The Films of Steven Spielberg

I appreciate the fact that this blog feels very random at times.  Sometimes that's intentional.  But if you glance at the sidebar there is (at times) a method to my madness.  I recently posted The Movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger entry, which follows two other entries about 80s superstars, The Movies of Sylvester Stallone and The Movies of Tom Cruise.

This entry follows in turn two other entries centered around directors I like, The Films of David Cronenberg and The Films of Christopher Nolan.  So with this entry I've done three directors and three 80s action stars.  What's next?  I was thinking about three female stars of the 90s, perhaps followed in turn by three more directors, three male stars of the 2000s, three more directors and finally (if I ever get there) three female stars of the 2010s.

But we'll see.  Maybe I'll change my mind.  Maybe I'll forget.  Maybe I'll be struck by lightning before that happens.  Maybe I'll meet aliens at a remote location in Wyoming, and after that point this blog will be about my adventures on other worlds.

Anyway, on to Steven Spielberg's considerable filmography.

1970s

1. Duel (1970)

Dennis Weaver vs. Homicidal Truck Driver.  The charm of this movie might be lost on modern viewers, but in 1970s action/suspense movies usually weren't this tightly constructed, and the way in which Spielberg presented the story was unique at the time.  I can't say it's held up that well but it was a groundbreaking movie for sure.

2. The Sugarland Express (1974)

Like 1941 (below) this movie is somewhat forgotten now.  It was made in the early 70s and it feels like it was made in the early 70s.  If you're interested in how Spielberg developed his distinctive style it's worth seeing, but I don't think it deserves an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes.  I'd probably give it a score closer to the year in which it was released -- 74% sounds about right to me.

3. Jaws (1975)

Still one of the best movies ever made.  The great Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and (especially) Robert Shaw were all perfectly cast, and there's a very human drama at the center of this movie about a killer shark.  Jaws had and continues to have a profound effect on the movies that have followed in its wake.

4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Also one of the best movies ever made, with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a man who witnesses the inexplicable.  Like Jaws it puts a very human conflict at the center of a seemingly inexplicable event.

The doorbells in my Taiwanese mother-in-law's apartment complex employ the "signaling tune" from this movie.  Every time I open her living room door I feel like I'm going to see aliens greeting me in the hallway.

5. 1941 (1979)

This was on HBO all the freaking time when I was little.  It paired well with 80s teen sex comedies, Chuck Norris' post-Vietnam exploits, or whatever other schlock HBO was showing late at night.  It's not bad by any means, but it's definitely one of Spielberg's more lightweight movies.  There are reasons discussions of his films usually leave it out.

1980s

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Still one of the best action movies ever made, and probably THE best action movie of the 1980s.  Sometimes people like to get snarky with me and say that Raiders of the Lost Ark "isn't an action movie," and that argument always sounds very weak to my ears.  It's fun, it's violent and it leaves you wanting more.  Die Hard?  I think not!

2. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

I was the target audience for this movie when it came out, and yet I never understood the appeal.  It trades on a lot of kids being cute and improbable occurrences involving both the U.S. government and alien lifeforms.  Sure, we all wanted bikes that could fly, but I always felt that this was the movie I was supposed to like rather than the movie I actually did like.

3. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Spielberg only directed the "Kick the Can" segment in which the residents of a retirement home magically regain their youth.  It's a solid contribution, even if George Miller's segment is the most memorable.

4. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

This sequel's a bit uneven, but the opening sequence is great and for the most part it captures the spirit of the first movie.  It might be too gruesome for its own good but I loved it as a kid.

5. The Color Purple (1985)

A real departure from what Spielberg had done before and a genuinely good movie all the way through.  Whoopie Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover were all examples of perfect casting.  I've read the book as well and I think the movie does a good job of capturing the same mood.

6. Empire of the Sun (1987)

Christian Bale's first movie!  I've read J.G. Ballard's book, and I can tell you that while the movie's good the book is a whole other level of epic.

7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

I liked it of course.  It's a lot more consistent than Temple of Doom.  But I don't know, something about this movie disappointed me at the time.  Maybe it was playing things a little too safe?  They'd done Judaism in the first movie, Hinduism in the second, so OF COURSE it was time for Christianity in the third one.  I dunno, I just wanted something more.

8. Always (1989)

A very forgettable movie.  Spielberg teams up with Richard Dreyfuss again, this time for a remake of a 1940s romantic drama that few people have ever seen.

