comment #1

Tom Logan says ...

Did Spielberg scrap Paul Webb's draft or is Kushner doing a re-write?
I agree that the Chicago 7 project becomes more tantalising with Greengrass because of the subject matter but
I don't understand the Spielberg backlash that i'm starting to see everywhere?I think he's still got it,I haven't seen The Terminal but the last film of his that i felt disappointed by was The Lost World(I have to say i'm a fan of Always,theres moments of cinematic magic and the performances are winning.)

comment #2

Mark says ...

A Speilburg version of the Chicago 7 would probably be 99% on target. They should have just hire Greengrass to reshoot the 1% that's off. How much more positively would we view the recent SS canon if Greengrass handled the sex scene in Munich, the family reunion in War of the Worlds, and the nuke the fridge scenario in Indy. (Alter just 3 scenes and those movies go from an overall 6 to an overall 8 out of 10.

comment #3

chicbn872 says ...

I agree with Mark. Spielberg's movies aren't exactly awful, they are just missing something recently.

To be frank, the word that comes to mind for me? Pussy. Spielberg has become a huge pussy that is afraid of being controversial. When that son lives in "War Of The Worlds", it really showed how much of a pussy Spielberg has become. "Saving Private Ryan" was the end of the line for him.

comment #4

AndrewOwens says ...

Mark I would say the scene from Indy 4 that most desperately needs Greengrass' attentions was the Le Bouf CGI vine swinging scene. God, that was embarrassing for all involved.

Chicago 7 would be cool. Greengrass doing the Democratic convention riots would be gripping stuff (Stuart Townsend has aped his style for Battle of Seattle).

comment #5

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Mark: Good point, but that's the thing about Spielberg -- he always fucks his good movies up one way or the other with a bad scene or two. That ending of Schindler's List with Liam Neeson crying and that color-shot tribute thing in Israel is another example. Spielberg's sentimentality or playful goofiness is always the drop of poison in the well. The CG gophers in Indy 4...same thing. The music playing louder and louder behind Anthony Hopkins' John Quincy Adams as he gives his jury speech in Amistad...a killer.

comment #6

mutinyco says ...

The problem for Greengrass here is that:

a) He'll actually have to direct performances from his actors and not serious-looking sound bites.

b) He'll have nothing to cross-cut with.

c) He'll be forced to maintain the same spacial and temporal plain for extended scenes.

comment #7

Mark says ...

E.T. screwed up Speilburg. Once someone attains the power to move the entire world to weep, it's only natural to try and weild that power as frequently as possible. He's just no Ang Lee.

I was half OK with his "going for it" in the Saving Private bookends, for which he took way too much heat. My tolerance, however, may have been relative, since the execution was so very much off in the examples you mentioned.

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

The end of SCHINDLER'S LIST is not to be questioned. Devastating.

comment #9

btwnproductions says ...

Ho-hum.The humdrum cartoon doc went absolutely nowhere. If you can't get anyone interested in an Iraq-era pic, why does anyone think a Vietnam-era one will ring the bell? Howard Deutch may as well direct it.

comment #10

Joshua Mooney says ...

I wouldn't want to see Spielberg's take on "Chicago 7" any more than I'd want to see his take on "Medium Cool" or "Gimme Shelter." That said, why is Greengrass such a better choice? I don't get it.

comment #11

Mark says ...

BurmaShave: do you mean the placing of rocks in present-day Israel or are you referring to Oskar's group hug. Please don't say the latter. "Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people."

If only Speilberg simply copied the ending of The Graduate. Schindler baracades the Nazi troops inside the factory with the help of a church cross. He and his people then escape on a school bus, where they all must ponder their fate as Paul Simon goes on about some shit.

comment #12

lipranzer says ...

Didn't Aaron Sorkin write a draft of this? It'd be kind of curious for Greengrass to direct that, since they have such differing styles.

comment #13

Edward says ...

All you Greengrass naysayers must never have seen Bloody Sunday or United 93. Oh, and a couple of Bourne movies too.

comment #14

alen says ...

Yes, many users on our H circle site" STDpal com" think Spielberg's movies aren't exactly awful. But there are many fans on it also. Good luck!

comment #15

DavidF says ...

I'm with BurmaShave on the Schindlers List ending - yeah, even the weepy speech. It's become popular to pick on that scene because:
a) It's the closest thing to a flaw in the entire 3 hrs
b) It was parodied on Seinfeld
Sure, it might go a little too close to melodrama, but everything leading up to it, with the ring and everything following it - the arrival of the Russian solider, the fade to Israel- is, IMHO perfect and a perfect balance of "hit the buttons" Spielberg and the maturity he showed with that film.

But the son living in WOTW? Yeah...that was a copout. That and the removal of the epilogue titles from Minority Report - teensy, tiny details that undermined otherwise very good movies.

comment #16

Terry McCarty says ...

Glad that Greengrass is attached to CHICAGO 7. To me, it's rather tragic that he's not making WATCHMEN, but Zack Hack is.

comment #17

Terry McCarty says ...

If he directs it he'll screw it up one way or the other -- trust me. He has no natural gut investment in Lincoln, like he did when he made Schindler's List. He really has become that 60ish bearded suburban guy poking around a high-end hardware store looking to buy weed killer.

I think Spielberg looks in the mirror and sees himself as carrying on the George Stevens and/or William Wyler and/or Fred Zinneman tradition.

comment #18

BurmaShave says ...

Remember, for all his schmaltz and production code happy endings, Speilberg has still shown us some of the most sickening things put on screen. For all the complaining about the son living in WOTW I still remember a summer sci-fi movie where people's blood is sucked from their bodies with appropriate sound effects. Not to mention all the viscera in PRIVATE RYAN. GLORY came close, but no film has ever fully captured the insane bloodshed of the Civil War and if there's a chance of some of that in LINCOLN I say that Spielberg is the man for it.

Not to mention the last movie he made with Kushner was MUNICH, which, while polarizing, is an extraordinary film.

comment #19

Herry2008 says ...

Recently, quite a few celebrities and pro athletes were said to appear on the millionaire luxury club "R I C H L O V I N G.C O M" to hook up with hot girls, ladies, models... OMG!!! Are these famous guys fond of internet dating for now?? Maybe they are indeed so rich that they feel boring sometimes to need new things? It was reported on MSN Charlie Sheen has found his girl there last May

comment #20

Richardson says ...

I am shocked that people will write off Spielberg because of a few less-than-perfect scenes in amazing movies. How can you like *any* movies on that standard? Anybody who can sit through 'Dark Knight' and not have a complaint about how utterly terrible Christian Bale is as Batman really can't then turn around and complain about Spielberg's endings being a little too on-the-nose.

comment #21

Josh says ...

Out of all the films in the spielberg cannon why is it "always" that makes him a bad director?

cant a guy have one misstep 2 decades ago??

comment #22

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