In Always, Richard Dreyfuss plays a pilot named Pete who has to cope with his own death (after the fact) and help guide a young pilot named Ted (Brad Johnson) learn the profession as well as fall in love with Pete's girlfriend, Dorinda (Holly Hunter). Like plenty of other Spielberg films, it toes the line between … Continue reading Always (1989)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade borrows a few tricks from Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Indy finds himself searching for a religious artifact (The Holy Grail) while also fighting off a bunch of Nazis.  It's a pretty simple plot, and its similarities to Raiders suggests this is more of a do-over, replacing or erasing Temple of Doom … Continue reading Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Empire of the Sun is an epic film, kind of like a novel.  When I think of an "epic," I picture something that's life affirming, occurs over a long period of time and puts characters through the ringer so that they are transformed by the end.  The easiest way to show that transformation is by … Continue reading Empire of the Sun (1987)

The Color Purple is, on the surface, very different from other Spielberg films.  Upon first glance it's much more dramatic, even a bit difficult to watch.  The story follows a young African American girl, Celie (Whoopie Goldberg), immediately after she gives birth only to have her father take the child away and remind her that … Continue reading The Color Purple (1985)

The sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark is really a prequel, and it makes Raiders look like Barry Lyndon by comparison.  I haven't actually yet seen Barry Lyndon, but I heard it's a very slow movie. In Raiders, while there was some pretty unbelievable action, the film showed the consequences and toll it took on Indy's body.  He was … Continue reading Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

E.T. is the first Spielberg film (in chronological order) that I can remember watching as a young kid, so upon a rewatch, a bunch of things immediately came back to me, and I realized a lot of things that I think I somehow missed the first time around. For example, Elliot (Henry Thomas) and his … Continue reading E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Funny, I always thought the title of this movie was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, but there's no Indiana Jones in the title.  "Indiana Jones" is in the title of three (as of right now) subsequent sequels, however. The movie follows Archeologist/Professor/occasional stunt man Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) as he's tasked … Continue reading Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Nocturnal Animals (directed by Tom Ford) is told through the perspective of a woman named Susan (Amy Adams) as she remembers a failed marriage to a then-struggling author.  The film's title comes from a book of the same title that Susan's ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) sends to her to read before the book's mass publication. … Continue reading Nocturnal Animals (2016)

1941 at first seems like a big deviation from Spielberg's previous films.  Whereas the others ranged from drama to action to horror, this film is an incredibly broad comedy.  The more I thought about it, though, this film is epic just like those ones, particularly Close Encounters. 1941 is set on the day and night of … Continue reading 1941 (1979)

"These are ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances," says David Laughlin (Bob Balaban) near the end of the film. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is like Spielberg's other films, mostly Jaws.  Normal people encounter crazy situations and struggle to deal with them.  In this case, they really struggle.  Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is out late one night when … Continue reading Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)