1990s

1. Hook (1991)

Robin Williams stars as an older Peter Pan opposite Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook.  It was a big budget Hollywood move released ahead of Christmas and it did predictably well.

2. Jurassic Park (1993)

I was 18 in 1993, so a bit too old for this movie to have the profound effect on me that it had on younger generations.  It's a fun movie, and the special effects were groundbreaking, but I can't say that it's one of the "greatest movies of all time" or anything.

3. Schindler's List (1993)

It blows my mind that Spielberg made Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in the same time period.  On the one hand you've got a big, fun movie about dinosaurs and on the other you've got a brooding, black and white meditation on the Holocaust.  People who only associate Liam Neeson with Taken really need to go back and watch Schindler's List.

4. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

In my opinion one of Spielberg's rare failures.  The plot is irrelevant and the ending falls flat.

5. Amistad (1997)

An overlooked movie, even at the time.  This tale of the slave trade put Djimon Hounsou on the map, and his status in Hollywood would only rise thereafter.  I think the courtroom aspect of this movie is a little tired and brings to mind much older movies from the 40s and 50s, but it's undeniably well done.

6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Tom Hanks leads a platoon into Nazi-occupied France to rescue a single soldier.  Aside from the battle scenes I think that what makes this movie great is its ambiguity.  Is it worth rescuing Private Ryan?  Did the ends justify the means?  This movie doesn't offer much of an answer and that's one of its strengths.

2000s

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

You know what took me 20+ years to notice?  This movie came out in 2001.  Spielberg took over this project from Stanley Kubrick who, as everybody knows, directed the science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.  A.I. is one of my favorite science fiction movies, though I'd rank this retelling of Pinocchio lower than both Close Encounters of the Third Kind and War of the Worlds.

2. Minority Report (2002)

I rewatched this recently, and even though it hasn't held up quite as well as some of Spielberg's other movies it's still good.  Tom Cruise solves "pre-crimes" with the aid of mutants that see the future.  It was adapted from a Philip K. Dick story and retains the author's signature sense of paranoia.

3. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Spielberg + DiCaprio.  Yeah, it made perfect financial sense.  Up to that point DiCaprio's only real success as a leading man had been Titanic, but with a string of great performances in lesser-known movies under his belt he was clearly poised to do great things.  This said, I think this movie gets by on its sense of style.  It's certainly good, and it's not trying to be deep, but compared to other movies Spielberg's done it's just OK.

4. The Terminal (2004)

Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks both benefited greatly from collaborations with Spielberg.  In The Terminal Hanks stars as a man trapped inside an airport, with the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones as a stewardess passing through his life.  I like this movie, but I'm also glad that Spielberg never ventured any further into rom-com territory.

5. War of the Worlds (2005)

One of my favorite movies.  Say what you will about Tom Cruise, he's amazing in this film.  From the word "go" War of the Worlds hits the ground running, building from a sense of dread to a sense of relief as mankind faces its darkest hour.

6. Munich (2005)

Like Amistad this movie's a bit overlooked.  Eric Bana should have been a lot bigger star than he was, but for whatever reason Hulk, Troy and Munich seemed to encompass Hollywood's love affair with Bana.  In Munich he stars as an Israeli intelligence agent exacting revenge after the bombing at the Munich Olympics.

7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

That scene with Shia LaBeouf swinging with monkeys.  Yikes.  This movie just can't decide who its protagonist is.  It also relies heavily on CGI, and in doing so it strays from the practical effects that made the first three installments so good.

2010s

1. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

I watched it.  It was OK, but I didn't love it.

2. War Horse (2011)

A completely forgettable movie.  Boy gets horse, boy goes off to war, boy is reunited with horse at the end of said war.

3. Lincoln (2012)

I get why Danial Day-Lewis' performance was praised but this movie was completely lost on me.  Like West Side Story (below) I tried watching it twice, but both times found myself unable to sit through it.  It describes a pivotal time period in American history, and Spielberg's previous movies like The Color Purple and Amistad in a sense led him to it, but for me it just fell flat.  Characters talk and talk and talk and so little seems to happen.

4. Bridge of Spies (2015)

Have I seen this movie?  I feel like I have, but I can't remember anything about it.

5. The BFG (2016)

Haven't seen it.  I'll probably watch it at some point.

6. The Post (2017)

I have a soft spot for movies centered around newspapers.  All the President's Men, The Front Page, etc., etc., etc.  Ah, the sound of typewriters clacking and printing presses churning.  As such movies go I don't think this movie holds a candle to All The President's Men, The Paper or Spotlight but it's not bad.  Bonus points for Bruce Greenwood, who should always be in more movies.

