It wasn't closely.

What's the secret thing?

Just got to find something you love to do and then do it for the rest of your life.

I don't want to be a product of my environment.

I want my environment to be a product of me.

Hello and welcome to the Establishing Shot, a podcast where we do deep dives and two directors and their filmographies.

I am your host, Eli Price, and we are here on episode 118 of the podcast.

And it is time to wrap up the Spielberg series, finally.

Today is our Steven Spielberg epilogue episode.

And so, yeah, I'm excited.

It's kind of sad, actually, but excited, happy, excited.

It feels good to be wrapping up a long, long series.

I did not look at how long I've been in this series, but it's been a long time.

And it's yeah, this has been a long time coming.

Now, I did change up the format of the podcast starting with this series.

I used to do, I used to do like for my Wes Anderson and Christopher Nolan series, I would do in one episode would be me covering the movie.

And then also we would do like a movie news segment and we would do a movie draft all in the one same episode.

And so I did switch the format up, starting with this series where we do we cover the films of the directors and then every other episode and then the episodes in between are like the movie drafts or the interviews or the top fives or, you know, whatever else.

We end up doing bonus reviews.

And so, yeah, so with that switch, it's made this series last even longer than it would have been the old format.

But yeah, I started this series looking back on February 16th, 2024.

And so we've been in this for, I guess a few months shy of two years.

But yeah, that was the overview episode, you know?

And yeah, it's been, it's been a long time coming.

We've we've done it, we've wrapped up Spielberg.

We've watched all of his movies.

We've recorded podcasts of all of his on all of his movies, some short, some very long, as I'm sure you know, if you've been following along.

But yeah, it, this is exciting.

I, I am ready to do this now since this, since there's so many Spielberg films and this has been a long series, I did some intermission episodes.

So I kind of broke it up where instead of just doing an overview and an epilogue, I did some intermissions.

And those were episodes where I would recap a couple of decades of films from Spielberg and look forward to the next one and kind of set up the next deck couple of decades.

And so I did a couple of those where I recapped the 70s and 80s one, and then again one where I recapped the 90s and 2000s.

And so in this epilogue, I'm going to do a little bit of both.

I'm going to kind of recap the 20 tens and the 20s of Spielberg's career like I have done with those past intermission episodes.

And then I'm going to, so those will be that'll they'll be a little bit more detail to that.

And then I'm going to kind of just do an overall recap of Spielberg's career and and where we are.

And so, yeah, so let's dive in the 20 tens and the twenty 20s of Spielberg's career.

You know, this is these are I guess these past 15 years now 2010 to now to 2025.

You know, it's it's kind of the point of Spielberg's career where he's not really worrying about making money anymore per SE.

I mean, he is, but but he doesn't have to make money with his films.

So he kind of is free to kind of make what he wants and pursue what projects he wants at this point.

And you see that come to great advantage.

And some some not so much over this time, this time period, this decade and a half.

And so ironically, I think like his only really big financial hit was Ready Player 1, which is a movie that I think was like, it seems like critically and just like in my opinion was probably the worst of the last 15 years, but it made the most money, which maybe that's a, maybe that's a bad sign for where we are with the movie industry.

But yeah, we're we won't we won't dwell on that too much.

He he kind of carried over as well his kind of balance of doing serious films and doing more fun films.

So a lot more serious ones over this of these last 15 years of his career with some still fun ones thrown in in between some some of those kind of classic Spielberg blockbuster.

I really like the end up being very like some more child focused ones again, which he hasn't done in a while.

And so I would say even on the start, the, the just to start the 20 tens with the adventures of 10/10, which is an explicitly a children's film, a film directed for children.

And then the same kind of with the BFG too.

And I, I think that's something maybe new that he did in, in these last 15 years.

You know, ET, I guess you could say is like that, but not not completely and totally.

And really other than ET, there's, there's not really, I mean, Jurassic Park is, is still like, not like kids film, you know, even though dinosaurs are appealing to kids.

And so really it, I haven't really thought about that until this moment.

But yeah, Adventures of 10/10 and the BFG have been making, like, explicit, explicit children's movies.

Even with stuff like Cook, that's the Peter Pan story.

It's still a very, like, adult movie, you know, in a lot of ways, even though kids still love and enjoy a movie like Cook.

Yeah.

So this, I think really like the 20 Tens might be considered his weakest decade.

And I think I reflected in that last intermission episode on why that might be.

I think part of it, I think one of the big reasons is maybe like his movies just didn't make a lot of money that there wasn't any like big splashes like there was in the last decades.

