Steven Spielberg Criticism
Steven Spielberg's career is a fascinating journey through the landscape of American cinema, marked by innovative storytelling and technical prowess. His early foray into filmmaking began in high school with short films, eventually leading to a pivotal moment in 1967 when he gained unauthorized access to observe directors at Universal Studios. Spielberg's breakthrough was with the short film Amblin', which opened doors to television directing opportunities, including series like Night Gallery and Columbo. His made-for-TV movie Duel is particularly noteworthy for its intense existential tension, as observed by Tom Milne.
Building on his television success, Spielberg directed his first feature film, The Sugarland Express, which incorporates elements reminiscent of Duel and features an engaging car chase. The film's artistic value has been the subject of debate; Pauline Kael praised Spielberg's natural directorial instincts, while Stephen Farber critiqued its lack of originality. The commercial tone of The Sugarland Express seemed to foreshadow the phenomenal success of Jaws, a film that not only achieved blockbuster status but also masterfully blended humor, horror, and societal themes, as examined by James Monaco.
Spielberg's narrative and technical skills reached new heights with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which further solidified his reputation. The film's spectacle-driven narrative and groundbreaking technical achievements generated a spectrum of critical responses. Pauline Kael was impressed by its wonder and technical prowess, while Stanley Kauffmann focused on its thematic exploration of humanity's intrinsic quest for connection.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Spielberg, Steven (Vol. 188)
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Parsifal at the Bat
(summary)
In the following review, O'Brien describes the action sequences in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as “relentless” and “predictable.”
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Innocence Unrewarded: A Note on E.T. and the Myth of Adolescence
(summary)
In the following essay, Magistrale examines the portrayal of adults in E.T. and discusses the film as an indictment of adult society.
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E.T. as Rhetorical Transcendence
(summary)
In the following essay, Rushing characterizes E.T. as “a significant experiment in the rhetoric of mythic transcendence,” noting that the film effectively deconstructs the boundaries between the individual and the community.
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Sign of the Times
(summary)
In the following review, Kauffmann views The Color Purple as a significant advancement in the portrayal and participation of African Americans in contemporary film.
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Mauve
(summary)
In the following review, Mars-Jones discusses the flaws in both the novel The Color Purple and Spielberg's film adaptation, arguing that the two works rely “heavily on the plot-machinery of melodrama.”
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From Television to Feature Films
(summary)
In the following essay, Mott and Saunders examine Spielberg's early made-for-television movies, noting that the eventual theatrical releases of Duel and The Sugarland Express set certain thematic precedents for Spielberg's subsequent films.
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I'm Going to Make You a Star
(summary)
In the following essay, Mott and Saunders explore the inspirations behind E.T. and comment on the film's critical reception and suspected religious symbolism.
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Go East, Young Man
(summary)
In the following review, O'Brien notes Spielberg's tendency toward childishness and sentimentality in Empire of the Sun.
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E.T. and a Half
(summary)
In the following review, Adair comments on Spielberg's “cosmic” and supernatural sensibility in Empire of the Sun.
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The Trail of the Grail
(summary)
In the following review, Kauffmann offers a positive assessment of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, arguing that the majority of Spielberg's films function as “prepubescent male” fantasies.
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Keeping up with the Joneses
(summary)
In the following review, White elucidates the political themes in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and asserts that the film repudiates the genre conventions of the two earlier Indiana Jones films.
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Serial Mythmash
(summary)
In the following essay, Greenberg explores the influence of the Saturday matinee serials of the 1940s on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the Indiana Jones series as whole, particularly noting elements of covert racism and sexism evinced in the films.
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Always a Love Story
(summary)
In the following review, Moore praises Spielberg's cinematic maturity in Always and comments that the film “has been widely represented as Spielberg's first grown-up film.”
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Raiders of the Lost Ark: Totem and Taboo
(summary)
In the following essay, Gordon argues that Raiders of the Lost Ark “transcends the old action serials” that acted as its inspiration as evidenced by the film's dense mythological and religious undertones.
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Fantasies & Gimmicks
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Alleva regards Hook as an inconsistent and “half-baked sequel” to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
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Crocodile Tear-Jerker
(summary)
In the following review, Billson derides the crass commercialism of Hook, calling the film “a cynical money-spinning exercise full of lacklustre action and meretricious sentiment-by-numbers.”