7. Ready Player One (2018)

Terrible movie adapted from a terrible book.  Spielberg attempts to resurrect the sci-fi cred he built up in the 2000s with this misguided exercise in 80s nostalgia.  It's heavy on CGI and extremely light on plot.

2020s

1. West Side Story (2021)

One of the darlings of this year's Oscar race.  I'm really not into musicals, but even I have to admit that it's a great looking movie.  I tried watching it twice, and fell asleep halfway through twice.  There are bits and pieces of it in my memory, but not enough to comment on the plot, the acting or any other aspect of the film.

2. The Fabelmans (2022)

It works from a dramatic standpoint but I don't think it deserves all the Oscars this year.  Michelle Williams is good as the protagonist's mother, but this movie isn't the insight into Spielberg's moviemaking technique that I was hoping for.

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"It's Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry In Everything" by Kate Biberdorf (2021)

"Chemically speaking, a protein is a polypeptide -- a large molecule built from two or more amino acids.  There are over five hundred known amino acids, twenty of which are in our genetic code.  However, only nine of them are considered to be essential.  An essential amino acid cannot be synthesized by our bodies, therefore we must incorporate it into our diet."

Kate Biberdorf is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.  She has also appeared on several news and variety TV programs where she explains scientific concepts to the general public.

In It's Elemental she explores the role of chemical processes in our daily lives, progressing through topics such as fitness, clothing, the manufacture of spirits and sex.  While doing so she uses anecdotes from her own life and cross-references various aspects of pop culture.

Judging this book by its stated purpose it's a success.  It communicates the usual array of Chemistry topics in a breezy yet satisfying manner, never losing sight of the fact that its for a general audience largely unacquainted with Chemistry.  If I have a complaint it's that there are many similar books on bookshelves now, and what It's Elemental does isn't anything we haven't seen before.

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The Movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Austrian Oak!  Mr. Universe!  Mr. Olympia!  The Distinguished Governor of California!  Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a lot of things to a lot of people.

Me being the 80s child that I am, I feel like I grew up with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I listened to the Conan the Barbarian LP when I was too young to see the movie.  I marveled over the weapons employed in Commando.  My VHS tape of the first Terminator was one of my favorite things.  Like Sylvester Stallone, Schwarzenegger was one of the big action heroes of the 1980s, and any boy who grew up during that decade probably loved his movies as much as I did.

If nothing else, Arnold Schwarzenegger's career is a testament to willpower.  The guy came from nothing, worked his way up through the bodybuilding world, and went on to be someone with one foot in Hollywood and one foot in Washington D.C.  He is, in other words, a uniquely American creation, and he reflects many of the qualities we Americans both like and dislike about our own country.

1970s

1. Hercules in New York (a.k.a. Hercules Goes Bananas (1969 or 1970)

Super low budget movie featuring Greek gods in New York City.  Schwarzenegger of course plays Hercules, an appropriately arrogant demigod who's been banished to the Big Apple after angering his father Zeus.  "Arnold Strong" (as he's billed in the credits) suffers the indignity of a voiceover for the duration of this movie, and it has little to recommend it aside from pure cheesiness.

2. Stay Hungry (1976)

A young Jeff Bridges is the star of this movie, with Sally Field as his love interest.  Schwarzenegger however appears throughout, and this time he's speaking in his own voice.  Stay Hungry isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but it's much better than Hercules in New York.  The "posing in the street" part near the end is genuinely charming.

3. The Villain (1979)

I haven't seen this movie in ages.  I can remember Schwarzenegger sitting in a wagon next to a pretty woman (Ann-Margret?) and Kirk Douglas falling victim to various calamities.

1980s

1. Conan the Barbarian (1982)

The film that made Schwarzenegger a movie star.  John Milius' direction, Basil Pouledoris' soundtrack, Oliver Stone's take on Nietzsche, James Earl Jones' Thulsa Doom and Schwarzenegger's emotionally wounded Cimmerian are all highlights.  It's no surprise that this movie catapulted him to the big time.

2. Conan the Destroyer (1984)

Disappointing sequel to the 1982 classic.  The monster at the end is kind of cool though.  Conan the Destroyer waters down the character quite a bit, and obviously aims for younger audiences.  Grace Jones, who plays Zuta, would go on to star in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill the following year.

3. The Terminator (1984)

The other movie upon which Schwarzenegger cemented his early cinematic success, though its popularity was slower in building.  It didn't actually do that well in theaters (during its third week it was knocked out of the #1 spot at theaters by Oh God! You Devil of all movies), but the emerging VHS market meant that this R-rated movie found a newer and younger audience in American homes later on.