But I don't know.

I think it was a very strong decade.

Like it was very, very steady and consistent.

And so, yeah, I'm kind of, I'm kind of looking through and I'm like, man, I, I really like, there's a couple of films that I don't care for a whole lot, but most of them are just really solid, a really solid run.

And so a few duds maybe in the middle.

But I, I think all of us that we, we can kind of talk about that when we overview the whole career, but every decade of Spielberg kind of has one of those one or two of them.

So yeah.

And then like in as he he, he kind of like it, it seems like to the decade, maybe starting with Munich, which was the end of the 2000s.

I think that was 2008 that that came out starting with Munich.

So coming into the, he really like is leaning into as well.

The, the more like I have something to say politically.

I have something to say like morally and ethically and politically.

And here's the movie for it.

Now it's Spielberg.

So those movies are not like in your face about that.

They're not distasteful, they're not preachy in that way.

So when I say that like, you know, I'm not saying like in a bad way, but he you can tell like he has.

And I think it's something to do with where he is in his stage of life.

He has older kids now that he wants to influence and and kind of like teach of how to view the world, how to engage with the world, how to make a difference in the world, you know, And so I do think that in this decade, he really is like leaning into those political statement movies, maybe for that reason, because of where he is in his life.

And, you know, he's getting older, You know, he's, he's running out of time to say what he wants to say, meant to make the points that he wants to make with his art.

And so, yeah, I, I, I appreciate that.

I think that because he has the financial stability and he's not, you know, relying on he doesn't have to worry about like this studio's going to drop me and then I won't be have anyone to make a movie.

No, he's Steven Spielberg.

He can do, he can make whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

And so so he can make those projects and and get them out there And even and then coming off of that in the twenty 20s with West Side Story and the Fableman's, I think now he's just kind of like he's he's gotten all of his like political statements out of his system in a in a way.

West Side Story has some of that.

But and it's just passion projects.

It's it's films that like are are like something deep for him.

West Side Story, the musical he's always wanted to make, the Fableman's, which is basically just his personal story.

And so, yeah, I really think that the these past 15 years are kind of underrated for Spielberg.

And that's that's kind of disappointing because there's some really great stuff in here.

So yeah, I'm going to do now.

I'm going to.

OK, yeah, yeah.

Now, now I'm going to go through some of my favorites of these past 15 years of his career.

So let's talk about favorite performances.

I'm just going to kind of run through these.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these performances because I talked about them in the episode, but it's fun to kind of list out things and reflect.

So that's what we're going to do.

In The Adventures of Tintin.

I didn't really have like, I mean, so Andy Serkis plays Captain Haddock and I think he's really good, but there wasn't anything that was like, oh, I love that performance, even though I did think Circus was good just because he always is.

So yeah, Adventure the Tintin is fine.

I think it's a fine movie.

War Horse I was, I actually liked more than I thought I was going to.

Like, I didn't think it was phenomenal, but I really enjoyed it.

I thought it was a good movie.

My standout performance in that was Neil's Airstrip as the grandfather really packs an emotional punch in the the short time he has on screen.

And so I really enjoyed that.

I mean, I'm the horse.

The horse is great, right?

And then Lincoln is kind of obvious.

Daniel Day Lewis as Abraham Lincoln is incredible.

One of the greatest living actors working with one of the greatest living film makers.

And yeah, I mean, it's hard to mess that up.

But also Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens in that movie is really, really great.

He's really like getting his grumpy on and doing his Tommy Lee Jones things with his with his powdered wig.

And yeah, really enjoyed him in that movie as well.

I mean, a lot of these are kind of obvious a bridge of spies.

I mean, it's Tom Hanks as James B Donovan, and it's Mark Rylance as Rudolph Abel.

They're both great in their, their their own different ways.

You know, Tom Hanks is kind of in his, it's funny.

He's kind of in his like, is it John Fox?

What is his first name?

And you've got mail?

I can't think of it.

I know his last name is Fox.

Yeah, he's he's in his you've got male mode really.

Like he's got that like that Tom Hanks Ness in the in the best way as James B Donovan kind of that.

I don't know if Fox isn't necessarily like an everyman, but he he kind of is.

He kind of has that feel still, even though he's the big, big, big bookstore owner.

But enough on that.

Tom Hanks is great in this movie.

Mark Rylance is just he's so he's so good, just the way he carries himself that the way they kind of like feed off of each other in the movie and hat and bring like totally different energies, but don't like give in to each other's energy is is so, so good.

And then of course, in the BFG, it's Mark Rylance as the BFG.

