made. The only "safter" movie he could have made, but opted out, would be American Sniper.
    Truuuuuuuuue ... but I'd rather have him play it safe than totally overplay it, eg: Munich etc.

    It's like he wants to separate himself entirely from his early work- completely changing his style in his more mature films; War Horse, Munich, BoS, Lincoln.
    For a guy who is credited with starting the blockbuster era, he seems to have no idea what the business or the audience really wants anymore. I mean, in a field dominated by tentpoles, sequels, and reboots, this dude should be thriving. Instead, he vacillates between one lukewarm project or the other.

  4. #29
    Kung Fu Hippie Watashi's Avatar
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    Yeah, Spielberg should really listen to what audiences want and not the movies he wants to make.

    I'd take a thousand Bridge of Spies over a Ready Player One.
    Sure why not?

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  5. #30
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    Dude, what?

    There is no such thing as "the movies he wants to make," as if he's an auteur who tells deeply felt, personal stories. He has never been that guy. He's always been the box office guy, the audience guy. The mainstream crowd is Spielberg's entire raison d'être.

    The difference between then and now is that he used to have a preternatural sense of what audiences wanted before they wanted it (Close Encounters, Raiders, ET).

    But over the last two decades, he's stumbled more than he's hit. He has failed to connect with audiences. His name does not mean what it used to mean (cf: the domestic failures of Terminal, Munich, War Horse, Tintin, Bridge of Spies, and now BFG).

    He used to run back to wide-appeal blockbusters (Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Crystal Skull) whenever he got into trouble with critics or audiences. It is a strategy Spielberg has employed for his entire career. Hence Robopocalypse, Ready Play One, and Indy 5.

    Trouble is, his compass is way off and he doesn't seem to know it.
    Last edited by Irish; 07-13-2016 at 03:10 AM.

  6. #31
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Irish (view post)
    I feel like you deserve a lot of grief for this
    Ill take it. I know its unpopular opinion. I revisited E.T. few months ago, and damn is it a silly dumb nonsensical movie. Hook hit me at perfect age. Yes its not perfect but I love it. RUUUUFFFIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! !!

  7. #32

  8. #33
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    I don't see Bridge of Spies as a safe movie, because I see it as a movie about an ordinary man whose outstanding quality is that he has strong moral convictions, even in the face of nationalistic pressure -- a movie being released in a time of fierce political partisanship where the most popular movies are about people with superhuman powers whose actions are morally ambiguous. It's basically the antithesis of what's fashionable right now. And to me, that makes it a risky movie.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
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    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  9. #34
    Moderator Dead & Messed Up's Avatar
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    Weirdly, I think the most consistent run of Spielberg is 2001-2006, when he directed A.I., Minority Report, Catch Me if You Can, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, and Munich. My least favorite of those was War, and that film doesn't irk my belly nearly as much as efforts like Twilight Zone's "Kick the Can," Hook, or The Lost World (which is one great technical sequence and a whole lotta bullshit).

    Unless you're cool with the five-year period that includes The Sugarland Express, Jaws, and Close Encounters. But that's only three movies and includes some gap years (because you don't want to include 1941).

  10. #35
    Hook isn't as bad as my memory had made it out to be. Though all the stuff that I loved most as a kid are now my least favorite parts of it. The first half hour is an admittedly easy caricature of the overworked dad premise and is saturated in the contemporary common sense vision of its era, but it's some pretty fine stuff, and my favorite part of it.

    I haven't seen a Spielberg film since Indy 4 and that's a weird realization.

  11. #36
    It's weird - I look at Spielberg's filmography, and there is a distinct lack of films that I truly love. He's basically THE name director of my childhood, but there is something about his films that keep me at a slight remove. I've always thought there is something slightly schematic and sanitized about his work, despite (or maybe because of?) his eye for a shot and feeling for editing.

