I didn’t see this one when it came out because I was in a very anti-Spielberg place at the time. Catching up with it now, I’m reminded why that was: modern Spielberg is pretty shitty. I’ve had bad reactions to his work going back all the way to the late 90s. The Lost World and A.I. are crap, I don’t get what everybody sees in Catch Me if You Can, Saving Private Ryan is hugely overrated other than the opening scene, the fourth Indiana Jones movie was a big disappointment. I could get into all of the usual complaints about Spielberg’s stuff, how it’s pandering, overly cutesy, how he relies too much on CG, etc… but there’s no point. I just didn’t like anything about this movie. It gets two stars because everything he makes at least gets shot well, but other than that it did nothing for me. I was planning on filling in the holes I have in Spielberg’s later career by watching this, Munich, and War of the Worlds; but now I’m not so sure it’s worth my time. I think I’m interested enough to check out Munich still, but the other Tom Cruise vehicle is getting put off. I think I’ll just pretend Spielberg directed Super 8 to get my Amblin nostalgia fix.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Short Round: Minority Report (2002) **/*****
I didn’t see this one when it came out because I was in a very anti-Spielberg place at the time. Catching up with it now, I’m reminded why that was: modern Spielberg is pretty shitty. I’ve had bad reactions to his work going back all the way to the late 90s. The Lost World and A.I. are crap, I don’t get what everybody sees in Catch Me if You Can, Saving Private Ryan is hugely overrated other than the opening scene, the fourth Indiana Jones movie was a big disappointment. I could get into all of the usual complaints about Spielberg’s stuff, how it’s pandering, overly cutesy, how he relies too much on CG, etc… but there’s no point. I just didn’t like anything about this movie. It gets two stars because everything he makes at least gets shot well, but other than that it did nothing for me. I was planning on filling in the holes I have in Spielberg’s later career by watching this, Munich, and War of the Worlds; but now I’m not so sure it’s worth my time. I think I’m interested enough to check out Munich still, but the other Tom Cruise vehicle is getting put off. I think I’ll just pretend Spielberg directed Super 8 to get my Amblin nostalgia fix.
