In short
Film Spotting “Power Ranking Spielberg Decades” (originally 2020; revisited in 2026). Hosts rank Spielberg’s five decades (1970s–2010s) via listener poll and their own “power ranking” tiers, using a “one poster per decade” exercise and “incinerator” rules for comparing lists.
Guests
No guests appear. The episode is hosted by Josh and Adam (Film Spotting). A voicemail is played from Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune.
Key claims
The 1980s win the listener vote (41%), with the 1990s close (27%), 1970s (24%), 2000s (7%), and 2010s last (0.5%). Josh ranks 2010s fifth, 2000s third, 1990s fifth, 1980s first, 1970s second. Adam ranks 2010s fourth, 2000s third, 1990s fourth, 1980s first, 1970s second.
Notable examples
Josh praises Sugarland Express, Duel, and E.T.; criticizes Ready Player One, The Lost World, Hook, and Temple of Doom. Adam highlights AI, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Munich, Raiders, E.T., and Last Crusade; calls The Post “fine,” and trashes Temple of Doom and Always. Michael Phillips argues the 1970s are best, citing Jaws and Close Encounters, plus Duel and Sugarland Express.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOOverview of Spielberg's Career
0:00 to 0:14
Discussion about Spielberg's decades and notable films.
“Zach, nice vacation spot, but without T-Mobile 5G home internet, it's scary here.”
Overview of Spielberg's Career
2:56 to 4:46
Discussion about Spielberg's decades and notable films.
“Our power ranking of the Spielberg decades.”
The Math of Rankings
4:46 to 5:24
Exploration of the permutations in ranking Spielberg's films.
“Different reasons featuring different movies in different orders, but we did end up more similar than I even remembered.”
Exploring Early Spielberg Films
5:24 to 7:17
Discussion of early Spielberg films like Sugarland Express.
“Here is our power ranking of the Spielberg decades from 2020.”
Power Ranking the Spielberg Decades
7:17 to 11:18
Detailed discussion on ranking each decade of Spielberg's films.
“we asked you to name your favorite Spielberg decade.”
Listener Poll Results
11:18 to 14:01
Revealing and discussing the results of the listener poll on Spielberg decades.
“I thought it was more fun to just play it out.”
Ranking Spielberg's 2010s Films
14:01 to 15:49
The hosts discuss their opinions on Spielberg's films from the 2010s, highlighting their rankings and thoughts on specific movies.
“One movie that I'm just calling less than fine, not good.”
Analyzing the 2000s Spielberg Films
15:49 to 17:43
The conversation shifts to Spielberg's 2000s films, discussing standout titles and their impact on the filmmakers' rankings.
“Okay, so going reverse chronologically again, the 2000s are up.”
The 1990s Spielberg Rankings
17:43 to 19:45
Discussion on Spielberg's 1990s films, where the hosts rank their favorites and share their opinions on classic titles.
“And that was a real revelation for me going through this process.”
The 1990s Spielberg Rankings
22:52 to 23:09
Discussion on Spielberg's 1990s films, where the hosts rank their favorites and share their opinions on classic titles.
“Apple Vacations, where your story starts.”
Show all 15 chapters
The 1990s Spielberg Rankings
24:06 to 24:19
Discussion on Spielberg's 1990s films, where the hosts rank their favorites and share their opinions on classic titles.
“Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line.”
Final Decade Rankings and Thoughts
25:25 to 28:03
The hosts discuss their rankings of Spielberg's films from the 1980s and 1970s, considering nostalgia and revisiting classic films.
“And then you put it at fifth and double down and trashed Jurassic Park, a beloved film.”
Exploring Spielberg's 1980s Filmography
28:03 to 31:02
Discussing the key films of Spielberg in the 1980s and their impact.
“got off to a bang with Raiders of the Lost Ark and then didn't let up.”
Comparing Spielberg's Decades: 70s vs 80s
31:03 to 38:21
Analyzing the strengths of Spielberg's work in the 1970s and 1980s.
“So my math, the one movie from this decade I haven't seen is The Color Purple.”
Listener Feedback: Michael Phillips' Take
38:22 to 39:29
Michael Phillips shares his thoughts on Spielberg's best decade.
“And then I have four from this decade that are in my top tier of all of his films.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Adam Kempenaar:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
0:06Josh Larsen:Zach, nice vacation spot, but without T-Mobile 5G home internet, it's scary here. Don't open it. Relax.
0:14Adam Kempenaar:I ordered T-Mobile 5G home internet with same-day delivery, powered by DoorDash.