Even through the mocap performance, he he pulls it off the post.

Like I said, these are obvious.

It's Meryl Streep as K Graham.

You know, I talked about when we went, when we went through that episode of just how how well she envelops this character and, and kind of like in subtle ways undermines the, I guess like the patriarchal system she's trying to breakthrough in.

And.

Yeah, and it kind of kind of kind of encapsulates like a like feminine strength that's really incredible.

So love Meryl Streep in the post Ready Player 1, not a lot going well for me and Ready Player One unfortunately.

Except somehow even though I don't love what they do with the character, Mark Rylance is still just captivating as Halladay in that movie.

So you know, it's Mark Rylance.

He's gotten mentioned for all of his Spielberg roles here.

And then of course we have his last two latest 2 West Side Story.

Ariana Dubose as Anita powerhouse incredible.

Mike Feist as Riff is like, I don't know, he's just really, really great.

But even with those two powerhouse performances, my like, I've seen this movie before.

So I remember thinking she was good, but like just I was blown away by Rachel Zegler in this movie.

She is young.

It's like her first.

It is.

It's her first movie and she just kills it.

She's carrying the emotional weight of the movie on her shoulders in this movie.

Really incredible.

So shout out to Rachel Zegler and the West Side Story.

And then the the Fable men's.

You know, it's it's kind of the two main people.

These are so obvious, but it's kind of what else am I going to do?

It's Michelle Williams as Mitzi Fable men.

Great.

I talk a lot a lot about like what she does in that movie in that episode.

Gabriel Bell as Sammy is really good as well.

Those are my favorite performances.

Hi.

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Back to the show, let's move on to favorite shots in moments.

So I like to kind of reflect back on some of my favorite shots from these movies, some of my favorite moments from these movies, whatever it may be.

In War Horse, it's it's the meeting of the two soldiers in No man's land to free the horse from the barbed wire.

Incredible sequence.

I talked about how that's it's kind of like a short film in and of itself that encapsulates like the theme and the the point of the movie all in one, like little sequence.

It's beautiful.

It's shot with that like classic Janusz Kaminsky, Steven Spielberg, Blues fog, you know, reflections in water HUD.

It's great.

It's a great sequence.

And Lincoln, there's this moment where like Lincoln is sitting at the end of the table in a cabinet meeting and he's he starts in on one of his stories and everyone like is locked in and the camera pushes slowly in down the table past everybody into a close up of Lincoln as he's monologuing.

And it's kind of the camera is leaning into him just like everyone in that room is leaning into him and you're leaning into him because he's captivating.

And so that was a a kind of standout shot to me.

Of course you got the now, now, now.

This is how I just impressed myself.

I feel like that was a decent impersonation of they sis Lincoln.

But I love that.

And then anytime Thaddeus Stevens is like insulting someone on the House floor.

Those are the best moments.

He's saying, I can't remember which guy it was, but he's more lizard than man as my favorite line of that movie.

Yeah, lots of great moments in Lincoln.

A great looking film.

Bridge of Spies, Honestly, like I think my favorite sequence might be the that opening sequence where you're, you're kind of, it's kind of like this chase sequence.

Everything is being communicated visually as you as you go through these New York streets and subways and you got glances between and I guess FBI, I'm assuming agents.

And yeah, really, really great sequence.

The bridge at the end is a great looking sequence as well.

In the post, it's probably the build up to Kay's big decision.

You know, you've got that swirling camera.

I don't know how Spielberg does it, but he makes a phone conversation really like intense and captivating and interesting.

That's a really great moment.

And then, you know, Meryl Streep as as Kay really like underplays that moment.

You're expecting this big climactic thing.

And the way she, like, delivers the the, you know, the decision to print the paper is very, like, subtle and, like, unassuming and like, yeah, I guess.

Yeah.

Let's do it, you know, And it, it's really great.

Ready Player One mostly just, I guess anything with Mark Rylance.

I don't know.

I don't really have a lot to say.

I said enough in that episode about Ready Player One.

West Side Story is, I would say, the standout favorite moments and shots are everything.

There's tons of purely cinematic shots.

You know, you've got Tony and Maria catching eyes across the dance floor for the first time, with people dancing in between them and meeting behind the bleachers.

So good.

You've got, you know, Tony reflecting in the water as he's singing Maria.

You've got that low, there's this low angle shot to like finish off the song America, where the skyscrapers are like it's shot straight down the street.

Skyscrapers are like fit framing the performers.

So good.

You've got the shadows crossing before the big rumble in the warehouse.