    Basically it goes (no particular order within each group):

    Love Love Love:
    Jaws

    Excellent:
    Jurassic Park
    Schindler's List
    Raiders of the Lost Ark
    ET

    Very Good:
    Saving Private Ryan
    Temple of Doom
    Empire of the Sun

    Solid:
    Minority Report
    Munich
    Close Encounters
    AI
    Duel
    The Color Purple

    Deadset Center:

    War Horse

    Meh:
    Catch Me if You Can
    War of the Worlds
    Tintin
    Lincoln
    Bridge of Spies

    Poor:
    The Lost World
    The Last Crusade
    The Terminal
    Hook
    Amistad

    Bad:
    Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
    The Sugarland Express

    The Worst of the Worst:
    1941
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  12. #37
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    The only one I question from your list Trans is Catch Me If You Can. Honest question, when was last viewing?
    Last edited by Skitch; 07-14-2016 at 03:03 AM.

  13. #38
    Quote Quoting Skitch (view post)
    The only one I question from your list Trans is Catch Me If You Can. Honest question, when was last viewing?
    When it came out. Never been interested in seeing it again.
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  14. #39
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Skitch (view post)
    The only one I question from your list Trans is Catch Me If You Can. Honest question, when was last viewing?
    Though I enjoyed it, I can see flaws in it. My only question on that list is Last Crusade. F that S.
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  15. #40
    Montage, s'il vous plait? Raiders's Avatar
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    Sugarland Express is a gorgeous film... man, that's a peculiar opinion. Any particular reason?
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  16. #41
    Since 1929 Morris Schæffer's Avatar
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    My indispensable Spielberg movies are: Duel, Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders, ET, Schindler's List. One step below that would be Minority Report, Saving Private Ryan and The Last Crusade. I think The Terminal is my lowest rated Spielberg movie.
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  17. #42
    Only someone like Spielberg could make me laugh as hard at a fucking fart joke as I did last Wednesday.

    The BFG was good stuff.

  18. #43
    Quote Quoting Raiders (view post)
    Sugarland Express is a gorgeous film... man, that's a peculiar opinion. Any particular reason?
    I found the characters insufferable, and the story as a whole frustrating.
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    (2020) 64
    The Whistlers
    (2019
    ) 55
    Pawn (2020) 62
    Matilda (1996) 37
    The Town that Dreaded Sundown
    (1976) 61
    Moby Dick (2011) 50

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  19. #44
    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    Though I enjoyed it, I can see flaws in it. My only question on that list is Last Crusade. F that S.
    The Last Crusade is as cookie-cutter as a blockbuster gets. Not to mention it is unusually ragged from in terms of editing for a Spielberg joint.
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    Moby Dick (2011) 50

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  20. #45
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting transmogrifier (view post)
    The Last Crusade is as cookie-cutter as a blockbuster gets. Not to mention it is unusually ragged from in terms of editing for a Spielberg joint.
    I need to hear the reasons about this statement.

    For me, It was the perfect follow up to Raiders (considering Doom was a prequel)- We get a young Indy, showcasing his curiosity. Older Indy gets word of another ancient relic where we start on this grand journey. It has the best humor. The best action sequences and doesn't rely on Indy not existing to beat the bad guys (Which is why Crusade > Raiders)

    This film however, might be his best since The Adventures of Tintin but only because the films since then have been so horrid.

    I really hated the CGI- it looked too CGI-ie. Some of the worst I've seen since RIPD. The story itself, is close to being conflictless and thus, not very interesting. I think Spielberg excels with tension, and there's very little until the 70 minute mark and even then it's short lived. The whole drawn out sequence with the Queen was boring me to tears and when it turned slapstick with the green bubbles stuff, that's where I lost it. The most interesting stuff here was the way BFG sneaked around town without being seen. Would have been nice to get more of that.
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  21. #46
    I can understand why someone would be less enthused with the scenes with the Queen, although I owe it another watch before I settle my thoughts on the latter half of the film. I thought the CGI was often terrific here, though — particularly with regards to the BFG. Mark Rylance's performance is beyond endearing and that alone warrants at least one viewing. I adored the unaffected gusto with which he delivered absurd lines like, "Whizzpopper!"