0:19Josh Larsen:Nothing to be afraid of. We're saved. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet delivered the same day, powered by DoorDash. Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line. Plus taxes and fees. Same day delivery for most internet eligible customers. See if it's an option during checkout. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Splash into Savings event from Apple Vacations is here. Now through June 25th, save up to$150 on vacation packages. Plus instant savings at select resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and top U.S. destinations. Use promo code JUNE26 for these limited time offers.
0:55Josh Larsen:Start planning today at applevacations.com or contact your travel advisor.
1:00Adam Kempenaar:Applications, where your story starts.
1:05Josh Larsen:And now, another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance. With two dogs, every wash load came out covered in fur. I went into Grand Appliance looking for a fix, and they recommended the Maytag Top Load with Pet Pro Hair Removal System. They had it in stock and installed it days later. And you know what? It really works. Lint rollers are a thing of my past now. Great recommendations from the appliance experts. Shop GrandAppliance.com. GrandAppliance.com. This is Jacob Goldstein from What's Your Problem? Business software is expensive, and when you buy software from lots of different companies, it's not only expensive, it gets confusing, slow to use, hard to integrate.
1:48Josh Larsen:Odoo solves that because all Odoo software is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need. Odoo has no hidden costs and no limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge. Everything from websites to sales to inventory to accounting, all linked and talking to each other. Check out Odoo at O-D-O-O dot com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Film Spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. See any standard 2D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions.
2:31Josh Larsen:Sign up now on the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code FILMSPOT26 to receive 15 % off.
2:43Josh Larsen:What kind of a show are you guys putting on here today? You're not interested in art? No. Well, look, we're going to do this thing. We're going to have a conversation.
2:52Adam Kempenaar:Hey, film spotters, it's time to dip into the film spotting archive. This is a fun one from 2020. Our power ranking of the Spielberg decades. Now, that means we had five decades, perfect for effectively a top five. Five decades to choose from. 70s, 80s, 90s, the aughts, as I believe they're called or sometimes referred to, and the 2010s. We clearly would not have included the 2020s. But now as we sit here in 2026, and I do want to stipulate that as of this taping, I have not seen Disclosure Day yet. But let's just assume for the sake of discussion that I know it's a movie that's getting a lot of good buzz.
3:33Adam Kempenaar:You can look at the 2020s now, Josh, and recognize that he made West Side Story, The Fablemans, and Disclosure Day. Spielberg turns 80 later this year. We might have to redo this power ranking at some point and acknowledge the fact that the 2020s may factor in.
3:50Josh Larsen:We absolutely have to redo this. Just looking at my general Spielberg rank list and where some of those more recent films like West Side Story, like The Fablemans, as you mentioned, land on that. Yes, this guy is still going incredibly strong. As you said, I have seen Disclosure Day and I probably dropped enough hints now that it's I'm positive. OK, let me spoil it. Yeah, I got that. And I think it makes this argument even more that we need to revisit and reconsider these decades, which this is a fun way to do it. Right. Because it just adds that extra wrinkle into the ranked project. And and you have to weigh different things against each other differently.
4:38Josh Larsen:we ended up, not to spoil that, but coming down along somewhat similar lines, but maybe for different reasons. We'll see. Yes.
4:46Adam Kempenaar:Different reasons featuring different movies in different orders, but we did end up more similar than I even remembered. Someone can check our math here. I will point out, because I'm not good at math, but I think I have this right. Would you believe, Josh, that with five slots each, five decades to choose from, there were 14 ,440 different permutations of top five lists we could have come up with?
5:19Josh Larsen:I'm glad you didn't tell me this before the project or I would have bailed. Yeah. That might have crippled me.
5:26Adam Kempenaar:now i'm not going to spoil it for listeners who don't remember how the top five came out how much overlap we had but how it did come out not in terms of the actual decades where they plot but in terms of how much overlap we had there was only a 0.83 less than a one percent chance that that would happen what yeah okay that's creepy yeah that's like there's there's some there's
5:55Josh Larsen:some alien stuff going on there. Maybe so.
5:58Adam Kempenaar:It would only be appropriate. Here is our power ranking of the Spielberg decades from 2020. Welfare's come and taken baby Langston forever. They're going to keep him in that foster home. I don't want my baby back. Now you're going to help me or not?
6:16Josh Larsen:Well, where's he now?
6:17Adam Kempenaar:Oh, we're in Sugar Land. Goldie Hawn there from the trailer for 1974's Sugar Land Express. also starring William Atherton. Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature, though Duel, a feature link made for TV movie, was released later in theaters overseas. It actually came out three years before Sugarland Express in 1971. Sugarland, one of my Spielberg blind spots before approaching this power ranking. And I'm really glad I saw it because it may not be top five or 10 Spielberg, but I think it's really good Spielberg. And you touched on it right during our discussion of Jaws, Verna Fields as the editor, some of the same attention to timing and movement is very evident in this film as a precursor to Jaws, as well as just some of the attention to detail with the shots themselves and the framing.
