Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Phillipa
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Prismark10
Steven Spielberg has always been open about himself in interviews, about his work and life. So there is very little that is new in this documentary apart from Spielberg doing some second unit directing work in Scarface (1983.)This is a long documentary looking at Spielberg's rise as a director. Sneaking into Universal Studios, starting in television and then moving into movies. He quickly establishing himself as a wunderkind with Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then made the (then) biggest film of all time with ET.However it does come across as too much of a celebratory backslapping promotional piece with friends, families, collaborators, actors and fellow directors. There is the bit in the documentary where everyone wondered how they could produce realistic dinosaurs for Jurassic Park. They went down to see Dennis Muren who showed what he had in his computer and they jumped with joy with what they saw. That is Dennis Muren who previously worked with Spielberg, is an ace special effects supremo who works for George Lucas's company ILM. I have a fair idea they knew what to expect.There is very little by way of criticism here apart from the failure of his comedy 1941. Nothing about the reasons for the failure of his first marriage to Amy Irving, the relative failure of Dreamworks or even the difficulties he has these days of getting his film projects funded.
zkonedog
In the year 2017, it must be kind of difficult to produce a compelling documentary about a figure such as Steven Spielberg. I mean, in all honesty, what more can be said about the man that hasn't been already?! Where "Spielberg" really manages to shine, then, is in its coverage of Steven's personal life and background.As per the usual, "Spielberg" covers all the "usual subjects" (Jaws, Indy, Schindler, Saving Private Ryan, etc.) and all the old stories get told yet again. Fortunately, the production values of this doc are good enough (that's what happens with the backing of HBO) that it never really feels old or stale.Like I said, though, the real highlights are the personal interviews with Spielberg himself (or family members and those who know him closely). I learned many new things about his personal life, and I loved the home videos with wife Kate Capshaw and his seven children. We all know him as a fantastic filmmaker (which he surely is), but this doc does a really good job of portraying him as a person as well.So, while perhaps not the most ground-breaking documentary of all-time, "Spielberg" is still entertaining (due to the production value) and information (personal information) and never failed to hold my interest during the almost 2.5 hour runtime.
Eka Herlyanti
Yesterday's movie night was quite a hard pick for me: Spielberg or Christine. Both started at 10 p.m and are based on true story, only the previous one is a documentary and the other one is a biopic. At the last second, I finally picked Spielberg because he's a great filmmaker despite the fact I haven't watched all of his movies. Another reason, I know Dawson Leery from Dawson's Creek worships this guy. He's explained why but I need to know more about Spielberg. He's considered a genius for making a debut at a very young age. One of those great artists in the world. I was so glad to find out that this documentary is a world premiere, meaning I've made the right choice.The documentary is so informative and entertaining at the same time. Love to see those individuals involved in filmmaking spend their time together, support, criticize and appreciate each other's works. Spielberg himself was driven to filmmaking at a very young age although he wasn't so sure if it was his real passion or just a plain hobby, or even his diversion since he was bullied and a broken home kid. Those hard times in his youth reflected almost in his every movie. Some of them are very personal. And yes, Dawson was right when he said Spielberg almost never put nudity or sex scene in his movies because he's shy. So cute, anyway.I downloaded Lawrence of Arabia right away because it's the movie that's so meaningful for Spielberg in his career as a director. I promise my self to watch all movies where Spielberg's in it.
typrat
This could have been great, especially given the access the filmmakers obviously had and the stature of the people interviewed. Instead it's an overlong, boring and unimaginatively grovelling look at Spielberg's life and career. Apart from a few tantalizing clips of a young Spielberg at work there's absolutely nothing new here and it just sinks into an extended EPK-level parade of sycophantic comments and backslapping, intended, it seems, more to curry favor with Hollywood establishment power than to offer any perception or insight into a master filmmaker, his films and his methods. Like the syrupy sentimentality of Spielberg at his worst, this is more of a protracted, tedious, sugar-coated eulogy than a perceptive and insightful documentary. It seems to me that the filmmakers are more fearful of incurring Spielberg's displeasure than presenting something engaging, new and compelling. What an awful waste of an incredible opportunity.