Filmography: A.I. (2001); Minority Report (2002); Catch Me If You Can (2002); The Terminal (2004); War of the Worlds (2005); Munich (2005); Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008); The Adventures of Tintin (2011); War Horse (2011); Lincoln (2012) People love to hate on Steven Spielberg, and it's understandable, because when you have been number one for so long, it is inevitable that you will create a lot of detractors. It's unfortunate though that so many have a negative knee-jerk reaction to Spielberg, because it makes it hard to objectively discuss his recent filmography, which contrary to popular belief, is actually quite good. Of course, comparing Spielberg's recent work to his early films is always going to be a losing proposition for his new films, but put those expectations aside and you will discover a director who has still got it. Spielberg started the new millennium with what is actually the greatest three-film stretch of his career: A.I., Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can. The best of these almost rank with Spielberg's classics and stand out as some of the top films of the 2000's. After this, however, is where things start to get dicey. The Terminal was a complete non-entity, War of Worlds has more going for it than most want to admit but does have issues, and Munich is a good film that suffers from being overly didactic. Then there is the big black eye that many will hold against Spielberg to the day he dies: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There is no defending this film other than to say that perhaps Spielberg was coerced into making it by his longtime friend George Lucas. Finally, Spielberg's last trio of films, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, and Lincoln, have been largely respected but not loved. Due to their stodgy subject matter, it is easy to dismiss War Horse and Lincoln as inconsequential middlebrow fluff, but this ignores how well these films are actually made. In any other hands, these films would be barely watchable, and the fact that both films are as dynamic as they are is just proof of Spielberg's irrefutable talent.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
