An Ode to Steven's Spielberg..

Is Steven Spielberg America's greatest director? The jury is still out, but he is undeniably one of the most accomplished cinematic storytellers and technically proficient filmmakers working today. Watch a Spielberg film and you will see a master technician working his magic. He has an innate talent for making the most impressive visual moments look smoothly effortless.Best known for the blockbusters and fantastic tales that made his fame, Spielberg was at one time America's most perceptive chronicler of suburban life and family relationships, and he is still an astounding director of child performers. He's one of the few contemporary directors who continue to communicate a sense of wonder on the screen through humble human eyes, be they childlike -- reaching back to rediscover the glories of the natural and supernatural with a sense of awe in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T." -- or mature, in such contemporary classics as "Saving Private Ryan." In his best work, he creates moments that can sear themselves into the viewers' minds and hearts.

Some of my favourite Spielberg films:

Jaws
Oooh. Scary stuff. The Jaws theme, the unseen terror lurking under the waves. Altogether making for one of the most terrifying monsters in cinematic history.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
A movie that filled audiences with the awe and wonder of what lies beyond our own existence on this planet.

Indiana Jones
The quintessential everyman action-adventure vehicle.

ET- the extra-terrestrial
How I wish I had my own ET and we rode across the moon like Elliott did. A feel good movie through and through.

Jurassic Park
A movie that made me feel like a kid again. We shared the sheer joy of seeing dinosaurs being brought into visual reality right before our eyes. At that moment time stood still and we all became children once more.

Saving Private Ryan
The opening sequence on Omaha Beach is still seared on my mind. The overwhelming experience in his orchestration of chaos: bullets tear through air, water, flesh; men stagger about, lost and limbless; explosions shatter the dull scream of war; soldiers bleed, fall and die, just so many bodies in the detritus of battle. Spielberg's razor-sharp images are charged with panic, his camera is almost too alert as it takes in the shocking information overload. War has never been portrayed as so intimidating, so terrifying and so arbitrarily destructive.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
A post-modern Pinochio tale who desires to be human despite the cruelty and hate he finds on his odyssey. Spielberg injects warmth and hope in the cold pessimism of Kubrick's future and an unflagging faith in the penultimate scene, where David patiently waits out the end of the world for his wish to come true and to finally be a real boy.

Minority Report
A glimpse into our future and what a future it is too.

Others worthy of mention Men In Black, Back to the Future, Twister, Deep Impact,Schindler's List,Empire of the Sun, American Tail, Gremlins...