Steven Spielberg’s 10 Best Films! | Breaking Geek

5. Minority Report (2002)

I. F**king Love. Minority Report.

Minority Report is like the ultimate Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episode, with a giant budget, a top notch cast, and the magic of Spielberg… or course. Minority Report is probably the last near-perfect action-adventure Spielberg directed, filled with futuristic technology that is actually slowly becoming a reality and Spielberg’s innate sense for no nonsense action.

And yes, this one does make me cry.

The story is unbelievably twisted, with Cruise’s Chief John Anderton, head of the Pre-Crime division, discovering that he himself is accused of a future murder of a man he has never met. In an effort to prove his innocence, Anderton does everything from replace his eye-balls to stealing a “pre-cog,” only to eventually learn maybe he will kill this John Doe. Or is there is bigger, political conspiracy afoot?

It’s all one great mystery movie with many moving parts and some killer reveals. And it has some of the best Spielberg tension on the market, running evenly through the entire film.

For my money, Minority Report is the most emotional Spielberg movie that isn’t a harrowing historical tale. Dealing with the loss of a missing child, Anderton is driven to greater extremes than even his more famous character Ethan Hunt; not impossible extremes, but at time, ones that corrupt Anderton’s morality as he has to question his entire life’s purpose.

Have we seen Tom Cruise run from the law in nearly every Mission: Impossible film? Yes, but you’ve never seen Tom Cruise run from the law under the watchful eye of Steven Spielberg. It’s the director’s Blade Runner.

4. Jaws (1975)

The film that birthed the modern summer blockbuster two years before the release of Star Wars.

I probably first saw Jaws at slightly too young an age. Though I knew it was an impossibility, at swim team practice the next day, I couldn’t help but check the diving area of the pool for a giant shark every time I did a flip-turn. I still have trouble going into the ocean, if I get really paranoid.

That’s not what Jaws is all about, but that dread is certainly at the heart of it. Dread every time someone enters the ocean. Dread when our three heroes finally set out on their mission to kill the monstrous shark on a rickety boat. Again, we have a Man Vs. Leviathan situation going on with Spielberg’s first true hit.

Another technique Spielberg begins to play with in Duel, and continues into this film and Jurassic Park, is the very Hitchcockian idea that what the mind cooks up is often scarier than the monster you can present on screen. Sure, the decision to show as little of the shark as possible in Jaws was out of necessity, as their mechanical shark barely worked and didn’t look so great, but Spielberg made the best out of this production altering complication, and made a better movie because of it. A fin is far creepier than a full shark. And the yellow barrels are just pure brilliance.

I could talk about any of these films forever, about the great of Chief Brody watching the ocean from his towel on the beach, how Spielberg managed to pull off a masterpiece as the script was still being rewritten, etc.

But, I’ll end on heart. The best Spielberg films are never lacking heart. No scene better illustrates this than Chief Brody’s son imitating him at the dinner table. Just a small, ad-libbed moment, but so damn powerful. No, Jaws never made me cry, but if it did it would be that scene.

3. Jurassic Park (1993)

Ah, Jurassic Park. Again, Man Vs. Leviathan. Monsters you don’t see fully until a good hour into the movie. And then… some of the most terrifying creatures put to film. But overall, perhaps Spielberg’s most magical film, coming out in 1993, featuring the first CGI characters in any film (can you believe they almost went with stop-motion dinosaurs?).

And dammit, the film ages like few other ’90s movies have, both in visual effects and general tone of the film. It doesn’t feel like a ’90s movie, it feels timeless.

Again, how can I talk about Jurassic Park without going on for pages and pages… It’s got the greatest ensemble cast Spielberg has ever delivered, Jeff Goldblum and Samuel L. Jackson’s best lines of their careers, that cut to a Velociraptor opening a door, “clever girl,” yada, yada, yada.

I think what is most important to Jurassic Park, besides the wonders of seeing actors along side CGI beasts, is the extreme level of tension and the heart (here we go again!).

Spielberg delivers tension in every possible moment, before even the dinosaurs escape their pens, and when dinosaurs aren’t near. Think of the rocky helicopter landing, the lightning storm that cracks over Ian Malcolm’s head, escaping a falling car instead of a dinosaur, and the electric fence. All moments just as tense as coming up against a T-Rex or Velociraptor.

I never cried watching Jurassic Park as a child, but rewatching it as an adult a few years ago, Hammond’s monologue about the flea circus had me in tears. As a child I never saw to the heart of his character, an old man watching his greatest and final achievement not only fall apart around him, but endangers the ones he loves, creating a conflict between what is left of his human side and his business side.

2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Even though it is a tale of father and son — a favorite of Spielberg’s — Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the best “buddy comedy” ever made. Skewing a little more to the comedic side than Raiders of the Lost Ark, Last Crusade doesn’t lose any of the drama or action from its predecessors, just gains a deeper sense of humor.

Everyone is brilliant in this film, not only the ultimate pairing of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, but also Jones’ amazing allies, Denholm Elliot as Marcus Brody and John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, a character that best pop up in Indiana Jones 5!

After Temple of Doom, the original dark sheep of the franchise, Last Crusade is a more direct sequel to Raiders (Doom is technically a prequel…), bringing back Nazis, the ultimate movie villain, and an artifact straight out of the Bible.

The film is brilliant, perfect in every way. If this were my list of Top 10 films from any director, Last Crusade would still land at #2.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The greatest film of all time… Raiders of the Lost Ark. The model for any action movie worth watching.

Shot as a “B-movie” from the 1930s, with a faster shooting schedule and less refined than a typical Spielberg production, Raiders of the Lost Ark perfectly replicates the experience of watching a serial like Flash Gordon or Zorro week-to-week at the local theater. The film is a key example of the eight-sequence approach, with every 15-20 minutes serving as its own chapter of sorts, a mini-adventure within the longer narrative making for one hell of an action film!

Of course, none of this works without the charm of Harrison Ford, who embodies early 20th century America in a way Bond represented the UK in the ’60s. Bond is refined, well dressed, and charming. Jones fights dirty when he has to, makes mistakes, and is half charming/half scoundrel with a heart of gold. And his clothes are always so dusty!

Jaws is iconic. Jurassic Park is iconic. But is there anything better than seeing that hat and whip, all the while bouncing along with the perky “Raiders March” by John Williams?

Raiders of the Lost Ark has defined my own movie love. Seeing it in fourth grade, it was the first film where I realized there were actually actors, directors, and writers making these things, beginning to see a pattern of actors I liked like Harrison Ford, and the director I love the most, Steven Spielberg.


Now, I want to hear from YOU! Agree with my opinions? Think I’m wrong about everything? Let me know! Let’s get some fun discussions and arguments going in the comment section below.

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