Spielberg's Best Pictures and New DVDs
Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 3:30PM 
Time to check in to see which movies we all can check back in with or catch up with now that they've hit the home market. The big title, Oscar wise is Steven Spielberg's 10th Best Picture nominee as a director, the cold war drama Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance both doing fine work as a lawyer and the spy he must bargain with for a prisoner of war trade. Only one of Spielberg's directorial efforts has ever won Best Picture (Schindler's List, 1993) but which is your favorite? I'd rank them like so...
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- Jaws (1975)
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
- Lincoln (2012)
- The Color Purple (1985)
- Bridge of Spies (2015)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Munich (2005)
- War Horse (2011)
With the disclaimer that everyone knows I'm not a Spielberg aficionado really (the top three are the only ones I'm completely wild about from this list with Close Encounters of the Third Kind also a favorite but Best Picture was not among its 8 (!) nominations. [Trivia Aside: It's tied for second place with The Dark Knight and some other films for 'most nominations without Best Picture,' though the expanded Best Picture field will probably insure that no more films join said list. The all time record holder is They Shoot Horses Don't They (1969) which is completely amazing film but somehow missed a Best Picture nomination despite 9 other bids for the gold.]
ICYMI Murtada just got done ranking the Spielberg Nominated Performances so we're in that sorta mood you could say
Also New on DVD or BluRay
• Burnt Bradley Cooper is a chef. And lots of actresses orbit him
• Chi-Raq Spike Lee's randy funny raging update of Lysistrata (See: Best of 2015)
• Downton Abbey (Final Season) which I'm loving as it airs
• Freeheld in which Julianne Moore & Ellen Page fall in love and fight for their rights
• Goosebumps in which monsters come to life and Jack Black and kids fight them
• Our Brand is Crisis a rare flop for Sandra Bullock as a campaign manager
• Suffragette Mulligan, Streep and Bonhman-Carter fight for their voting rights
• Truth Cate Blanchett and her fabulous curls fight a losing battle to bring down President Bush with his sneaky draft-dodging
New to Netflix Instant Watch
• Better Call Saul (S1) in which Breaking Bad lives on to hold on to its Emmy slots. Now Streaming on Netflix.
• Lila & Eve Viola Davis goes vigilante. February 6th.
• Love (Gaspar Noe) in which Gaspar Noe splooges into the camera (in 3D!). This explicit sex drama should have really been something but Christ it's a bore. February 4th.
• Mad Men (S7.2) in which we try to be all zen while saying goodbye to the greatest TV show of all time. February 5th.
READER'S CHOICE
We might start doing a poll where you choose which old movie, just released to Instant Watch, you want to force Nathaniel to watch and write up and discuss with y'all. What'cha think? Some of this month's new/old options are Charlie's Angels (2000), Cruel Intentions (1999), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Jennifer 8 (1992... I used to be really into this one because: Uma), Losing Isaiah (1995), Stardust (2007), Teen Witch (1989), and I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)
Reader Comments (25)
"though the expanded Best Picture field will probably insure that no more films join said list"
Maybe, but Carol's six nominations-without-BP puts it awfully close (alas).
Cruel Intentions!
I went to see the Nation Theatres live showing of Les Liasons Dangereuse at the cinema last week (it's something the National does with big plays and operas. they do a mini doc before on the production and had an interview with Chris Hampton at the interval. It's a brilliant series - I saw Gillian Anderson tear it up as Blanche du Bois last year for the price of a normal cinema ticket)
Anyway, Dangereuse was fab, with Janet McTeer incredible in the lead. It makes me desperate to revisit Cruel Intentions, which I've always thought of as a pretty spiffy update, if not a patch on Liaison itself
Cruel Intentions please! By far Sarah Michelle Gellar's best performance and it's just a trashy feel good movie that I love. The ending totally makes me cry every time I watch it too!