That's just incredible shot.

And yeah.

And then just great musical numbers.

I think my favorite musical number and song is maybe still tonight.

But I was I was really liked some of the what they did was somewhere in that movie.

And then the the kind of just raw energy and emotion of the a boy like that slash.

I have a love is just really great.

It's kind of what sold this movie for me, what made me believe that Maria loves Tony in a way that like no other Shakespearean story has.

I mean, like Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet story has ever made me buy so love that and the and the fable winds.

I mean, one of the things that doesn't I think get like brought up a lot.

That was a standout to me, was his first, like moment directing an actor, you know, with the kid that that, you know, in the war that he's like directing to like have this big emotional reaction to, you know, all of us, all of his, you know, these people he's leading into battle, being dead.

And yeah, that was very moving to me, that sequence, the shot of his that I talked about this shot of when they move into their new Kelly home.

There's this shot where his mom looks directly into the camera that is being shot by Spielberg, but it's in the movie.

It's being shot by Sammy on his camera.

And she looks what this like longing, sad, depressed look into the camera killed me.

That moment.

Him seeing himself filming his parents as they're they're announcing their divorce is probably the big one everyone says.

And it's there's a reason for that.

The the ending with the the John Ford Horizon stuff is gold.

Love that.

But yeah, those are there's some of my favorite shots and moments and what not through throughout the last 15 years of his career.

So having my notes or rankings for the 2000s and 20s, but I'm actually going to save that because we're going to do a ranking of the entire Spielberg filmography.

But not yet.

I'll save that for last.

OK, let's let's kind of recrap.

Wow, did I say recrap?

That's awful.

Let's recap Spielberg's entire career, which has been the exact opposite of crap.

So I think the first thing I want to talk about is just some Spielberg distinctives.

It's something that I kind of like to talk about and every episode and every film that we covered Spielberg, What are some things that you can expect Spielberg to do with the camera?

One of them is he loves to push in onto a character.

There's different the ways he likes to do close-ups, he likes to do the push in, he likes low angle close-ups.

And by that I mean if you're watching online, it would be if I had the camera tilted and I'm in close up with it looking up at me.

He loves to do that for some reason.

And then he he loves to do this thing.

It was especially like in the first half of his career, but you still see it sometimes later in his career where the way that the camera is framed, the the character may or may not already be in frame, but they somehow end U in a close U they like.

The camera doesn't move, the character moves into the close U and I've always just like every time I see it, I'm like, yes, Bilberry.

I don't know why I love that.

What are some other Spielberg distinctives?

The dude loves reflections.

Sometimes it's very meaningful.

It's a it's a reflection or a shadow and you've got the iconic, The Color Purple shadow in the rocking chair.

And sometimes they're, they're like full of thematic meaning and and purpose And sometimes they're just fun shots, to be honest, which is fine with me because it's Spielberg and he can make some really great shots and it's fun to see it a play out and to work.

But yeah, other other Spielberg distinctives.

The dude knows how to build tension like with the best of them.

I don't know how he does it.

One of the one of the moments from early in his career that like kind of set the table for how good he is at building tension.

Obviously Jaws, but I'm thinking of close Encounters where you see, oh, what's the, the mountain called?

Like Devil's Peak or Devil's, whatever it's called, you see it on the TV and you have, you have Dreyfus in the background building the, the model of it in his basement or living room or whatever.

And you're just like, look at the TV, look at the TV and he's on the phone and like, it's just this tension building, tension building.

And finally, he sees it on the TV.

Yeah, that's all through Spielberg's career, that sort of tension building, not just in like legit intense moments like you get in like Munich per SE, per SE, but even in like moments like that that are kind of like mundane.

There's a there's a lot at stake, I guess, in the context of the movie, but the reality and in, like reality, there's not a whole lot at stake.

And so, yeah, I love that about Spielberg.

The dude loves to imply horror off screen.

He loves blood trickling down the stream in Jurassic Park.

He loves to cut to, you know, the blood mixing with milk and Munich as someone's gotten shot and dropped their groceries.

Yeah, he he loves to like, have violence happen off screen, unless it's Saving Private Ryan, where he just flips the script on us and puts everything on screen.

So he can do both.

He he proved that for sure.

But but I love the implied horror plied implied violence off screen that he does.

The dude.

The dude knows how to set up the geography of an action sequence where you know, where everyone is, what all is happening, where it's happening, how it might possibly, you know, intersect at some point.

The different things going on.

Indiana Jones with Raiders of the Lost Ark with the, the truck chase sequence, the sense of geography and that is incredible.