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The Panning of Steven Spielberg: Chapter One of a Critical Cliffhanger
(summary)
In the following essay, Sheehan traces Spielberg's early development as a director, noting Spielberg's dominant thematic concerns in such films as Duel, Jaws, 1941, and The Color Purple.
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Spielberg II
(summary)
In the following essay, Sheehan continues his critical appraisal of Spielberg's oeuvre, focusing on his films released after The Color Purple and placing particular emphasis on Hook.
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Little Monsters
(summary)
In the following review, Romney identifies the major thematic concerns of Jurassic Park.
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Bronto Buster
(summary)
In the following review, Amory provides a mixed assessment of Jurassic Park, concluding that the movie is predictable and exhibits a lack of energy and imagination.
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Big Stupid Fun
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Alleva argues that Jurassic Park demonstrates Spielberg's skill as a gifted entertainer but asserts that Spielberg “is losing the human touch” of his earlier films.
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Close Encounters of the Nazi Kind
(summary)
In the following review, Wieseltier counters the prevailing positive critical reception of Schindler's List, contending that the film is self-conscious and glib and fails to fully grasp its subject matter.
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Schindler's Secret Revolt
(summary)
In the following review, Bromwich elucidates the strengths and weaknesses of Schindler's List, noting that the film is “a story of great magnitude that has the added virtue of being true.”
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The Holocaust in the Picture-House
(summary)
In the following review, Cheyette praises the ambition and power of Schindler's List, asserting that, despite its limitations, the film is an “outstanding achievement.”
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The Poetry of Horror
(summary)
In the following review, Romney commends certain aspects of Schindler's List but asserts that the film is caught between its aspirations to realistically portray the horror of the Holocaust and its “love of elegance.”
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Toward a Theory of Spielberg History
(summary)
In the following review, White addresses Schindler's List as a work of historical realism and considers the film to be Spielberg's “most compromised” work.
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The Schindler's List Effect
(summary)
In the following review, Bernstein asserts that Schindler's List has affected "the way our culture understands, historically orders, and teaches how the Holocaust should be remembered—and effects like these require a sharp-eyed and unembarrassed resistance."
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‘Not Exactly a Knight’: Arthurian Narrative and Recuperative Politics in the Indiana Jones Trilogy
(summary)
In the following essay, Aronstein argues that the Indiana Jones trilogy uses the traditions of “medieval chivalric romances” to construct a film hero who represents a modern American knight.
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The Return of the Father in Spielberg's The Color Purple
(summary)
In the following essay, Dole discusses Spielberg's film adaptation of The Color Purple, commenting on the increased role of male dominance in the film.
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Review of The Lost World: Jurassic Park
(summary)
In the following review, Coe criticizes the violent excesses in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, declaring that the film is “among the grossest, not to mention goriest and most sadistic films ever to have been awarded a PG certificate in this country.”
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Carry on Killing
(summary)
In the following review, Steyn comments on the frenetic pace of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and states that “Spielberg's films are turning into his dinosaurs: big, brutal, but with no imagination.”
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Spielberg Slips on the Celluloid Deck
(summary)
In the following review, Cash contrasts Spielberg's treatment of the Holocaust in Schindler's List with his portrayal of slavery in Amistad, contending that Amistad is both an insensitive and patronizing fictionalization of the era of slavery.
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Of Human Bondage
(summary)
In the following review, Kauffmann lauds Amistad as a “solid” and “engrossing” film.
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Amistad and the Abuse of History
(summary)
In the following essay, Rosen evaluates the veracity of Spielberg's portrayal of race relations and historical events in Amistad.
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Review of Amistad
(summary)
In the following review, Strick notes that Amistad shares certain structural similarities to contemporary crime dramas.
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Spielberg's Soldiers
(summary)
In the following review, Jenkins investigates Spielberg's thematic intentions with Saving Private Ryan, perceiving the film to be “neither anti-war nor pro-war.”
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A Brutal Masterpiece
(summary)
In the following review, Alleva commends Saving Private Ryan as an impressive cinematic accomplishment.
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War Story
(summary)
In the following review, Kaufman asserts that Spielberg is one of the most accomplished film directors of all time and compliments the “surpassing technical virtuosity” of Saving Private Ryan.