7:08Adam Kempenaar:So definitely think if you, like me, have avoided somehow Sugar Land Express over the years, it's definitely worth seeing. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I'm glad you made time for it. A couple of weeks ago, as we were envisioning eventually getting to the Spielberg show, we asked you to name your favorite Spielberg decade. And Sam, of course, as he likes to do, he likes to torture all of us, but it's really there to help us. It's supposed to help us. And it did in a demented way, help me form my list. As you'll hear in a moment, he's applying madness rules. You're going to pick a decade. You can only pick one in the poll.
7:42Adam Kempenaar:It's not a ranking. You can only pick one of his five decades. So all the other four you're imagining are just going in the incinerator. They're lost to time forever. That's supposed to help you focus in, crystallize in your mind, which decade you value the most. I'm going to give you the options here, Josh, as we presented them in reverse chronological order. You could go the 2010s and rather than list the titles, because we're going to get into the titles from each decade. When we get into the power ranking, I thought I would do a little exercise here where we would both look at the titles. And what do you think is the one movie that is representative, best representative of that movie decade?
8:22Adam Kempenaar:The way I would frame it is not which one do you think is the best Spielberg movie of the decade, but imagine yourself, I don't know, as a creative director or an art director who's curating Spielberg movies and you've been tasked with putting together the poster and the poster only has room for one image from each of these decades of the films from the 2010s. which one do you choose? I'm going to go with Lincoln. Yeah, Lincoln was my choice as well. Seven films there in the 2000s. He also had seven films that came out in the 2000s. And I know this one's a little bit tougher for you, but if you're picking the one image, the one poster, which one is it?
9:04Josh Larsen:Yeah, I mean, I'd like to go AI, but I think you have to go with one of his Tom Cruise pairings. And maybe, I think Cruise is more of a factor in minority report. So maybe that's the one that I would go with.
9:17Adam Kempenaar:I think your reasoning is sound. And maybe it is my personal preference coming through. I'd go with Catch Me if you can. That brings us to the 1990s. We have six movies there. This one's pretty easy, no?
9:30Josh Larsen:Yeah, it's Jurassic Park. I mean, Saving Private Ryan is... Yeah, or Schindler's List. Something, and Schindler's are something to contend with. But the one you still hear people talk about the most is Jurassic Park.
9:41Adam Kempenaar:That brings us to your fourth option, the 1980s. And yeah, it's tough. Raiders or E.T.? Yeah, but it's also the decade of Raiders.
9:50Josh Larsen:You know, I think we'll get into this when we get to our power rankings. So the first three films all in the 1980s, you've got to pick a poster, and it'd probably be Raiders of the Lost Ark.
10:00Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, I think seven films, again, that came out in the 80s from Spielberg. And finally, the 1970s, only five films if you count Duel. And I mean, it's Jaws, right?
10:11Josh Larsen:It is Jaws. I mean, Close Encounters, I could see wanting to go that way, but just the poster alone, I mean, Jaws is one of the greatest posters of all time. So that's got to be the choice.
10:22Adam Kempenaar:So how did the results come out? How do our listeners power rank the Spielberg decades?
10:27Josh Larsen:So in last place with listeners is the 2010s. That only received 0.5 % of the vote. The 2000s received 7%. And then these two were tight. The 1970s received 24 % of the vote. The 1990s received 27 % of the vote, but winning with 41 % is the 1980s.
10:47Adam Kempenaar:I'm guessing we have a fair amount of 90s babies listening to film spotting who were maybe really impacted by films like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, but especially Jurassic Park and maybe even Alas Hook. Thank you to everyone who voted in that poll. I think it sets up nicely our endeavor here as we go through the five decades of Spielberg and we provide our power rankings. Now, this is the third on-air production meeting. Of course, we could have done this off-air, but I thought it was more fun. I thought it was more fun to just play it out. How would you like to approach this as a traditional top five where we each count down from five to one or, and this is my vote, do we start with the most recent, go reverse chronological, start with the 2010s, And we see how our decades stack up with our rankings.
11:38Josh Larsen:Yeah, let's do that. I'll go with that. I mean, I'm biased because you told me it was your idea. So automatically I want to push back against it. But I think nevertheless, it's a good idea.
11:48Adam Kempenaar:Okay, so we are going to start with the 2010s. It may or may not just so happen that that could be number five for one or both of us. Where do you put the 2010s for Steven Spielberg? The Films, The Adventures of Tintin, War Horse, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, The BFG, The Post, and Ready Player One. All right.