In all honesty I don't think this movie has aged that well, partly because T2 puts it to shame.  I have a deep sense of nostalgia for it, but I think that at times the lower budget shows.  I'll always be a fan of Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton, even though they don't seem to have managed their careers as successfully as Schwarzenegger has.

4. Red Sonja (1985)

Remember when Bridgitte Nielson was married to Sylvester Stallone?  This movie would have entered production not long before that, and during production Nielson was conducting an affair with Schwarzenegger while he was engaged to Maria Shriver.  Whether Nielson was engaged or romantically involved with Stallone at the same time is a cause for speculation.  Hollywood can be a sexually confusing place.

Anyway, Red Sonja isn't very good.  One of the few things in its favor is Sandahl Bergman, who plays the villain and who also played Valeria in Conan the Barbarian three years before.  She was initially offered the role of Red Sonja as well, but (wisely perhaps) turned it down.

Schwarzenegger, by the way, isn't playing Conan in this movie.  He's "Lord Kalidor."

5. Commando (1985)

Even in the 80s we KNEW this movie was cheesy as all hell and we didn't care.  The one-liners, the ridiculous villains and the even more ridiculous weapons were just what the doctor ordered.  To this day my dad, who saw it with us in the theater at the time, quotes Commando on a regular basis.

6. Raw Deal (1986)

I never liked this movie.  Even in 1986, as rabid as I was for anything Schwarzenegger or Stallone-adjacent, this movie did nothing for me.  Raw Deal has always seemed like an odd choice for Schwarzenegger.  He was on firm footing when it came to the sword and sorcery, ex-solider out for revenge or science fiction, but this crime movie hit all the wrong notes.

7. Predator (1987)

Still one of the best sci-fi/action movies ever made.  It's damn near perfect from beginning to end.  I'd be hard-pressed to say which is better, Aliens or Predator, but both are outstanding examples of science fiction concepts imported into genres where they weren't often seen -- at least at the time.

8. The Running Man (1987)

Is it just me or is this movie kind of forgotten now?  I've seen it mentioned a couple times in the context of Schwarzenegger's career, but most people seem to skip over it when discussing his "classic" films.  This seems like a shame, because The Running Man is still a fun movie that has, like the original Robocop, a lot to say about the time in which it was made.  Schwarzenegger himself wasn't that happy with the final product, but I think it's solid.

9. Red Heat (1988)

As with Raw Deal above I just wasn't feeling this one.  Jim Belushi, who at the time seemed to be riding on his father John Belushi's coattails, made it much worse.  Director Walter Hill is also hit and miss for me.  I like some of the movies he's directed, produced or written over the years, but a lot of his stuff falls firmly into the realm of macho nonsense.

10. Twins (1988)

Eh, it's OK.  I never understood all the love this movie received.

1990s

1. Total Recall (1990)

Forget the reboot, the original is the one you want.  For most Hollywood stars this would have been the pinnacle of a career, but Schwarzenegger still had T2 waiting in the wings.  Director Paul Verhoeven did this between Robocop and Starship Troopers, and while I don't think Total Recall is as good as those two other films it's still excellent.

2. Kindergarten Cop (1990)

I have a soft spot for any movie set in Astoria, Oregon.  I grew up between Seattle and Bay City, Oregon, and I have many memories of visiting Astoria as a child.

This said, I never thought Kindergarten Cop was very good.  Schwarzenegger was obviously trying to soften his image, obviously trying to broaden his range as an actor, and obviously trying to build on what he'd done in Twins, but this movie is only passable at best.

3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

Probably the height of Schwarzenegger's popularity.  Where Stallone's career had more ups and downs (for every Cliffhanger there's a Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot), Schwarzenegger's career was a steadier ascent, building from Conan the Barbarian to T2.

4. Last Action Hero (1993)

In a way this movie made perfect sense in 1993 -- an action movie making fun of action movies, but yeah, the execution left something to be desired.  It's a cult film now, and I'm not even sure if it deserves that kind of status.  I think they might have done better if they'd gone slightly lower budget, hired a comedy dire tor, and cast someone less famous in the lead.  I'm speculating of course, but at the time I felt that Schwarzenegger's fame was more of an impediment to this film's success than an asset.

5. True Lies (1994)

Schwarzenegger reunited with James Cameron for this spy movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.  I liked it but I didn't love it.