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The Doughboy's D-Day
(summary)
In the following review, Shephard divides Saving Private Ryan into three separate sections, comparing the realism of the opening invasion scene with Darryl F. Zanuck's The Longest Day.
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Spielberg at War
(summary)
In the following review, Caldwell explores the varied critical reaction to Saving Private Ryan, noting that film scholars have been unable to decide if the film offers a positive or negative perspective on World War II.
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Saving Private Ryan
(summary)
In the following review, Jaehne elucidates the theme of communication in Saving Private Ryan.
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Movie of the Moment: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
(summary)
In the following review, Arthur perceives A.I.: Artificial Intelligence to be an unsuccessful amalgamation of Spielberg's optimism and sentimentality and Stanley Kubrick's pessimism.
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Very Special Effects
(summary)
In the following review, O'Brien offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
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Pinocchio Redux
(summary)
In the following favorable review, Cooper contends that A.I.: Artificial Intelligence “keeps us nicely off balance, our hearts continually pitted against our heads, Spielbergian images pumped full of Kubrickian ironies.”
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The Dreamlife of Androids
(summary)
In the following review, Hoberman explores A.I. as a “curious hybrid” of the cinematic styles of Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick, calling the film Spielberg's first “art film.”
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Circuit Love
(summary)
In the following review, Steyn comments that Spielberg is too concerned with making an artistic statement in A.I. and derides the director for overindulging in allusions to past films.
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Review of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
(summary)
In the following review, Strick identifies parallels between A.I. and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
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Robots Redux: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
(summary)
In the following essay, Tibbetts offers a thematic and stylistic overview of A.I, arguing that the influence of director Stanley Kubrick on the film is “everywhere.”
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Crime Watch
(summary)
In the following review, Kerr discusses the implausibility of the plot and the underdeveloped philosophical themes in Minority Report.
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Spielberg's Future
(summary)
In the following review, Kauffmann examines the strengths and weaknesses of Minority Report, commenting that, though the film is technically proficient, the script is “thematically slender.”
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Steven Spielberg's Minority Report Is In: Find out How It Will Make You a Better Person
(summary)
In the following review, Chang commends Minority Report as both “physically exhilarating” and intellectually challenging.
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Prospero on the Run
(summary)
In the following review, O'Brien examines the function of technology in Minority Report and places the film within the context of other large-scale futurological melodramas.
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Language and the Music of the Spheres: Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(summary)
In the following essay, Engel asserts that Close Encounters of the Third Kind is primarily concerned with language in a variety of forms—'verbal, visual, electronic, and musical.'
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Review of Catch Me If You Can
(summary)
In the following review, Macnab maintains that Catch Me If You Can incorporates several of Spielberg's recurring thematic concerns.
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A Land of Lost Content
(summary)
In the following review, Kerr offers a positive assessment of Catch Me If You Can, lauding the film as a “wonderfully subtle re-creation of a more innocent time in America.”
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Parsifal at the Bat
(summary)
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Spielberg, Steven (Vol. 20)
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'Duel'
(summary)
In the following essay, Tom Milne analyzes Steven Spielberg's film Duel as a masterful exercise in existential tension, highlighting the film's minimalist motivations and its effective use of suspense in depicting a primal struggle between man and machine.
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Sugarland and Badlands
(summary)
In the following essay, Pauline Kael critiques Steven Spielberg's debut film "The Sugarland Express," noting his exceptional talent in directing action sequences and cars with a unique style, while arguing that despite the film's commercial nature, Spielberg's instinctive direction marks him as a potential born entertainer, though not yet a film artist.
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Something Sour
(summary)
In the following essay, Stephen Farber criticizes Steven Spielberg's film "The Sugarland Express," condemning it as a mechanical and cynical Hollywood product lacking originality and genuine human emotion, while highlighting Spielberg's commercial instincts and technical prowess.
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'The Sugarland Express'
(summary)
In the following essay, Tom Milne critiques Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express as a film that relies heavily on contrived elements of the 'road film' genre, while acknowledging its more authentic moments occur in the quieter interactions between characters, revealing themes of fantasy, freedom, and stability.
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Gums
(summary)
In the following essay, Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr. critiques Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Jaws for its handling of the shark as a villain, arguing that the movie blurs distinctions among its human characters and undermines the shark's menace by overexposing it, ultimately suggesting that the work is a personal fantasy of Peter Benchley.