12:09Josh Larsen:Well, not to complicate things at the start, but I have three tiers of my power rankings. Oh, I did a lot of math here. Yeah. Okay. And it was really helpful. So for context, the 2010s, I have it ranked fourth, and it is in my third tier. So the lower tier with one other decade. The way I thought about this is how many of the films from this decade are in my top five Spielberg films, if I were just ranking his films. And if you look at the 2010s, you mentioned the films. I have zero from that decade that are in my top five. I do, however, have two. Gets a little more confusing. If you look at my Spielberg ranked list, I have tiers of those two just in my head.
12:52Josh Larsen:Like here's like top tier Spielberg. then there's mid-tier and there's lower tier. I do have two top-tier Spielberg in the 2010s. That would be Lincoln and it would be The Post. So, you know, still strong body of work in this decade. I do, however, have one title from the 2010s that is in my bottom tier. And it is the film, the last film I needed to see to be a Spielberg completist. Turns out there were reasons, good reasons to have dragged my feet to catch up with Ready Player One. Not great. Not great, Adam. No, it's not. And so that alone kind of, you know, in addition with none of the other films really being in my top five of all time, bumped the 2010s to my lowest power ranking tier, and I've got it at number four.
13:38Adam Kempenaar:Okay. Well, we definitely see the 2010s for Mr. Spielberg a little bit differently, and we have them ranked differently. For me, this was a clear, clear number five. And the only way I could really approach it, and maybe this isn't elegant, I definitely could have come up with some better phrasing, but each decade's got one movie I haven't seen. I've got one blind spot for Spielberg from each decade. And for me in the 2010s, it's the BFG, and I don't really feel bad about it. One movie that I'm just calling less than fine, not good. It's Ready Player One. I'm with you there, Josh. I think The Post is probably a little overrated, even though it's not the movie I put in that category here.
14:17Adam Kempenaar:I'm calling it just It's fine. It's fine. Pretty good. I like Bridge of Spies. And then I've got two movies that I will just freely admit are probably underrated. I'm probably wrong about Lincoln was a mixed review for me at the time. And The Adventures of Tintin, I think is fun. It's fun. I'm not down on it, but I'm also not enamored with it. And then my one film that is maybe overrated, at least in terms of how I feel about it compared to, I think, a lot of cinephiles and maybe a lot of Spielberg fans. I'm actually a pretty big fan of War Horse. I think that's his best film of the 2010s. But there isn't an undeniably great film here.
Read the full transcript
14:57Adam Kempenaar:And I'm with you. There's not a movie from this decade that fits into Spielberg's top five or ten. I maybe have one of those in the top 15. So for me, it's a clear number five slot for the 2010s.
15:10Josh Larsen:I can see it. I mean, it was battling for a decade. We'll get to, for me, for that number five spot. I think War Horse is quite good as well. There's a little bit of schmaltziness to there. I think part of the problem with some of these during this decade is you could have issues with almost all of them. Even Lincoln, which I think is top tier Spielberg, I have some issues with. I do think you're probably underrating the post. But I would also agree with you. The BFG, I think, is a good film. It has some wonderful Spielberg moments, but not only is it not top-tier Spielberg, it's definitely not your type of thing.
15:44Josh Larsen:So I don't think that would basically sway you from moving this out of fifth place.
15:49Adam Kempenaar:Okay, so going reverse chronologically again, the 2000s are up. Josh, go ahead and give us the titles and let's get your ranking.
15:56Josh Larsen:All right. AI artificial intelligence, minority report, catch me if you can, the terminal, war of the worlds, Munich and Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull. So the 2000s for me are firmly here alone. It's the only decade in this middle tier of my power rankings, because I think it's well above the 20 tons that we just talked about and the other decade we'll get to, but it's not quite, you know, the peak Spielberg, but such good stuff here. And let's start with AI, Artificial Intelligence, which I did revisit for this project. It is in my top five Spielberg films of all time. It probably fell a little bit in that ranking, I will say, after a revisit.
16:39Josh Larsen:I've here and there on the show talked about it potentially being his best film. I still think it's up there, but maybe not number one, as we'll see. But in addition to that, Adam, the 2000s gave me four other films that I would say are top tier Spielberg, AI, and then Minority Report, War of the Worlds, the two cruise pictures. I think I'm probably higher on War of the Worlds than most people. This one I know I'm higher on than most people. You're a champion for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Adam. I'm right there with you. I defend Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I recognize the problems with it.