6. Junior (1994)

One of the cringiest movies ever made.  Schwarzenegger carries a baby to term.  Just typing that last sentence brought back painful memories.

7. Eraser (1996)

I'm sure I've seen it but I can't remember a single thing about it.

8. Jingle All The Way (1996)

Not as cringey as Junior but definitely not good.  Whatever happened to Sinbad?

9. Batman & Robin (1997)

Yeah... let's skip over this one.

10. End of Days (1999)

A return to form?  In some ways it's the big movie you'd expect, but Schwarzenegger's damaged hero is different from what we'd seen him do up until that point.  Critics HATED this movie, but I think if you compare it to films like Batman & Robin, Jingle All The Way and (especially) Junior it's not bad.  In the late 90s action heroes were getting their brood on for sure.

2000s

Schwarzenegger spent most of this decade being Governor of California.  His approval rating at the start of his first term was incredibly high, but by the end of his second term it was LOW.  His opposition to an amendment of California's Three Strikes Law cost him a lot of support.

1. The 6th Day (2000)

Saw it and I don't remember.  That sounds like a joke but really, I don't remember.

2. Collateral Damage (2002)

Also saw it and I don't remember.

3. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

I'd say this is the worst Terminator, though there's another Terminator that Christian Bale may have gone back in time and erased from our memories.

2010s

Many of the movies below were limited release or on-demand.  He also made several cameo appearances in other movies.

1. The Expendables 2 (2012)

Schwarzenegger had a cameo in the first movie, but it wasn't until the second Expendables that he featured as one of the cast.  It's not a terrible movie, though I usually avoid exercises in this kind of nostalgia.

2. The Last Stand (2013)

A surprisingly good movie.  You'll see the trailer and think it's going to suck, but it really isn't bad.  If you look really hard the sword from Conan the Barbarian is in it.

3. Escape Plan (2013)

Stallone and Schwarzenegger team up to escape a high security prison.  It's exactly the kind of movie they would have done in the 80s (Tango & Cash says hi), but it doesn't try too hard to recreate that 80s feeling.

4. Sabotage (2014)

Not very good.

5. The Expendables 3 (2014)

A lot of people hate on this movie because of the PG-13 rating, but I thought it was OK.  If nothing else, Mel Gibson made a great villain.

6. Maggie (2015)

Schwarzenegger took a more dramatic turn as the father of a girl who's doomed to become one of the walking dead.  Some horror fans briefly fawned over Maggie, but I always thought it was tremendously overrated.  Strip away the zombie theme and you've got a Lifetime movie.

7. Terminator: Genisys (2015)

Oh wait, did I say Christian Bale's Terminator was the worst one?  Let me reassess that conclusion...

8. Aftermath (2017)

Haven't seen it.

9. King Gunther (2017)

Haven't seen it.

10. Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

It won't blow your mind or anything but it's OK.  Linda Hamilton is the star of this movie, and overall it's a vast improvement over the two Terminator movies before it.  It was a HUGE bomb, and at the time of writing there are no plans for a sequel.

2020s

1. Kung Fury 2 (2023)

I haven't seen the first one but it sounds funny.  The sequel is a much bigger-budget affair, and for this reason probably not as good.  Nothing kills a good comedic premise like an exponentially larger budget and the addition of big names to the cast.

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"Circe" by Madeline Miller (2018)

"Ariadne's light feet crossed and recrossed the circle. Every step was perfect, like a gift she gave herself, and she smiled, receiving it. I wanted to seize her by the shoulders. Whatever you do, I wanted to say, do not be happy. It will bring down fire on your head.

"I said nothing, and let her dance."

Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles was also reviewed here recently.  Circe is her second and most recent book.  She's had two short stories published but I haven't read them yet.  At the time of writing she's working on a third novel which incorporates the Persephone myth.

If you've read The Song of Achilles, Circe is more of the same: Greek myth told from an alternate perspective, tragedy mixed with a sense of optimism, fatalism tempered by the idea that clever people can change their fate.  Circe tells the tale of the immortal witch sentenced to life imprisonment on an island, with Circe's desire for mortal companionship proving both her undoing and her ultimate salvation.

Odysseus/Ulysses shows up about halfway through the book, and I think the author did a great job bringing both him and Circe to life.  Their personal struggles feel at once immediate and faithful to the the epic poem they represent, with enough room left for each to develop in surprising ways.