Not remotely definitive for me, but:
01. Schindler’s List
02. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
03. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
04. Empire of the Sun
05. Raiders of the Lost Ark
06. Saving Private Ryan
07. Munich
08. Jaws
09. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
10. Lincoln
Also, you forgot "Dreamgirls" as a non-Best Picture eight-time nominee.
My favorite Spielberg is his unofficial director credit, Poltergeist.
I Love You, Phlilip Morris! Another weird little gem (for both Ewan and Carrey) that fell through the cracks.
You said you never saw Cruel Intentions. It is required viewing.
I assume Nat meant ranking the top Spileberg films that were nominated for BP, not just his top 10 in general. So that excludes some choices I would make like Minority Report, Catch Me if You Can, and A.I.
Lincoln (2012)
The Color Purple (1985)
Bridge of Spies (2015)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
War Horse (2011)
1. Jaws
2. Raiders
3. Schindler's List
4. Munich
5. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
6. Lincoln
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. Bridge of Spies
9. The Color Purple
10. War Horse
The top 5 are unimpeachable. Much shakier order after that.
Downton is killing it this season. Even the side plots are entertaining.
And if Rob James-Collier doesn't finally get an Emmy nomination then no one's watching.
My Spielberg BP 10:
1. Raiders
2. Private Ryan
3. Schindler's
4. Lincoln
5. Jaws
6. Munich
7. Bridge of Spies
8. Color Purple
9. E.T. (blasphemy, I know, but it just hasn't stood up beyond its nostalgia for me)
10. War Horse
I love I Love You Philip Morris. Carrey is just fantastic in it.
LOVE is a Netflix original series, not the Noe film.
I appreciate him more now. Bridge of Spies was really good. He, Mike Nichols and Sydney Pollack all made good movies.
Tom Ford- Speaking of Mike Nichols, did you happen to catch American Masters last week? The Elaine May-directed mini-biodoc was a nice tribute. The bigger biodoc airs later this year on HBO. I always forget that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was his FIRST MOVIE! Dayum.
Nathaniel- I vote for STARDUST, because I love love love that movie, and it's mostly based on a novel by the always magical, Neil Gaiman.
I have not seen the PBS special on Mike Nichols but I am dying to see it. He was such a great director and adored by actors. I am sensing a condensing of the 1979-2029 film library and it's looking good for Streep, Ford, Day-Lewis, Hanks, Washington, Cate and a few others in this current class of new actors. X
Pam - we are in sync - the Mike Nichols tribute was very good and reminded me of just what a range he had, and no big auteur ego. (he makes fun of the auteur theory).
"Stardust" isn't great but it's got very interesting parts and what a delicious cast.
"Jaws" for #1 -when beach season rolls around there is no better film than Jaws.
Uncle Julian really did his cast proud in this last season of Downton, did you love "The Red Dinner" or "The Alien goes to Downton" as much as I did?
Hugh Bonneville was really great in that scene. And Carson's cooking...LOL.
Dean -- according to other sites it is the Gaspar Noe on the 4th. then later in the month a new original series with the same name.
Sawyer -- but no one ever changes their votes from cast member to cast member with Emmy.
I need that DVD for Love, that is a fucking great film.
Oh, and Leo too. He also has a really good film catalogue.
I'd love to see your take on Cruel Intentions as well, quite a fun ride.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Jaws
3. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
4. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
5. Empire of the Sun
6. Schindler's List
7, Duel
8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
9. War of the Worlds
10. Lincoln
Also, I'd love to see you write up Full Metal Jacket, but maybe I'm just basic since EVERYBODY talks about it.
I would very much love to see you write about Losing Isaiah. Much actressing to discuss!
The Red Dinner. LOL
I also vote for Losing Isiah (Halle Berry's big breakthrough - what do you think of the performance?) or I Love You Phillip Morris (I thought Ewan should've been nominated that year).
Great! I stand corrected.
Cruel Intentions!