    This is not to say that there isn't anything to admire beyond the central performance. There are a lot of deft visual delights. Take that scene where the BFG races back home after kidnapping Sophie, and he's pulling off those ridiculous leaps. It's an ostentatiously stylized bit of spectacle that really worked for me, mostly because of the strange litheness with which the BFG moved, and the way Spielberg pinned those movements against a background of increasing, almost sinister abstraction — a nicely charted, kinetic route from civilization to fantasy, writ in boldface.

    I also liked that self-reflexive bit early on where the BFG reveals himself as a kind of mixologist of the mind, restlessly combining elements and conjuring dreams (which, as I'm sure many have pointed out, seemed like a straightforward but compelling nod to Spielberg's conception of himself as a cinematic dream-weaver).

    The raucous bit in the middle, with the other giants storming the BFG's abode, was also fantastic. Just like that brief, wondrous bit early on in Bridge of Spies, with Tom Hanks ducking behind the car, it's another reminder of Spielberg's penchant for a very nimble, clarity-intensive kind of virtuosity. His agile, roving camera is tempered by a startling degree of purposiveness, and a compositional finesse that always feels peerless. In the scene from The BFG, he once again dabbles in the stealthy navigations of Jurassic Park, Minority Report, and War of the Worlds, but without making it feel like an old trick. Instead, it's newly bracing, as Spielberg makes great use of the objects and crannies of the house while Sophie tries to evade detection. We get this dynamic mishmash of formidable threats (the legitimately scary idiocy of the other giants), the BFG's arc swinging from one side to the other (he stands up for himself), and Sophie making a horrible discovery about her predecessors.
    Last edited by Gittes; 12-16-2016 at 08:40 PM.

  22. #47
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    A year after I started my Spielberg chronological watch with Duel (on last April 2, so it unexpectedly finishes exactly one year later), I finally came to my last one! Not without pleasures, but kinda disappointed a bit. Feels like Spielberg and Dahl cancel each other out, making each's distinctiveness goes way down in the process. Unlike most, I quite like the actress who played Sophie, but the screenplay gives her so little personality that she might be one of Spielberg's blankest protagonists, alongside War Horse's Albert. Exacerbated by its excessive 2-hour running length too, especially in the first two acts that feel more like technology showreel rather than real flights of wonder (still impressive nonetheless). The third act with the Queen thankfully becomes something weird and engaging (and finally makes use of the clashes between two different worlds, rather keep it separate all the time). And Mark Rylance's warm radiance of a performance is simply marvelous, the only successful combination of both Spielberg and Dahl. I could have listened to him giant-speak for a longer while
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

  23. #48
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    If we're doing ranking (he's my favorite director, so this is going to be heavy on higher categories)...

    Masterpiece
    1. Schindler's List
    2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    3. Jaws
    4. E.T.
    5. Raiders of the Lost Ark

    Really Good
    6. Jurassic Park
    7. Minority Report
    8. Catch Me If You Can
    9. A.I.
    10. The Sugarland Express
    11. Saving Private Ryan
    12. War of the Worlds
    13. Lincoln

    Good
    14. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
    15. Empire of the Sun
    16. Munich
    17. Duel
    18. Bridge of Spies

    Still solid enough
    19. The Color Purple
    20. Amistad
    21. The Terminal (guilty pleasure?)
    22. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
    23. The Adventures of Tintin

    Mixed
    24. War Horse
    25. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
    26. The Lost World
    27. Hook
    28. The BFG

    Mediocre
    29. Always
    30. The Twilight Zone, "Kick the Can"
    31. 1941
    32. Something Evil
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

  24. #49
    collecting tapes Skitch's Avatar
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    I feel no guilt liking The Terminal.

  25. #50
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    Quote Quoting Peng (view post)
    Feels like Spielberg and Dahl cancel each other out
    This mirrors my thoughts. There's an inherent darkness in Dahl's worldview that's hard for a guy like Spielberg to adapt.

    This was a nice, breezy film all the same. One for the kids!

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