Prismark10
Steven Spielberg has always been open about himself in interviews, about his work and life. So there is very little that is new in this documentary apart from Spielberg doing some second unit directing work in Scarface (1983.)This is a long documentary looking at Spielberg's rise as a director. Sneaking into Universal Studios, starting in television and then moving into movies. He quickly establishing himself as a wunderkind with Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then made the (then) biggest film of all time with ET.However it does come across as too much of a celebratory backslapping promotional piece with friends, families, collaborators, actors and fellow directors. There is the bit in the documentary where everyone wondered how they could produce realistic dinosaurs for Jurassic Park. They went down to see Dennis Muren who showed what he had in his computer and they jumped with joy with what they saw. That is Dennis Muren who previously worked with Spielberg, is an ace special effects supremo who works for George Lucas's company ILM. I have a fair idea they knew what to expect.There is very little by way of criticism here apart from the failure of his comedy 1941. Nothing about the reasons for the failure of his first marriage to Amy Irving, the relative failure of Dreamworks or even the difficulties he has these days of getting his film projects funded.
jadepietro
(RATING: ☆☆☆☆ out of 5) GRADE: B THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.IN BRIEF: An well crafted but bias love-fest about this great director.SYNOPSIS: A document that celebrates the films of Mr. Spielberg. David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia inspired him to become a director. As a teenager, filmmaking kept "those scary whispers" from starting up, providing him a security that life itself could not deliver. His use of close-ups, stationary angles, fluid camera movement, personal storytelling, and quick cuts established his unique style. His sanitized view of suburbia and the Americana, his sentimental view of nostalgia, and his love of childhood and family can be found in most of his films. This is Steven Spielberg. And Susan Lacy's well made documentary examines this legendary filmmaker with much skill (and just too much adoration).The documentary gives us all the facts about this great director using archival footage, interviews with friends and associates, and snippets of his many movies. Turned down from USC film school, he snuck off the tour bus on Universal Studios and observed directors like Hitchcock at work. He later worked at that studio as a first time director gaining knowledge and experience by creating television episodes and movies before his big blockbuster summer hit, Jaws, changed the film industry forever.Using his own personal experiences and his avid love of cinema encouraged him to explore many genres: sci-fi (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., A.I. Minority Report), war movies (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun, War Horse) horror (Jurassic Park, Jaws), adventure (Duel, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Adventures of Tintin), historical biographies (Lincoln, the underrated Bridge of Spies), even comedies (1941, Always, The Terminal).Spielberg delves into his beginnings very effectively. Upset with some critics' assertion that he was primarily a successful commercial and mainstream filmmaker, Mr. Spielberg took up the challenge and created films on more serious subjects such as racism (Amistad, The Color Purple), terrorism and 9/11 (Munich, War of the Worlds), and genocide (the aforementioned Schindler's List). This documentary spend a great deal of time on one of his greatest achievements about the Holocaust ever made, with numerous segments from that Academy Award winning film. Ms. Lacy's film, though well researched, purposely skips over some of his lesser works and allows Mr. Spielberg himself to sidestep his early personal life with the former Mrs. S. (Amy Irving). Yet it still manages to flaunt his happy marriage with his current spouse (Kate Capshaw) and his now happy family life.Directors Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Francis Coppola, J.J. Abrams, and Brian DePalma were his friends and creative rivals and their comments in interviews add great insight to the technical aspects of this man. In fact, the point is made numerous times that his films dealing with technology advancements were living examples of state-of-the-art filmmaking themselves. (CGI use in Jurassic Park, Minority Report, A I., War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, etc. elevated the bar in cinematic terms) The documentary is always entertaining with special moments to savor: Spielberg's own reminiscences of filming of his two masterworks, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski discussing his camera work with fascinating details in conjunction with the director's vision on the latter epic, scenes of him directing a young Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas on the E.T. set that are very insightful and gives us a glimpse of his extraordinary technique as a director. The director himself gives due credit to his artisan family who are his crew for many movies, including composer John Williams. However, his personal life and hardships are glossed over such as his first marriage and divorce and his film duds are rarely acknowledged (Hook, The BFG, his comedies).The film becomes a love-fest rather than a serious chronicle of an artist. It continuously lauds him. Janet Maslin, Todd McCarthy, J. Hoberman, and A. O. Scott analyze his films with much admiration. Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day Lewis, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Oprah Winfrey, and Ben Kingsley speak eloquently of working with him. Yet, except for his estrangement with his father, there are no warts at all in this depiction of Mr. Spielberg and that becomes a bit of the problem for such a flattering documentary. One wishes would have could have shown a more balanced vision of this immensely talented man with at least a margin of human error, but that does not exist in The World of Spielberg. Just as some of his films rely too heavily on uplifting and positive viewpoints, so does this documentary and that prevents this film from becoming a great work of art about a great director. Perhaps the subject himself could not give up complete control to Ms. Lacy to make an completely honest portrait of an artist.Still, while the documentary shows this visionary director in the best of light, with little shading, it also shows us some of the best films of the last 40 years that emerged from a master craftsman who celebrates "pure movie-making". Spielberg is a fine testament about one man whose love for the movies made the world a better place.
Eka Herlyanti
Yesterday's movie night was quite a hard pick for me: Spielberg or Christine. Both started at 10 p.m and are based on true story, only the previous one is a documentary and the other one is a biopic. At the last second, I finally picked Spielberg because he's a great filmmaker despite the fact I haven't watched all of his movies. Another reason, I know Dawson Leery from Dawson's Creek worships this guy. He's explained why but I need to know more about Spielberg. He's considered a genius for making a debut at a very young age. One of those great artists in the world. I was so glad to find out that this documentary is a world premiere, meaning I've made the right choice.The documentary is so informative and entertaining at the same time. Love to see those individuals involved in filmmaking spend their time together, support, criticize and appreciate each other's works. Spielberg himself was driven to filmmaking at a very young age although he wasn't so sure if it was his real passion or just a plain hobby, or even his diversion since he was bullied and a broken home kid. Those hard times in his youth reflected almost in his every movie. Some of them are very personal. And yes, Dawson was right when he said Spielberg almost never put nudity or sex scene in his movies because he's shy. So cute, anyway.I downloaded Lawrence of Arabia right away because it's the movie that's so meaningful for Spielberg in his career as a director. I promise my self to watch all movies where Spielberg's in it.
typrat
This could have been great, especially given the access the filmmakers obviously had and the stature of the people interviewed. Instead it's an overlong, boring and unimaginatively grovelling look at Spielberg's life and career. Apart from a few tantalizing clips of a young Spielberg at work there's absolutely nothing new here and it just sinks into an extended EPK-level parade of sycophantic comments and backslapping, intended, it seems, more to curry favor with Hollywood establishment power than to offer any perception or insight into a master filmmaker, his films and his methods. Like the syrupy sentimentality of Spielberg at his worst, this is more of a protracted, tedious, sugar-coated eulogy than a perceptive and insightful documentary. It seems to me that the filmmakers are more fearful of incurring Spielberg's displeasure than presenting something engaging, new and compelling. What an awful waste of an incredible opportunity.