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'Jaws'
(summary)
In the following essay, James Monaco argues that Jaws exemplifies Hollywood's ultimate entertainment craft, highlighting its meticulous engineering and effectiveness as a cinematic spectacle, rather than artistic expression, and asserting that its success lies in its ability to engage audiences through expertly crafted effects.
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'Jaws'
(summary)
In the following essay, Gordon Gow evaluates Steven Spielberg's film Jaws, highlighting its mastery of suspense and visual realism while critiquing its lack of originality and depth in character development compared to Spielberg's earlier work The Sugarland Express.
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The Greening of the Solar System
(summary)
In the following essay, Pauline Kael critiques Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a technologically marvelous film that delivers a childlike sense of wonder and playfulness, highlighting Spielberg's technical virtuosity and storytelling through visual dynamics, while noting his limitations in character development and thematic depth regarding authority.
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Epiphany
(summary)
In the following essay, Stanley Kauffmann critiques Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters as a culmination of science fiction and film as a vicarious religion, highlighting its exploration of human longing for benevolent extraterrestrial companionship and the film's use of technology to convey a modern sense of consolation.
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Film Reviews: 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'
(summary)
In the following essay, John Simon critiques Steven Spielberg's filmmaking style as overly reliant on spectacle and special effects at the expense of coherent storytelling and character development, exemplified in his analysis of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
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Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind
(summary)
In the following essay, Garrett Stewart examines Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, highlighting its cinematic innovation and thematic richness while critiquing certain narrative and casting choices, ultimately appraising the film as a significant exploration of the science fiction genre's capacity to merge fantasy with cinematic technology.
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'Jaws' as Patriarchal Myth
(summary)
In the following essay, Jane E. Caputi argues that Steven Spielberg's film Jaws functions as a patriarchal myth where the shark symbolizes the primordial female, evoking themes of castration, abortion, and the male fear of the female, culminating in a narrative of male dominance and fear.
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An Event Sociologique: 'Close Encounters'
(summary)
In the following essay, B. H. Fairchild, Jr. argues that Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a cinematic and sociological event exploring themes of transcendence and technology, where the expansive imagination of the audience and the film's high-tech spectacle merge to evoke a sense of wonder and existential contemplation.
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Renewed Encounters
(summary)
In the following essay, Jerome Klinkowitz examines how "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" reflects middle-class themes of wonder and death, suggesting that both the film and novel emphasize the protagonist's escapism from mundane life through fantastical elements, yet remain tethered to familiar and ordinary constructs.
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The Whiz Kids
(summary)
In the following essay, James Monaco contends that while Spielberg's early films, such as Sugarland Express, effectively explore character and complexity within the road movie genre, his blockbusters Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind focus more on cinematic effects and spectacle, prioritizing visual mastery over in-depth character development.
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Broadway Melody of 1979
(summary)
In the following essay, David Denby critiques Spielberg's film 1941 as an overblown yet entertaining satire that nostalgically celebrates the energetic innocence of America's wartime pop culture, while demonstrating Spielberg's unique ability to infuse chaotic excess with a sense of youthful exuberance.
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No Laughing Matters
(summary)
In the following essay, Robert Asahina criticizes Steven Spielberg's film 1941 for lacking humor and originality, arguing that Spielberg's attempt at comedy fails due to recycled gags, poor comedic structure, and an inability to effectively satirize the historical context of wartime paranoia.
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Who and Who
(summary)
In the following essay, Pauline Kael critiques the "Special Edition" of Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," asserting that while the re-editing streamlines the film and clarifies characterization, it detracts from the original's charm and retains structural flaws, ultimately highlighting the importance of preserving the initial version.
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Late Summer Round-up
(summary)
In the following essay, Kauffmann criticizes Steven Spielberg's re-edited version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, arguing that the new footage diminishes the film's original impact and fails to enhance its narrative, ultimately recommending that the "special edition" be withdrawn.
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Movie of Champions
(summary)
In the following essay, David Denby critiques Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark for its reliance on pop culture elements and lack of genuine artistic or emotional depth, arguing that while Spielberg delivers grand entertainment, his films lack true substance and artistic aspiration.
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'Duel'
(summary)
- Further Reading