7. Jurassic Park (1993)
Spielberg has made an entire career of creating entertaining films spanning multiple genres and styles. Sure, he had a few misses, but for the most part, his filmography is at the very least enjoyable and watchable. However, it is of my opinion that throughout his career, Spielberg has created four truly flawless masterpieces of entertainment that are quite simply unmatched by any other films ever made. And the first of these masterpieces on this list is Jurassic Park. This film is so flawlessly structured and brilliantly executed I simply do not understand how anyone could watch it and criticize Spielberg as a director. The characters are completely different from the type of characters we usually expect to see in these genre films - and Spielberg's casting of character actors Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum reflects this sentiment. The story structure is the epitome of perfection - everything that is planted early on pays off in the end, and the descent into madness and chaos is thrilling and horrifying to watch at the same time. The set pieces are perfectly structured and there are some genuinely terrifying moments that I still get the chills from even though I know that everything will turn out alright in the end. And then there are the dinosaurs. Spielberg had already conquered aliens, but for many of us in the early 90's and still today, nothing exemplified the sense of childhood wonder more than dinosaurs. Seeing them come to life - and underscored by some of the absolute best work of John Williams' career - is a revelatory experience. The CGI in the film is literally flawless - it is impossible to discern from the animatronic live-action elements utilized, and holds up better today than most CGI used in subsequent films, including in recent years. Though there have been countless imitators, there is simply nothing quite like the original.