I suppose the real question for most readers will be how this book compares to The Song of Achilles, the book that broke its author into the mainstream.  I think I can say without equivocation that The Song of Achilles is a far superior book, but this isn't to say that Circe is by any means bad.  Miller wrote her Song over a period of ten years, and if Circe feels more rushed by comparison that's to be expected.  It's still a very good book, and I never felt bored by it.

Miller's as-yet-unseen third novel?  Sign me up, I'll read it.

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"Green Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993)

"Nirgal had first seen the city on a brief visit with Coyote.  He had found it too big, too crowded, too many strangers.  But months later, tired of wandering the south with Coyote, so solitary for so much of the time, he had recalled the place as if it were the only destination possible.  Sabishii!"

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer.  I've also read his 2312, which was reviewed here recently.  Green Mars is the second book in his Mars Trilogy, coming after Red Mars and preceding Blue Mars.

In the wake of human settlement, the terraforming of Mars begins, altering the Martian landscape beyond recognition.  At the same time the First Hundred, a group representing the initial wave of Martian settlers, is forced into hiding as the result of a failed revolution.  While the First Hundred and their progeny argue the ins and outs of terraforming, the transnationals, enormous companies dictating events on Earth, attempt to seize power from a Transitional Authority on Mars.

All in all a good premise.  For one thing we haven't seen it a thousand times already, and for another thing it seems to anticipate recent developments in space exploration.  But aside from that premise there isn't a lot of character development in this book, and between the book's beginning and end lie lengthy (on might say oceanic) discussions of Martian geography, all framed around a number of people we never get to know that well.

I was really close to giving up on Green Mars.  It's really long, it doesn't have much of a story, and a lot of the scientific discussions don't serve the plot.  The only thing that kept me going was the price I paid for it.  I bought it in an airport bookstore, and quitting halfway through just seemed like a waste of money.

I liked 2312 much more, and I might just be finished with Kim Stanley Robinson after this novel.  I think I know what he's about now, and I doubt that his best is as good as other authors that I genuinely enjoy.

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Thoughts on Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

"Utter shit!"  

"This show is terrible!"  

"Marvel is going downhill!"  

Etc., etc., etc.

Is that what I'm expected to say?

The thing is, I kind of like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.  I watched episode 7 last night and while yes, this show has problems, it's not that bad.

I have to be real here and say I haven't seen all of the Marvel shows.  I watched the Netflix series up to The Defenders.  I watched bits of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I tried and failed with Agent Carter and The Inhumans.  I didn't bother with Runaways, Cloak and Dagger and Helstrom.  I probably won't bother with Adventure Into Fear either.

As far as the Marvel Studios shows go, I enjoyed Wandavision the most.  I thought the ending of that show was weak, but it was a good setup for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which should have, in my opinion, featured Scarlet Witch instead of Doctor Strange.

I couldn't get into The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Moon Knight.  I still think Loki is terrible.  Hawkeye bored me, and I've only seen parts of What If...?  I might see Ms. Marvel, but then again I might not.  I loved the comic book series, and I'm worried the show will ruin my memories of the comic.

And She-Hulk?  I grew up reading those comics, but I haven't read any of them since I was little.  I was fascinated by the Hulk, and those She-Hulk comics were often a nice sidestep into other aspects of an evolving process of hulkification.

(Whatever that means.)

But yeah, I kind of like She-Hulk.  It's very dumb, but for all its dumbness it's entertaining.  Tatiana Maslany is a great actress, and despite plot holes and other problems with the writing she remains convincing as both Jennifer Walters and She-Hulk.  Is the CGI in the show awesome?  NOPE, but I will say that the CGI in episode 7 looks better, and that moment where Jennifer is at Blonsky's retreat struggling with the dichotomy between Jen and She-Hulk really sold the character for me.

No, I don't know why she didn't just turn into She-Hulk, jump a few miles away and get better cellphone service, and no, I don't know why her car getting smashed was such a monumental problem, but that moment in the group made the show very relatable, and it's a better moment than the best moments in many other Marvel shows.

Which is not to say that the pacing in this show isn't an issue.  Whoever's writing the scripts seems to be in a godawful rush to get to each episode's conclusion, almost as if they either didn't know how to reach that conclusion or they didn't want to be writing the script in the first place.  The actors involved are game enough, and the rom-com vibe could have worked, but this show really needs to slow down.  That big, season-ending conclusion needs to be earned.

I just hope they tap the brakes for the last two episodes.  No need to have some world-ending villain appear out of nowhere.  She-Hulk's struggle can remain a personal one, and bringing in some ridiculous bad guy so close to the end of the series will probably do more harm than good.