17:14Josh Larsen:Me too. But for me, it's almost, I don't want to say it's quite like George Lucas's prequels, but it has that a tourist verve to it amidst the silliness that you also get, especially in Crystal Skull, that I just still geek out on. So I think that's top tier Spielberg. And here using my formula, I don't have any from the 2000s, I would say, are bottom tier Spielberg. So a strong decade for me, the 2000s. I've got it ranked third. Okay.
17:43Adam Kempenaar:I've got it ranked third as well. And that was a real revelation for me going through this process. You'll hear why when we get to my number four pick, because it was very close. But we just have different reasons for appreciating the 2000s. My didn't see from this decade is The Terminal, which, again, I don't really feel too guilty about. For me, my less than fine, a movie that I've only seen once. But when Sam and I reviewed it on the show, I think back in 05, an early review, neither of us were fans of War of the Worlds. I don't have a fine from this decade. I don't have a pretty good from this decade.
18:18Adam Kempenaar:I do have a movie that is probably overrated, and you touched on it. It's Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I know I value that movie way more than so many other people and so many other listeners do, and I felt really good about it, Josh. I wasn't going to have any shame at all until you invoked the prequels just there. So I don't think that's what you were intending, but that was the effect. And then I've got two films that really help explain part of why this is my third ranked decade. You have Minority Report and AI, which I am willing to admit are probably great and certainly potentially great Spielberg films that I am not that excited about and that I really badly need to revisit.
19:05Adam Kempenaar:So they are underrated by me, but I know the potential is there for me to have a different reaction to them on a second viewing. And then you go from those two to two films that I have as upper tier Spielberg, definitely in the top 10. catch me if you can and Munich. So this is where the incinerator came in. And I don't want to talk about the other decade, my number four choice just yet. But when I really came down to thinking about catch me if you can and Munich being gone forever and not having the ability to rewatch and reappraise AI and minority report that did give this decade a leg up over my number four choice.
19:45Josh Larsen:Yeah, but now you've got to catch me up on incinerator rules for the power ranking, for the poll. Well, that's, you know, as you're going through it.
19:53Adam Kempenaar:Yeah. As you're going through it, though, if you're deciding between five and four in that moment, it just comes down to those two decades. That's the exercise, right? Or four and three. So going through that process did help me as I tried to come up with my most accurate power ranking. So we have now hit the 2010s and the 2000s. That brings us to the 1990s, which our listeners have as the second best decade. And it's because of titles like this, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, also Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Amistad, and Hook. So where do you put this one, Josh?
20:31Josh Larsen:Dear listeners, please forgive me. I'm ranking the 1990s fifth. Wow. Despite the fact that I do think Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan are both top tier Spielberg. But I have zero titles from this decade in my top five of his films. I have two that are in my bottom tier of his films. And that's, you know, partly the deciding factor here. Hook, I know there is a lot of affection for, but I've seen it, you know, maybe five to ten years ago. And I think it's kind of like the Goonies for me, maybe, for those who grew up on Hook the way I grew up on the Goonies. I still like the Goonies. It's fun.
21:16Josh Larsen:It's nostalgic. But as a film of its own, independent of that experience, I don't know if it holds up as much as I'd like it to. And I think Hook kind of falls in that category. And so the other thing that really, though, Adam, tipped this into fifth place for me, the second one in my bottom tier is The Lost World. I think that's one of the movies where you wonder, was this really directed by Spielberg as you're watching it? And I would say the same for sequences of Ready Player One. And it's just the sort of stuff that you saw him do in Jaws so efficiently and so perfectly is not handled well in the Lost World.
21:57Josh Larsen:And that brings us to the fact that I'm cooler than most on Jurassic Park. I think, again, this is a generational thing. For many people, Jurassic Park is their Jaws, right? It was the same experience. It provided the same chills, the same fears and scares. And there is amazing craft in Jurassic Park. amazing craft sequences. We can think of right away the cup of water, right? So I get that. But I think a lot of this, what we spent time talking about Adam in our jaws revisit the character development, the family dynamics, all of those things, even though there may be touch points of that in Jurassic park, they don't ring as solidly in that film as they do in his earlier one.
22:39Josh Larsen:So I liked Jurassic park. I think it's a good film. Um, but I'm cooler on it than most. So that, in addition to Hook and having the lost world in this decade, dropped it down to fifth. Apple Vacations, where your story starts. The Splash into Savings event from Apple Vacations is here. Now through June 25th, save up to$150 on vacation packages, plus instant savings at select resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and top U.S. destinations. Use promo code JUNE26 for these limited time offers. Start planning today at AppleVacations.com or contact your travel advisor.
23:17Adam Kempenaar:Apple Vacations, where your story starts.
