In my list of the Great Modern Movies that inspire me, no director is more represented than Steven Spielberg. We’ve already covered four masterpieces and the Top 100 has one more title after this, with five more films after that. His longevity is just another astounding aspect of his career, and a direct rebuke of Quentin Tarantino’s belief that directors should know when it’s time to stop and preserve their legacy.
At this point, I have decades of perspective on Spielberg and find that I’m still barely learning from his gifts. Stories have dripped out for years about moments of inspiration Spielberg had for getting a scene just right, with a minimum of takes and setups. The speed of a Spielberg production is well-known, and why he’s sometimes released two films in a year.
Part of the enigma is that I grew up on Spielberg movies, so it’s difficult to step back and analyze why they’re so effective. E.T. is a perfect example. Watching it now is an experience so deeply baked in nostalgia that I can only recall my initial rush of emotions. I don’t watch this one as much because it gets very sad and there’s a traumatic image of E.T. that I never need to see again. Raiders and Jaws are more rewatchable, but the technical craft of E.T. – lighting, sound, score, editing – are as perfect as movies get.
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