The sense of geography and like the plane fight sequence as well.

I think about Munich, I think is like I remember in that episode talking about I think that might be the peak of action set piece, like the geography, knowing where there's the the phone call, like the foam bomb sequence.

That's just like incredible movie making, incredible attention building, incredible actions, geography, set piece sequence with characters in multiple locations, you know, where everybody is.

It's incredible.

Yeah, those are some Spielberg distinctives, but let's let's dig a little deeper.

What makes a movie a Spielberg movie?

I think there's I think there's a bit of an inexplicable quality to a Spielberg movie, a Wes Anderson movie.

You can kind of explain what it is that makes a Wes Anderson movie, a Wes Anderson movie, a Christopher Nolan movie.

I'm saying these because these are the past directors I've covered, right?

A Christopher Nolan Nolan movie.

You can kind of like put your thumb on it.

You kind of know, like, OK, these are, these are what, this is what Nolan does.

He does time he does, you know, it's, you know, out of sequence.

It's you kind of know how to describe like what makes a Nolan movie a Nolan movie or a Wes Anderson movie, a Wes Anderson movie, a Spielberg movie.

It's a little bit harder to nail down because of the kind of wide range of genres and sensibilities that he has been able to capture from like, straight up kids movies to action adventure movies to political dramas and thrillers to to very like, intense historical dramas with like, Schindler's List.

Yeah, I think the only thing maybe Spielberg doesn't have on his checklist is straight comedy, because 1941 was terrible.

But yeah, I mean, he's really done a wide range of genres and intersecting genres and stuff like that.

So there's not one like genre you can put him in.

And there's not really one kind of feel.

It's it's like the only way I can describe it is that there's some sort of like magic wizardry in the way that he shoots things that just captures you.

And when you see it, you can just feel the Spielberg of it.

And like other film makers can tap into that.

Even sometimes that that Spielberg feel like it makes me think of like Jordan pills.

Nope movie is so Spielberg the way it's shot and I I even told people after I saw it let's its jaws in the sky and it it is it's like it feels so Spielberg the way he builds tension in that movie, the way he just frames things and composes things.

Jordan Peele, it's very Spielberg and now not not Jordan Peele's other movies don't have that feel necessarily, but I think that one he's specifically was tapping into that.

But but yeah, there's just this kind of magic about the way he is able to put things on screen that draw you in and capture you.

He is, I think Spielberg is one of the best ever at just composing A-frame and just knowing that for so much of his career, even with, even when he was like heavily storyboarding things for so much of his career.

He, he's very improvisational on as far as like what he does with the camera.

He, he fills out a space and he just, he has an intuition about where to put the camera, where to put the people in the, in the, in the space to fill the frame.

And yeah, just a strong intuition, a genius at composing A-frame.

And I think too, like he can direct the crap out of some actors.

He there's there's so many like young actors and actresses that kind of you see before they've really breaking out there, you go back and they're like, they were in a Spielberg movie, Like he saw something in them and was able to tap into that early on in their careers.

And I, you know, I love that about Spielberg.

And, you know, and even like just working with even stars like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, he can, he can really like direct actors very well.

I think another thing like obviously like he pushes technological bounds, maybe not so much as people like James Cameron, but but like, I, I think along with that, like one of the things I think that makes a Spielberg A Spielberg movie is that even in the most, even in his most serious movies.

So I think Schindler's List, you can tell that he is still having fun the way he shoots, the way he, I don't know, just the feel like there's, there's some lightness even to Schindler's List.

That's that's kind of refreshing.

You know, you kind of need that.

But it's something that Spielberg brings to even his most serious movies have this lightness to them because you know that Spielberg is having so much fun on set and having so much fun, like putting his vision to to the screen.

And, and I think part of that is that he actually, he's, he is a director.

This is another thing I think specific to Spielberg, that's not the case for everybody.

He is a director that really genuinely cares about his audience and what his audience thinks.

Like he, he will pivot if something's not working and the audience is not going to respond.

Like, and I think he really genuinely has the the audience in mind.

He has the the crowd that like, but it's not, but it doesn't sacrifice his artistry.

I think that's something that early on in his career, he got a bad rap for that.

He was all like action and crowd pleasing, but not really a real artist.

And, and I think that's so wrong.

I think that he was just able to find that fine line between the two and to ride it where he is crowd like he is making crowd pleasing movies.

But all all the while he never sacrifices his artistry and his vision.

And that's something that like I have a great respect for Spielberg for because so many times I feel like you can directors fall either way.