23:25Josh Larsen:Zach, nice vacation spot, but without T-Mobile 5G home internet, I feel so cut off. It's scary.
23:32Adam Kempenaar:Relax, just breathe in the woodsy woodsy-ness. Don't open it. It's a monster. I just know it. Buddy, it's just our DoorDash driver delivering our T-Mobile 5G home internet. Here you go, guys. Thanks. Look, Donald, now you can get the fastest 5G home internet with same-day delivery powered by DoorDash. And it's easy to set up. See? Nothing to be afraid of.
23:55Josh Larsen:We're saved! It's scary how easy it is. Get T-Mobile 5G home internet delivered the same day. Powered by DoorDash. Just$35 a month with auto pay and a voice line. Plus taxes and fees. Same day delivery for most internet eligible customers. See if it's an option during checkout. Fastest according to Ookla Speed Test based on speed test intelligence data. Second half 2025. All rights reserved. And now another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance. With two dogs, every wash load came out covered in fur. I went into Grand Appliance looking for a fix. And they recommended the Maytag Top Load with Pet Pro Hair Removal System.
24:37Josh Larsen:They had it in stock and installed it days later. And you know what? It really works. Lint rollers are a thing of my past now. Great recommendations from the appliance experts. Shop GrandAppliance.com. GrandAppliance.com. This is Jacob Goldstein from What's Your Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need.
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25:24Adam Kempenaar:Yeah, I thought I was going to be the heretic here by putting it fourth, all the way down at fourth. And then you put it at fifth and double down and trashed Jurassic Park, a beloved film.
25:35Josh Larsen:Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
25:36Adam Kempenaar:A beloved film with so many of our listeners.
25:38Josh Larsen:Mr. Pence, that's a mischaracterization.
25:40Adam Kempenaar:I trashed The Lost World, okay? Okay, that's true. That is more accurate. I will give you that. So The Lost World for me is the one movie from this decade I haven't seen and continuing a theme. Don't feel bad about it. less than fine from this decade. And it's really in its own category for me of yikes. Sorry for those who are nostalgic for it. Hook. It's my least favorite Spielberg film. I think it's his worst film that I've seen. I have no fines. I have a pretty good in Amistad. I have a really good in Jurassic Park. I'm with you in that I probably do not. I definitely do not revere that as much as a lot of our listeners who I know would put that in top three Spielberg.
26:19Adam Kempenaar:And I would have to look at my list, it might be in the top 10, but I think it's outside the top 10. I really do like Saving Private Ryan. I suppose it would fit into that really good category with Jurassic Park as well. It doesn't count as an overrated movie in that I'm not someone who overrates it. I think maybe most people do. It isn't top tier against Spielberg for me, but then what is one that's definitely properly rated is Schindler's list. So as I look at the 1990s, it does have for me Spielberg's worst, as I said, hook. Overall, not bad output at all. And I understand why listeners had it in second place, but it is fourth for me because, as I said before, when I thought about having the ability to rewatch Schindler's List and Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan versus seeing Catch Me If You Can and Munich again, and knowing that I could revisit Minority Report and AI, the 2000s just seemed like a richer Spielberg decade to me.
27:19Adam Kempenaar:That's why it's at four. Yeah.
27:21Josh Larsen:No, I'm clearly with you. Had it even higher. And I think you're right about Saving Private Ryan, too. That is one I haven't seen in a long time, but I imagine the shock effect of that film, which I can still remember experiencing when it came out in theaters, wearing off a bit. Even then, I had issues with some of the sentimentality and that sort of thing. So I think that would probably bother me a little bit more revisiting it.
27:48Adam Kempenaar:That brings us to our final two decades and our final two slots. So we're going to find out here as we get to the 1980s, whether or not it's our co-favorite Spielberg decade, or is it somehow a runner up to the 1970s? Josh, the 1980s titles are?
28:05Josh Larsen:got off to a bang with Raiders of the Lost Ark and then didn't let up. E.T. the Extraterrestrial was Spielberg's next film. He then did Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed by The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and then finished the 1980s with Always. So, Adam, I accused listeners of generational bias when it came to the 1990s. Here we go. I, it's number one for me. And I really tried to do the revisiting homework to take out the nostalgia factor in doing this exercise. I did watch the film I mentioned, but didn't name. I alluded to on our last episode that I really wanted to revisit in order to tip the scales for this power ranking.