For what it's worth I'd like to see more of She-Hulk in a feature film.  With better CGI Tatiana Maslany can easily carry the role, and this is one instance where a character's diversity really will make a cinematic universe both more inclusive and more interesting.

Related Entries:

"The Vision" by Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Others (2017)

"Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert and Others (2013)

"Marvel Greatest Comics: 100 Comics That Build a Universe" by Melanie Scott and Stephen Wiacek (2020)

Thoughts on Zack Snyder's Justice League

Fun Fact 1: They wanted to include She-Hulk in The Death of the Incredible Hulk TV movie, way back in 1990.

Fun Fact 2: Later still New World Pictures planned on making a She-Hulk movie, with Brigitte Nielsen as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk.  There are photos here.

Sad Reflection: And what about Marvel's other (more) interesting female superheroine?  What about Spider-Woman?  You'd think Sony would make a Spider-Woman film a priority, but no, no plans for Jessica Drew as yet.  Maybe they're doing us a favor?

Update: After writing this I watched the first episode of Ms. Marvel and the first three episodes of the Netflix Punisher series.  Ms. Marvel lost me at the end of the first episode, while that extended torture/interrogation scene in Punisher just started to seem ridiculous.  I'll definitely watch the remaining two episodes of She-Hulk, but I'm not sure about Ms. Marvel and Punisher.

Zero Fail by Carol Leonnig (2021)

"'It is frustrating to me to see a job I truly loved and people I worked closely with being so poorly managed and led."

Recent news regarding the Secret Service?  I only know what I hear from my mom, who regards Donald Trump in pretty much the same way the Ayatollah Khamenei regards The West.  Get her started on Trump, the Secret Service and insurrections, and before you know it you'll be forced into a detour of Everything Wrong With America.

I walked into this book knowing very little about the U.S. Secret Service.  I knew they'd been "implicated" in various things, but that was about it.  I also, like most other people, have seen movies like JFK and In the Line of Fire, so I had a few (mostly incorrect) assumptions about what the Secret Service does and how they do it.

As it turns out, the Secret Service began as an anti-counterfeiting unit within the Treasury Department.  After Lincoln's assassination fake currency was a big problem, and the Secret Service was charged with rooting out counterfeiters.  It wasn't until much later that the Secret Service was tasked with protecting the President from assassination, and it was even later that the Secret Service was removed from the Treasury Department, freed from weeding out counterfeiters, and folded into the Department of Homeland Security.

And as we all now know, sometime between JFK's assassination and the present day the Secret Service grew less professional, less efficient, and less admired by the general public.  Somewhere along the way the Secret Service became more of an exclusive boy's club, in which agents spend their time off getting drunk and hiring prostitutes in foreign locales.  Many within the Service's ranks have been publicly shamed for such antics, but the organization as a whole has been slow to adapt to changing times.

Not that the Service was always in such desperate need of reform.  No one's blaming them for Kennedy.  It was a long slide downhill, and the worst moments seem to have occurred from the Obama administration onward.

So yeah, all of the above is what I now know about the Secret Service.  I'm no expert, but Zero Fail has taught me a few things I didn't already know.  This said, it's not an especially interesting book, and the insights it offers aren't as wide-ranging as I had hoped for.  Everything before Obama was, for the most part, old news to me, and I often felt like the author should have started the book with that presidency.  Going all the way back to the origins of the Service didn't offer that much more context, and I felt that bringing more recent personalities to the forefront would have made for a more interesting narrative.

And you know what?  The Service's failures during the Trump administration aren't even the most interesting parts of this book.  My mom won't want to hear that of course, and I won't try to convince her one way or the other, but yeah, the juiciest bits happened before Trump was even up for election.

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"The Light Ages" by Seb Falk (2020)

"IBM and the Holocaust" by Edwin Black (2001)

"Move: The Forces Uprooting Us" by Parag Khanna (2021)

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Some Other Movies From 1940-1949 (2)

For further background on the year in film, please refer to the Some Other Movies From 1940-1949 entry.

The following things happened between 1940 and 1949:

• Harry S. Truman was sworn in as President of the U.S.
• Mahatma Gandhi agitated against the British government in India.
• The Cold War began.
• World War II ended.
• U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died.
• The Nazis took power in Germany.

All of the movies below can be viewed on YouTube and are linked accordingly.  The ones I liked more are near the top, and the ones I didn't like as much are near the bottom.

