Top 5 – Steven Spielberg Movies

It could be argued that Steven Spielberg is the greatest director of all-time.  His movies make a bunch of money and are just great movies.  He makes movies with the audience in mind and they rarely disappoint.  This Friday, his latest feature, Ready Player One, comes out, a film that looks a lot like the nostalgic Spielberg of old.  So, in honor of the master’s latest film, here are my five favorite Steven Spielberg movies.

This list was nearly impossible to make, so don’t hate me for missing out on a few.

5 – LINCOLN (2012)

I had to represent the modern Steven Spielberg, as he is making movies as good as ever right now.  As much as I loved 2015’s Bridge of Spies, and last year’s The Post, Lincoln is the best movie he has made this decade.  This is a methodical, fascinating historical drama about President Abraham Lincoln and his attempts to pass the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.  The movie is beautiful to look at and is constantly interesting, which is incredible, because this is basically two and half hours of dialog.  It also features the best performance from any Spielberg movie in Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln.  In typical Day-Lewis form, this is a committed and masterful performance that rightly earned him his third Oscar.  Lincoln is one of the best movies of the decade and shows that even after 40 years, Spielberg still have it.

4 – JAWS (1975)

The film that invented the blockbuster gets better with age.  Jaws took such a simple concept, about a giant shark terrorizing a small town’s beach, and made it into one of the most terrifying and brilliant movies ever.  Spielberg’s decision to not show a lot of the shark or a lot of it’s bloody victims makes the movie incredibly suspenseful and allows for a great payoff at the end.  With an all-star cast, great direction, and an iconic score by John Williams, Jaws is as classic as movies get and the launching point for Spielberg’s career.

3 – MINORITY REPORT (2002)

This is one of Spielberg’s most underrated movies, if not the most underrated.  Minority Report is a fun, thrilling, smart, visually stunning film.  Set in the near future where police are able to stop murderers before they commit their crimes, one of the officers from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.  This is an intricate, futuristic neo-noir about fate and choosing your own destiny.  Tom Cruise is great as the suspected cop, as is Collin Ferrel, the lead agent trying to catch him, and Samantha Morton who plays one of the Pre-Cogs who assists in the predicting of the crimes.  Minority Reports is a film that flies under the radar, and that’s a shame, because this is one of the best science fiction movies of the 21st century.

2 – SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

Saving Private Ryan was nearly my number one choice, but ended up at number two, though it’s basically 1B.  This harrowing look at one WWII infantry’s attempt to save a solider in the heart of German territory is one of the most realistic war movies I have ever seen.  This is probably Spielberg’s best effort as a director.  Just watch the opening Normandy invasion and tell me you didn’t feel like you weren’t there.  It’s all-star cast, technical brilliance, and emotional power all come together to give us the full experience of the time.  Saving Private Ryan is a seminal piece of filmmaking and the greatest war movie of all-time.

1 – JURASSIC PARK (1993)

That’s right, Jurassic Park, over Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List (1993),  E.T. (1982) and every other Spielberg film.  Jurassic Park is a beloved movie from Spielberg that everyone seems to like.  But for me, this is everything that is great about Spielberg. It has the thrilling action of Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981), the scares of Jaws, the heart of E.T., and the technical wizardry of, well, every Spielberg movie.  Spielberg made a perfect adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel by changing the way we look at special effects and storytelling.  This movie is simply perfect and the best of all Steven Spielberg movies.

What are your favorite Steve Spielberg movies?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.