They're, they're, you know, and, and that's fine.

You know, you can make a crowd pleasing film that's not very artistic and still be good.

And obviously like you can make very artistic films that aren't like this is a crowd pleasing film.

And obviously there's some masterpieces out there and, and that way, but but Spielberg, he he has his vision and he's going to execute his vision, His his his piece of art that he is making.

But he also really wants the audience to love it and to be enthralled with it and to be in wonder of it.

And and yeah, that that comes across.

I mean, I, I think that's something that is very unique to Spielberg and a reason why he's one of the most successful directors.

I say one of the most he is the most successful director of all time.

I think.

So, Yeah, yeah.

Let's let's go, let's kind of like take a a journey through his career.

You have this young savant who's directing TV shows like nobody like, and you know, to the degree to where people are like, man, this kid is good.

And then, you know, he somehow ends up with Jaws and becomes the father of the modern blockbuster.

Incredible.

You know, he kind of in a lot of ways with with Jaws and then later Star Wars, they really like jump started the modern blockbuster kind of like industry for better or worse, you know, But yeah.

And then just kind of learning like out of that process of like having huge success with things like Jaws and close Encounters to like figure out like I need to have the right people around me.

I think is this part of his career?

You know, he makes he comes off of close Encounters in 1941 really like it does OK financially, but like it was bad.

It was not a good movie.

And you know, it has it's like Defenders.

But like, I think in general, like people just everyone knows that 1941 is not a good movie.

And then to come off of that with Raiders of the Lost Ark and with the ET partnering with like strong, like film makers and strong writers, George Lucas coming alongside of him, Melissa, Melissa Mathison with ET and really like being able to execute, take Spielberg's vision and like translate it, whether it's like with a great script and ET or whether it's with like bouncing off ideas and kind of like honing down things with George Lucas on what you want to do.

And like he, he, you know, he has this era of childhood wonder.

That's kind of becomes his thing.

And I think it's a reason why he he was accused of not being artistic enough of a director think I think that was wrong, but it was a thing back then.

And I think out of that, he has this period of his career where with things like The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun, where he really maybe even always, he's really like grasping at wanting to be taken seriously.

He wants the recognition of his peers.

He wants the Academy to to see him as a serious director, a serious contender.

And, you know, I think I think The Color Purple was a miss.

I think Empire of the Sun was a hit, but not with, you know, it wasn't actually it.

It just in my opinion, it was a great movie.

But yeah, it it's, yeah, this desire to really be taken seriously and then, you know, kind of doing some flop passion projects with always in the hook in that transition into the 90s.

And yeah, it it's funny.

Like he comes out of that and then he has his pinnacle year.

Like his it's it is the year, the Spielberg year 1993.

He it's it's the first time I think.

I think he had had trouble separating his fun blockbuster side from his serious drama side with things like The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun and always and hook even.

And he really in this year, I think the thing that made the difference was, OK, I'm going to make my fun blockbuster movie and that's what it's going to be.

I'm going to make my serious drama and that's what it's going to be.

And yeah, two of his best films in the same year, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List.

Incredible.

Yeah.

I don't know that anyone's ever had a better movie year than having the the highest grossing film of its at that time in Jurassic Park and a best picture winner in Schindler's List.

And deservedly so.

Phenomenal masterpiece movie.

I don't know that I don't think it's ever happened for and ever will again.

It might not ever happen again for someone to have a year like Spielberg had in 1993 and and then he the 90s are kind of an enigma because in my opinion, he has three big flops and three masterpieces.

I I don't know that I would say Saving Private Ryan is a masterpiece.

Some people do, but you know, I understand the argument for it.

It's a great, great, great movie.

So he has three phenomenal movies and three kind of flops.

And in my opinion, not everyone thinks Hook is a flop, but he had The Lost World, Jurassic Park, Never again is he going to make sequels other than Indiana Jones, of course, but that's a little different.

Amistad is Amistad is the movie that he shouldn't have directed.

I went on a rant about that in that episode that you can go listen to.

And then yes, Saving Private Ryan really kicks things back off and and the the 2000s was a great a great decade for him.

AI, artificial intelligence, Minority Report, catch me if you can, War of the Worlds, Munich, even in my opinion, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrysalis school, all great movies.

I don't the terminal has its defenders.

I and it has a a decent rating on like letterbox.

I don't think the tear the terminal is very good at all.

But but if you do think it's good, I mean that's a whole decade of like hits in my opinion.