28:50Josh Larsen:Cause I knew it was going to be between the eighties and the seventies. And I knew it was very close was ET the extraterrestrial and who it's his best film, Adam. It's his best film for me. Yeah, we can maybe get to that a little bit, but let me go back to the math, the formula here. For the 1980s, I have two titles in my top five, all right? That would be Raiders and E.T. There are three titles from this decade that are in my top tier of Spielberg films. In addition to those two I just mentioned, it would be Indiana Jones and the last crusade as i said big fan as you are of that one there is one film here in my bottom tier and that is indiana jones and the temple of doom i know that you know it's almost swinging back there are some defenders of that movie but even having revisited it in the last five to ten years or so um it is a bit of a misfire for me so yeah what did tip the scales over the 1970s ultimately for me.
29:49Josh Larsen:I might as well get this out of the way now. It is that ET factor. It is rewatching it. If I rank it ahead of Jaws, I have Jaws as Spielberg's number two film, and the difference between those is so minute. But if I rank it ahead, it's because it feels more personal. And don't get me wrong, we spent how much of our Sacred Cow review talking about how personal Jaws was, right? So this is not a slight on Jaws in anything it was lacking in that way, but it's personal in a way that's different from E.T. E.T., you just got the sense that Spielberg, minus the alien, lived that movie. And if that doesn't seem to make much sense on the surface of it, because it's E.T., it's all about the movie.
30:33Josh Larsen:Just think about how much the domesticity is a part of that film and registers and makes it work. So for me, it just pushed E.T. ahead a little bit, that pushed the 1980s to the top. In addition, you know, we've already talked about, it's the decade of Indiana Jones. Three Indiana Jones films. However you feel about Temple of Doom, the fact that that cultural stamp was made in the 1980s pushed them to my first ranking.
31:00Adam Kempenaar:Well, we came to the same conclusion and even had maybe a pivotal film there in common in E.T. So my math, the one movie from this decade I haven't seen is The Color Purple. And I actually do feel guilty about it because I've read the Alice Walker novel and am a big fan of it. And I know that it's a film that got a lot of acclaim. A lot of people consider it a good Spielberg movie in comparison to the other ones I've overlooked. less than fine. There's two of them. It's Temple of Doom. And one of my blind spots, always just saw that. And wow, we could devote an entire segment to talking about what doesn't quite work with always.
31:41Adam Kempenaar:We will table that for another occasion. I don't have a fine. I don't have a pretty good. I have an underrated, meaning I underrate it probably. And that's Empire of the Sun. Only seen it once. Thought it was a solid Spielberg film, but would need to see it again before I could go toe to toe with any defender of that film. And there are defenders of that film out there who definitely feel like it's top five or 10 Spielberg. The one movie that maybe I overrate, and it sounds like fortunately, we've talked about it a lot. You're with me. The Last Crusade. I think that's an incredible film. I have it right now as my number five favorite Steven Spielberg movie.
32:16Adam Kempenaar:So yeah, maybe it's overrated, but I'm not apologizing for it at all. And then you get to the two that are properly rated. All time great films. Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. So if you consider the level of output compared to the 1970s, which we'll get to, seven films versus four, the batting average might be, I didn't actually do that math, but the batting average of the five films from the 70s might be slightly better. But he took more wax in the 80s and he hit some home runs, right, with Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. in The Last Crusade. And I really did almost go with the 1970s, Josh.
32:51Adam Kempenaar:I almost had it there, the number one. And it was for this reason. I know that Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite Spielberg movie, but two, three, and four, I could change every minute of the day. Right now, it's Jaws and Close Encounters third with E.T. fourth. And so when you look at it that way, you've got one and four versus two and three. That's a really hard equation to solve. but I guess the way I finally just narrowed it down was thinking about Raiders of the Lost Ark versus Jaws and Close Encounters. It's hard not to edge a little bit towards the 70s with those two, even as much as I adore Raiders.
33:28Adam Kempenaar:But when you throw in E.T. and The Last Crusade, then it's the 80s. It's those three. Yeah.
33:34Josh Larsen:I mean, it's close, but I feel good about where we landed. Like I said, I feel like we've removed the nostalgia from it. We grew up with E.T. and Indiana Jones. But Jaws, you know, Jaws was still a thing in the 80s and close encounters as well, I remember seeing as a kid. So in my tiers of our power rankings, you know, for me, clearly that top tier was these two decades, the 70s versus the 80s, and the 80s just squeezed to the top there.
34:04Adam Kempenaar:Okay. So we've already touched on it. You already know the 70s is our number two, but I guess in a way to tell us we're wrong, as he usually does here on the show. We haven't heard from the great Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune in a long time. We thought this was a perfect occasion to get a voicemail from him. And it is him telling us that, no, we're idiots. The 70s are the best Spielberg decade.
