Empire of the Sun

Steven Spielberg, 1987 (8.3*)
Memorial Day War-a-thon film #19
Based on the autobiographical novel of British science fiction author J.G. Ballard, this is the wartime story of a British boy named Jim, played by a young Christian Bale, caught in Shanghai when the Japanese invade, eventually ending up in a Japanese POW camp, along with some other families and some American deserters, led by John Malkovich. The Americans befriend Jim and he becomes a flunkie, or employee, of them - really more like a hired servant - they are black marketeers and live better than other prisoners.

This has some unforgettable scenes - one a collection of British possessions rotting in a large outdoor field. My favorite is a flyer in a P-38 going past Jim on a watchtower in slow motion as Jim waves at the pilot in the middle of wartime action. Much of this actually happened to author Ballard when he was this age, he spent part of his youth growing up in a Japanese camp for captured Brits.

11 wins out of 24 nominations, incl. 6 Oscar nominations with no wins.. some wins were for cinematography, director, actor Christian Bale..

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Steven Spielberg, 1989 (8.5*)
After the critical flop of the second in the series, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, not very many people were likely waiting for the third. Perhaps in order to boost interest, Spielberg added Sean Connery to the cast as the father of Harrison Ford, which seems a bit of an age stretch to me, Connery's not that old is he?

But the two's comedic chemistry helped add a little spark to this entry, which also brought back more religious mysticism, in this case the "Holy Grail". Often speculated about, and if it's even a real object or a metaphysical analogy, this film defines it as the cup Jesus drank from at the last supper, which supposedly gave it immortal powers, similar to a fountain of youth concept.

Dad joins Junior in a search for the cup before the Nazis can find it; after all, we don't want Der Fuehrer to have everlasting immortality on earth, do we? Joining the search is a blond Germanic beauty, Alison Doody [photo below] who may or may not be a double agent, who of course dazzles Indiana as well.

There are some nice twists to the legend, and also some intellectual puzzles involved, but this adventure maintains the high standard of pace and action set by the original entry, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which single-handedly revived the "Saturday matinee" style of adventure films for kids. They mind-blowing climax was actually filmed in the hidden ancient ruins of Petra, Jordan, which is a canyon cleft in the desert, almost invisible from above.

Currently ranked No. 107 on the IMDB 250. Winner of one Oscar®, for sound effects, 5 awards total.

Quote: "We named the dog Indiana"

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Munich

Steven Spielberg, 2005 (9.1*)
For some reason, this film didn’t receive the acclaim of other Spielberg films, yet it’s just about as good. The story is based on the true story of an Israeli agent, played by Eric Bana, who, along with four others (including Daniel Craig), relentlessly hunts down all the planners of the Munich Olympic terrorism that led to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes. This is a long and gripping film, just what you would expect from the filmmaker of Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. When he tackles an important subject, such as these war films and war crimes, you can’t think of any better modern director to handle the balance of action and character motivation. Five Oscar nominations, including best picture and director. No wins – this was the year that the mediocre, tv-looking movie Crash (not the good J.G. Ballard s/m one either) surprised real movie people by winning over this and Brokeback Mountain.

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Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg, 2002 (8.6*)
This amazing true story is also a very entertaining combination of comedy and drama. The story is about one of the most amazing and elusive con artists in our history, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who was able to pose as an airline pilot (not to fly but to get free travel in the cockpits of other airlines), head of the emergency room of an Atlanta hospital, and a master forger of all types of documents. Without giving any spoilers, the story involves the various cons used while Tom Hanks and the FBI gradually gathers a huge list of crimes while trying to identify and find him.

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Into the West

Dir: Robert Dornhelm, Simon Wincer, 2005 (10*)
This 12-hr tv miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg is now my favorite western. It's really six different 2 hour films, each taking a different era or event in the history of the west.

The story starts with a Lakota Souix sunwheel, where shaman receive visions of the future. It then blends into a wagon wheel being forged in Ohio, by a family named Wheeler, for pioneers heading west. The entire series will be held together by the symbolism of the wheel. which the author said came to him 'in a dream', just as the Wheeler family breaks up when some of the younger ones decide to head west themselves.

The Wheelers then interact with the Souix in their individual stories. The major Souix character we follow throughout is named Loved by the Buffalo after surviving a stampede, and he becomes a shaman who has visions of the Wheelers heading west. One troubling vision argued over by the tribe is one of the disappearance of the buffalo, followed by the Souix.

Various historical events are used as backdrops for the personal stories, such as the railroad, the gold rush, the Indian wars. The writers managed to keep it all connected by the individual lives and their offspring, plus there were hundreds of historical technicians on the crew, including over 25 experts in Native American linguistics alone. There's one beaded dress that took one woman six months to make. Only Spielberg could have the financial clout to pull this off and do the subject justice from all sides of the story. A not to be missed event.