It's not like war of the worlds isn't great or anything and King of the social school isn't like phenomenal or by Indiana Jones standards, but they're still good movies, I think.

And yeah, really, really strong decade there.

And I think with Munich, like I was talking about, you know, it's it's a sci-fi decade.

I would say with AI, minority Report, War of the worlds, even king of the Christmas school has its sci-fi elements.

And so that's that's fun.

But then with Munich, I think, like I said earlier, really kicks off his political drama decade.

Munich.

I would argue War Horse is in here as kind of like the children's version of the political drama, but the Horse and Bridge of Spies, Lincoln, The Post, and if I'm thinking correctly, you've got that from OK, Munich is 2005 to 2017 with the Post, so a little over a decade, but and you've got 1010 and BFG thrown in there and King of the Crystal Skull as well.

But yeah, a lot political dramas, he's making his political points in the 2010's where from and starting with Munich even takes his big swings with mocap.

Not his best choices.

I don't think that, you know,

between 10:10 BFG and Ready Player 1, you know, a lot of people really enjoy 1010.

A lot of people really enjoy BFGI.

Thought both.

I think both of those movies are fine.

I don't think they're bad, I think they're fine in movies.

Ray Player 1 I think is a swing and a miss unfortunately.

But man, to come off of that and in my opinion, to have your old man passion projects and make 2 masterpieces I think is incredible.

I think West Side Story and the Fablemans are both masterpieces.

They're incredible, they're great.

They're we'll get to might be two of the best of his career, but I love that.

I love that he and I just I can't wait to see what he does with this UFO movie.

It is currently the working title I think is the dish, which is an interesting title.

The four actors that I noted were Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, who I love, Colin Firth and Coleman Domingo.

So those.

Great names attached to the movie.

It's a UFO movie.

It's supposed to come out next year in 2026.

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Back to the show, I think over the court just thinking about before we get I do my rankings, just thinking about watching through these some three of these movies that I'm going to label as my biggest surprises were blind spots.

I knocked out all of my Spielberg blonde spots with the blind spots with this, so that's fine.

One of them I already really, really liked a whole lot, but just watching it again, I think it's a masterpiece and is the one of the biggest surprises.

Now I'm not going to say it's the biggest surprise because I had seen it before and loved it already ready, but I just think it's a a modern masterpiece is West Side Story.

I I just think it's incredible.

I think visually and like the way he like it's like he was born to make a musical Spielberg and love West Side Story.

A couple other like movies that are really liked, AI, artificial intelligence.

I wasn't sure what I was going to think going in.

I think that's a great, great movie.

Same thing with Empire of the Sun didn't know what to think going in but was blown away.

Loved it.

And then I would say my biggest surprise of the the whole series just cause like for one, I didn't really have any expectations going in.

Haven't ever heard much about this movie, but Munich is such an incredible movie that captures so much of what Spielberg does, from the the political thriller with a political statement movie to the action set pieces, to the tension, to the character building, to the story, to the visual language that's so distinctly Spielberg.

Munich is such a good movie and it's still from 2005 to today.

It's still very, very relevant politically.

So really love those big surprises.

But now it is the moment you've all been waiting for.

I am going to go through and give my rankings for Spielberg.

I will start at the bottom and work my way up.

I'm not going to include like I have some of his like shorts and TV movies and stuff included in here that I'm not going to include.

I'm just going to do the feature films and I'm not going to include, I'll tell you this.

Twilight Zone is second to last if you if I'm going by like his sequence in the Twilight Zone movie.

I did not like his sequence in the Twilight Zone movie, but I'm not going to rank it here.

But if I did, you just already know it's it would be second to last.

So in last place, I have 1941.

Just not good, not funny to me at least not just added.

I don't know, not good.

So that is OK.

Let me think.

Let me remove.

Yeah.

All of the like, shorts and stuff.

And I think it's, I think he's at 34 feature films, if you don't include the Twilight Zone, Twilight Zone, the movie.

So 30 at #34 is 1941 and #33 I have the terminal.

Yeah.

You can go back to that episode #32 I have always not not great, really weird movie looks great, but really weird at, let's see, 343332 at 31.

I have Ready Player 1 and yeah, talked about it already.

At #30 I have Hook.

Wasn't a big fan of Hook, rewatching it with this.

Number 29, The Lost World, Jurassic Park, kind of a misfire sequel.

I think at #28 have Amistad, the movie he should not have directed but you know, has its moments.

That's #20 BFG, it's fine.

At #26 The adventures of 10/10 it's fine.

And then 25 I have The Color Purple, another movie I think he would have been better not to direct, but I understand why I did.