34:26Josh Larsen:Adam, Josh, hey there. Hope you're doing well. It's still bugging me I didn't get a chance to take part in your live LA show, sidelined by that stinking pandemic. But I made the mistake of buying, not renting a tuxedo for that. Live and learn, I guess. Anyway, Steven Spielberg, two minutes. Let's go. The more I see and re-see Spielberg's work, even the films I don't love, the more I'm just in awe of his ability to straddle classical Hollywood technique and technological savvy. Everyone storyboards, but Spielberg truly designs his individual shots for a variety of movement. And when you have directors like Paul Thomas Anderson admiring some of the staging and camera movement in a good but not great Spielberg film like The Post, you realize how few directors of any age, any background, make camera actor interplay a visual priority.
35:16Josh Larsen:I guess I'm a sucker for origin stories after all, which is why Spielberg's 70s output will always be the closest to my movie-going heart, and that's primarily on the strength of Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The last 20 minutes of Close Encounters gave the 16-year-old me a taste of what Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon must have been like back in 1902. And it's such fun now to go back and see things I'd never seen before, like Spielberg's teleplay LA 2017 made for the ABC anthology series The Name of the Game back in 71. Not to mention re-seeing Duel, which really made his career.
35:55Josh Larsen:And I like Sugar Land Express too, but it's mainly Jaws and Close Encounters, which I just adore beyond any rational, you know, measurement. Oh, and my Spielberg top five list? Oddly enough, even with the presence of E.T., the 80s films are the only ones not represented by that list. And my list goes like this. Jaws, Close Encounters, Schindler's List, Minority Report, and Lincoln. For me, that's the five that really show the range. and uh and as for Raiders the Lost Ark well you know it's a free country if you want to include that in any list besides you know most influential Spielberg picture unfortunately that's up to you see you guys soon I hope take care you know it truly is a pleasure to hear that man's voice
36:42Adam Kempenaar:even when he's so so very wrong like he is about Raiders the Lost Ark but he's not wrong about the 70s being a great decade for Steven Spielberg. I love that he echoed, obviously, what I was saying about Jaws in terms of Spielberg and movement. And you see that so wondrously in so many of his films and maybe a little bit of a nostalgia factor for him, even though we talked about Jaws in the first part of this show. And yeah, still a masterpiece. You don't need any nostalgia to appreciate it. So Michael has a lot of support for his claim that the 70s are truly the best Spielberg decade.
37:18Josh Larsen:Yeah, good to hear his voice, even if he's chastising us. Thank you for that, Michael. Hopefully we'll all get to be in the studio together at some point here in the future. He named the two films, right? Jaws and Close Encounters, though that's the reason why the 70s were in such close contention for me to be ranked first. Although, as you've discovered, Adam, The Sugar Land Express is a really good film. Now, I think maybe Goldie Hawn's performance for me is the strongest element of it. So even though I consider it top tier Spielberg, it's not entirely due to Spielberg, if that makes any sense.
37:53Josh Larsen:So there's some kind of shifting there that I kind of rationalized as well. Duel though, I mean, Duel is top tier Spielberg for me and how I did consider it in my ranking, even though it did premiere on television because it's such a movie movie. It's such a theater movie and such a Spielberg movie as well with the tension that he creates in that film. So for me, the 70s, two titles here are in my top five of Spielberg films, unlike Michael who has more, and that is Jaws and Close Encounters. And then I have four from this decade that are in my top tier of all of his films. So super strong decade, only one in my bottom tier.
38:31Josh Larsen:We haven't mentioned, I don't think 1941 yet. I think a lot of people want to pretend like 1941 doesn't exist. I saw it years ago, just out of curiosity. It can't be as bad as its reputation. And it really is just an example of a filmmaker, you know, admiringly going in a completely different direction and trying something that isn't in his playing style at all, but it just doesn't work. So that works a little bit against the seventies too, I'd say.
39:01Adam Kempenaar:I know we're going to hear from the Jurassic Park lovers and some of those nineties fans out there and they can bring it, but I think we feel pretty good about the seventies in second place. Yep. Feel really good about it.
39:13Josh Larsen:Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures present an 18 production of a Steven Spielberg film. 1941.
39:21Adam Kempenaar:We hope you enjoyed it. You can access the Film Spotting archive and hear top fives like that anytime you'd like by being a Film Spotting family member. Learn more at filmspottingfamily.com. Thanks for listening.
39:33Josh Larsen:This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
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From the publisher
In 2020, Adam and Josh used the 45th anniversary of Jaws to Power Rank the Spielberg Decades — from the Close Encounters ’70s to the Lincoln 2010s. With the release of Disclosure Day, the question now is whether it’s already time to do it again and include the 2020s.
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