Hard drama Spielberg vs. Family-friendly Spielberg

[Sawyer]

Which do you prefer?

 

[Schlosser85]

If I had to pick what I consider his all time best film, it's Schindler's List. But I also love Raiders of the Lost Ark, so....

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I like when Hard Drama Spielberg comes by and sprinkles some of that texture into Family Friendly Spielberg's films.

Like Peter Coyote's character, the shot of the alien almost dying of exposure, and the government agents in Bio-Hazard suits in E.T. Or the first T. Rex attack in Jurassic Park. The converse is also true. Like the scene of Brody's son aping his father at the dinner table in Jaws, and the family stuff we see there.

 

[Schlosser85]

I remember the last act of ET being upsetting when I was a little kid.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I remember ALL of E.T. being upsetting when I was a kid. Seriously... I am the only person in the world that has no strong nostalgic feelings for that film at all. I had to be taken out of the theater twice, for TWO showings by my mother because frankly, as a child the film scared me (and SCARRED me. ), as did the character of E.T. for some reason. So, I didn't ever have these warm fuzzy feelings for the film and actively went out of my way NOT to see it as the years went by. When I was around 19 I watched it again and could appraise it better. It's a masterpiece, but to show you how subjective film is, I rarely even think about it in conjunction with Spielberg because of the experience I had as a child and then not watching it much at all in the following years.

 

[dude stannis]

Got to go family friendly Spielberg. The man can take us on an adventure like no other.

Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, Lincoln; he's one of the best drama film makers ever too!

 

[ThePhantasm]

Hard Friendly Spielberg

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Hard Friendly Spielberg

Kate Capshaw thinks the same way.

 

[Sawyer]

Hard Friendly Spielberg

 

[Apollo]

I want Spielberg to make more Family friendly movies... he's been making way too many Hard drams if you ask me.

I want him to go back and make another family friendly movie like Hook, E.T and Indiana Jones.

 

[CGHulk]

I love The Color Purple, Saving Private Ryan, The Empire of the Sun, Amistad and Schindler's List, but I can't get myself to buying any of them on Blu-Ray, they are just too sad or serious of films. Now at my age I just want to watch something that is enjoyable, but of course not devoid of heart or substance.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Yeah, it is hard to say most feel like curling up on the couch and watching THE COLOR PURPLE on Saturday night. Not that it's a bad film, but it's heavy. At least JAWS has witty dialog and banter and there's a section where it becomes a high adventure... Until it slides right back into horror.

 

[Solidus]

Damn you Sawyer, truly a tough tough question.

Like some have said above, I would say Schindler's List is my favorite of Spielberg's. However a baby's hair behind that is Raiders of the Lost Ark. I will have to say Family Friendly because there are "more" of those that I enjoy more so than his hard drama's.

I mean

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jaws
E.T.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Jurassic Park
Temple of Doom
The Last Crusade
Even ones like Catch Me if You Can.

I do love his dramas though

Schindler's List
Minority Report (truly one of his best and underrated, this one seems to be a mix of hard drama and his family fun adventure though)
Saving Private Ryan
The Color Purple
Munich
Empire of the Sun
Lincoln

Spielberg can do both, but his adventure films are the ones that will always be with me. Raiders is just too damn good.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

He's struggled with lighter fair ever since Schindler's List. That movie changed him. Since then his dramas have been significantly better overall. It is tough because of all the great stuff he did in the 70s and 80s, but I did go with dramas. Lincoln might be my favorite movie of his.

 

[Lord]

Schindler's List has indeed changed him, even his later more action aventure films were a bit more serious and "darker" with Minority Report and War of the Worlds. I myself hope Spielberg still has another lighthearted family film up his sleeve, even if it turns out divisive like Hook. Wait, now that i think about it, he did make Crystal Skull and Tintin, while the first one wasn't very good, i found Tintin to be quite enjoyable, even though i usualy don't like that style of animation.

He also has The BFG coming out, he's no longuer delivering automatic classics, but his filmography is still very impressive.

I vote for family friendly.

 

[Octoberist]

Schindler's List made him rethink 'Nazis' and the Holocaust, and even regretted making the Nazis into trivial bad guys in the Indy movies (Which I disagree). Or something to that nature.

The BFG is coming out, though I feel like those 'Amblin' days are over. He's making movies that would appeal to people in his own age range; and my parents, haha. Like Bridge of Spies sounds goods, but just like his great Lincoln flick, he's showing his age when he picks movies.

 

[green]

I don't think I can fairly answer this…I'm split right down the middle though I may be leaning a little more towards the family friendly version just because I grew up with so many of those. Then there are those films that I find fall between the two as well.

 

[MadVillainy]

Yeah this is a great question

But I cant answer it. Too tough

 

[Fallen Angel]

Tough one man but I edge towards the "Hard Drama" Spielberg.

 

[Jochimus]

Eh, at this point I'd probably have to say that Hard Drama Spielberg has disappointed me less in recent years, so I'd go with that. Of course, my favorite Spielberg movie to this day remains Jaws, which I wouldn't exactly call family-friendly...

 

[Hush]

I love both but Hook may pull my opinion the way if FF Spielberg.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

What is BFG that people are talking about?

 

[Quasimod0]

Family friendly Spielberg gave me some of my favorite movies.

 

[Octoberist]

I think his brand of family friendly type films (Which I dubbed his 'Amblin' films) are so tough to replicate these days that only he can do them. That's why they're so special.

It's like you could some replicate Robert Altman or the Coen Brothers, and fail because they are who they are with their styles.

 

[The Joker]

Overall family friendly, but his hard drama ones are incredible, too.