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Schindler’s List

Steven Spielberg, 1993 (9.6*)
Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

AFI and Time Mag Top 100

Spielberg once said that he made films like Jaws, so he could then afford to make films like Schindler’s List.

This is a true story of factory owner Oscar Schindler, a formerly failed capitalist who now sees a chance to benefit from free labor. He personally hired Jews to make munitions, kept their families together and provided a list of his workers who were to be protected, thereby sparing them the camps.

Liam Neeson gives his best performance as Schindler, a man torn between making weapons of destruction to aid the Nazi cause, yet who also wants to save his Jewish workers from their fate. Also turning in a career best performance is Ralph Fiennes as a sadistic Nazi camp officer, who will occasionally pick up a rifle and shoot a prisoner at random just to relieve his boredom.

Shot in black and white, with one color highlight as a visual indicator (no spoilers!) 7 Oscars, Schindler

Now No. 7 on the IMDB 250 and No. 27 on our compendium of top ranked 1000 on the net

Quote: I need the little kids because their tiny hands can reach inside artillery shells. (Schindler)

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E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial

Dir: Steven Spielberg, 1982 (10*)

AFI Top 100

This lovable kids sf film revolves around an alien botanist who gets stranded on earth when his shipmates panic when discovered and take off in a hurry. He eventually is discovered by some kids, led by Henry Thomas, who shelter and take care of him. The creature is dubbed "E.T." for extra-terrestrial being, and eventually becomes both homesick and physically sick from being out of his element, so the kids want to help him contact his fellow beings. In this film, the adults and scientists are the bad guys, the kids and aliens are the good guys. In Spielberg's hands this became a modern parable about racism, caring, and understanding, and an all-time science fiction and children's classic. 4 Oscars

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Saving Private Ryan

Steven Spielberg, 1998 (8.8*)

Best Picture (GG)

AFI Top 100

War doesn't get any more traumatic or realistic than the D-Day landing in Spielberg's infantry film. Many people actually left the theaters, not expecting the graphic horror depicted in the first half hour. After that the story settles into a routine war story of a patrol sent to find and bring out a private named Ryan, played by Matt Damon, whose brothers have all died in previous battles, so he's being sent home.

Tom Hanks, a captain, leads the squad (with a terrific Oscar® nominated performance by Ted Sizemore as a career sgt.) , and more importantly this collaboration with Spielberg led to their co-producing Band of Brothers, which takes this several steps further and deeper. Superb war footage, marred by routine slowness in between, "smoke em if you got 'em". It lost most major awards to Shakespeare in Loveas a result, though Spielberg got a Best Director Oscar®. The film won 5 Oscars® overall

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

Steven Spielberg, 1981 (9.0*)

AFI Top 100

Anyone remembering those old movie serials will realize the roots of this adventure, one of Spielberg's most fun. The pace starts fast, then allows you to catch your breath, then it starts up again, just like the old cliffhangers used to. This tall tale involves an archeaology professor, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, who searches the world for lost and valuable artifacts but seems to keep running into Nazis instead. Raiders has him on the quest of the "Ark of the Covenant", which housed the ten commandments and supposedly was a war weapon in ancient times. Throw in old flame Karen Allen, after a terrific drinking contest in Tibet, and Egyptian comrade John Rhys-Davies, and you have a motley crue of world-saving Nazi fighters. Classic adventure, 30’s style told in 80’s technical terms, with great special effects and mind-blowing revelations.

In keeping with the serial theme, this was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (6*), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (*8).

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Dir: Steven Spielberg, 1977 (9.8*)

Jaw-dropping special effects make this story of aliens visiting earth an awe-inspiring science fiction classic, perhaps Spielberg's finest directing achievement. The story begins with some typical UFO sightings, but after some abductions and increasing worldwide events it's apparent that someone is contacting us from elsewhere. Richard Dreyfuss is one main character who's drawn to a mysterious Wyoming rock monument, Melinda Dillon's toddler left to play with the pretty lights, and a conclave of scientists, who have picked up some intelligent radio signals, led by French director Francois Truffaut are all pulled to this particular area. There are thousands online, including Air Force personnel, who testify that the incident is true, and the information was released to Spielberg to make this movie of the event to cushion the shock to the public! One of a handful of truly great sf films.

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Minority Report

Steven Spielberg, 2002 (9.3*)
This vastly underrated science fiction film from Steven Spielberg concerns an anti-crime unit in the future, led by Tom Cruise, who are told of crimes in advance of their commission by a trio of genetically altered psychics. Colin Farrell puts in a good performance as another detective who becomes involved with Cruise’s character for possible crimes himself.

The specials effects and editing make this another top notch sf film, and by combining all that with crime detectives and basing it on a story by Philip K. Dick (author of the sf novel that was filmed as Blade Runner), you have another classic science fiction film of the highest quality, one of the best five ever.

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