Much more so than amistad #24 I have War of the Worlds and #23 I have his debut feature film, The Sugar Land Express.

Well, unless you count Dual, which we are going to count in this because it did did have some theater run in Europe.

Yeah #23 The Sugar Land Express.

At #22 I have Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and right above it, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

At #21 So let's get into the top 20.

I have War Horse.

At #20 I liked War Horse a lot more than I thought it would.

At #19 I have Duel.

Great movie and let me go ahead and preface this from this point forward, all of these movies, I have four stars and up even, you know, so, so like 8 out of 10 Saving Private Ryan is I have at #18 and #17 catch me if you can #16 I have the post.

This is his 20 tense political thrillers part right here.

16 The Post 15 Lincoln and 14 Bridge of Spies.

Love all those at #13 I have Empire of the Sun and #12 don't hate me.

Raiders of the Lost Ark and #12 I know, I know, I know the objectively it's it's top five, but just for me, it's #12 because I love me some sci-fi and at #11 I have Minority Report, at #10 I have AI, artificial intelligence, at #9 I have close Encounters of the Third kind, my little sci-fi run there.

Love all those movies.

At #8 is my favorite Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

So I have some good representation up higher for Indiana Jones, but I'm just not like I love the Indiana Jones franchise, but I'm just not like the Super fan that has it has a great greatest of all time sort of thing.

So that was #8 #7 I have the Fablemens.

Fablemens is phenomenal at number six, I have Munich.

So my biggest surprise I have up at #6 here we are getting into the top five.

These, these are just, these are my top five Spielberg movies.

So here we go at #5 I have Jurassic Park childhood, It's the love.

Jurassic Park at #4 This is the another huge surprise of how much I loved it.

I have West Side Story at #4 I think it is phenomenal.

And yeah, it's at #4 for me #3 I have, and honestly, I I could move West Side Story up to #3 or #2 I thought it was that good #3 I have ET the Extraterrestrial, loved it.

It's so good.

And top 2.

These are both five star masterpieces.

I think Schindler's List at #2 found it incredibly entertaining, incredibly moving, an incredibly important movie.

So maybe a bit cliche, but I have it at #2 And that means that my number one film for now and for always for Spielberg is Jaws.

Great movie, masterpiece.

5 stars, 10 out of 10.

Jaws Big Shark is taking the cake.

I mean, could I have really given it to anybody else?

I mean, because what would that shark do to me if I didn't?

So that is my ranking of Spielberg's filmography.

It's it's been fun.

We're done with Spielberg until he releases the dish next year, if it's still called that by then.

But I'll look forward to that.

And yeah, kind of sad to see Spielberg go, but this is it.

Yeah.

I mean, I've so now I've covered Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan and now Steven Spielberg.

I would say honestly, I probably like those directors in that order.

Just like a personal preference, what you know, the movies that I love from the directors, I would say Wes Anderson favorite Christopher Long, next.

Steven Spielberg next, but obviously, like Spielberg is the GOAT, you can't really take that away from him.

So really glad I did this series.

I've greatly enjoyed it.

Met some great people that I brought on as guests through this series that, you know, hopefully I'll be able to bring on again in the future.

But yeah, really, really enjoyed the series.

I am hoping to diversify my port, My Portfolio of directors I've covered with the next one, maybe not a white male director with the next one.

So we'll see.

Maybe not a big name director either.

We'll see.

I've been trying to, you know, cover some directors that maybe we'll, we'll pull in more people that are interested.

But hey, maybe it's time for an ND director.

I don't know, we'll see.

But Speaking of ND directors, next week I had the privilege of interviewing indie director Daniel Daniel Moschiari, who has his debut feature coming out next.

And so, yeah, it's called Stationed at Home.

And yeah, it's it's very good.

Daniel and I had a great conversation about it.

I I was able to interview him about the film, start the episode with a quick review of it.

Yeah, yeah.

It was exciting to be able to do that.

And I hope to be able to do more interviews with directors in the future about their films.

And so that is coming out next week.

And so be looking forward to that.

But Spielberg, it was it was good.

It is time for for us though, like our favorite pal ET to now go home.

And you know, we'll be right there with you always, Spielberg.

So we'll see you when you release your next film, I guess.

And so, yeah, that's it.

We're done with Spielberg.

Goodbye.

So long.

That's all we have for this week.

I have been Eli Price.

And you've been listening to the establishing shot.

We'll see you next time.

We were happy here for a little while.

But look, I think it was this way.

Better to be king for a night than smoke for a lifetime.