Bracket Challenge - Steven Spielberg's Greatest Film - Round Two (Part Three)
Round two barrels on with an esteemed literary adaptation, an adorable visitor who just wants to get home, a notorious fake, and a place where they've spared no expense.
The poll that I recently posted on the greatest film in the Spielberg canon sparked a great deal of a discussion and a ton of questions. You’ve all clearly got myriad feelings on the subject, and so do I for that matter. So, let’s have a good old fashioned tournament, and pick the favorite Spielberg film for the WAIM community.
With a bit of research and some objective appraisal, I have seeded the 32 films presented here from top to bottom. These seeds take into account my own personal tastes as well as your comments on the poll from last week and any number of lists to be found in cyberspace on the issue.
The sweet sixteen portion of our bracket challenge ought to be a pretty obvious signpost at the depth of Steven Spielberg’s canon. In this selection of films - most directors never even make sixteen features, for the record - there is brilliance, diversity, and consistency of craft. It’s a testament to Spielberg’s talents and vision just to take a minute and marvel at this set of movies in the sweet sixteen.
I was a bit surprised to see The Color Purple advance past the first round, but it managed a slight victory over Empire of the Sun. Now, it finds itself pitted against perhaps the most sentimentally beloved film in all of the Spielberg canon; E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. It seems impossible for Elliott and company to bow out this early, but who knows?
In our second matchup, we get Leonardo DiCaprio is notorious fraudster Frank Abagnale, on the run from Tom Hanks and the long arm of the law in Catch Me If You Can. In the other other corner is 65 million years of DNA, a naive and well meaning billionaire building the world’s most ill-advised amusement palace, Jurassic Park. Can Leo pull off the gigantic upset?
Round Two - Part Three
Voting will close at 6:00 am on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Vote early and often and make sure that your friends, enemies, colleagues, co-workers, and neighbors are voting as well.
Cheers,
Matty C
I realy prefer Catch me if you can over JP. Jurassic Park films always sounded a lot like a great CGI achievements and little else. CIYC is simply awesome: great directing, great acting, great music...
ET ovr the Color Purple is a no brainer really.
I adore E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. It was the Damascus Road moment that converted me to cinema, aged seven. I may well republish a piece I wrote about this on Medium here at some point. But even leaving aside my personal reasons for loving this film (I have many) E.T. is an absolute classic and a singular masterpiece that has stood the test of time.