1. Nightmare Alley (1947)

I think the original is a lot more to the point that Guillermo del Toro's recent remake.  It draws a clearer line between ego, guilt and addiction.  Star Tyrone Power was an excellent choice for the lead, and the touches del Toro added to the story were, in my opinion, unnecessary.

Fun Fact: This movie had a relatively large budget for the time period, and many of the stars were already established names.  A working carnival was created as part of the production, and actual carnival people were hired to make the setting more authentic.

2. Pinky (1949)

I'd like to say this movie was pushing boundaries, but the sad fact is that in many parts of the world this movie is still pushing boundaries.  Some might say we've come a long way, while others might say we still have a long way to go.

In Pinky Jeanne Crain stars as a racially mixed woman coming to terms with the Southern town where she grew up.  For Crain taking the role was a risky proposition, but under Elia Kazan's direction her character's personal struggle rings true.  Kazan wasn't that happy with Crain's performance, but this movie did very well financially.

3. The Song of Bernadette (1943)

There are two great performances at the center of this movie. On the one hand you've got Jennifer Jones, who'd go on to win an Oscar for Best Actress.  On the other hand you've got Vincent Price, who commands every scene he's in.  The Song of Bernadette follows the trials of a young woman who witnesses The Virgin Mary near the town of Lourdes. It's a very Catholic movie, but thought-provoking nonetheless.

Fun Fact: Jennifer Jones' last movie was The Towering Inferno in 1974.

4. Our Town (1940)

Life and death in rural New Hampshire. It was adapted from the play, and composer Aaron Copland wrote the score. I don't know that the theological bits near the end would say as much to modern audiences, but certain characters breaking the fourth wall anticipates more modern approaches to storytelling.

5. The Way Ahead (1944)

David Niven leads a platoon of British infantrymen to battle in North Africa. It gets (if you'll excuse the slight pun) a bit bogged down in the details of their training, but the characters are compelling and the production values were high.

6. Young Widow (1946)

Jane Russell plays a woman mourning her husband near the end of WWII, with Louis Hayward as a serviceman trying to stalk his way into her heart. Given the delayed release of The Outlaw this was Russell's first wide release movie. I can't say that she was a good actress, but Young Widow an interesting look at almost-postwar America.

7. The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942)

Detective story in which a mysterious assailant seeks revenge on a wealthy family.  This movie is very short but very well written.

Fun Fact: This movie is part of a series featuring the same detective. There were seven in all, and this was the fifth.

8. And Then There Were None (1945)

A group of strangers, each accused of murder, face justice on a remote island. It was adapted from an Agatha Christie novel. It's not bad overall, even if the people on the island seem both unnaturally calm and weirdly slow on the uptake in the face of grave danger.

Fun Fact: This is one of five film adaptations of Christie's story.

9. Forty Little Mothers (1940)

Eddie Cantor teaches a class of 40 free spirited young ladies. In 2022 about 40% of this movie's plot would be a setup for porn, and about 20% would be grounds for numerous sexual harassment complaints.  Even so I'll be darned if the ending didn't bring a smile to my face.

Fun Fact: Veronica Lake appears briefly in this movie. The following year's I Wanted Wings (below) brought her to the public's attention.

10. I Wanted Wings (1941)

Like The Way Ahead, not just a movie but also a recruitment advertisement for its particular branch of the service.  It was a very popular movie at the time, and also won an Academy Award for special effects, but I never found the characters that engaging. For what it's worth William Holden is in both this and Our Town. It was very early in his career.

11. The Undying Monster (1942)

Horror/murder mystery in which those frequenting an old spooky mansion are attacked by a mysterious assailant. Never mind the Inspector's American accent, and never mind the solution to the mystery.  Contemplating such things will give you a headache.

12. Something for the Boys (1944)

Carmen Miranda. She's annoying in every scene she's in. I think it's safe to say that her appeal is lost on modern audiences.

I feel like this movie was made more for servicemen stationed overseas. Pretty girls, songs, general zaniness. The best I can say about it is that the redhead is very pretty and the songs are inoffensive.

13. The Iron Curtain (1948)

Soviet spies infiltrate Canada.  This movie was based on a real incident, and great pains were taken to film on location, but it's on the slow side for sure.  In 1948 Russia wasn't quite the bogeyman it is today, but sentiment against that country was certainly growing within the U.S. and Canada.  The Iron Curtain's existence is owed in part to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, which accused Hollywood of failing to make any anti-Communist movies.

14. The Jolson Story (1946)

Al Jolson!  Just a Jewish boy who wanted to wear blackface and become a star!  And why blackface, you ask?  Because black people, when they're not missing their mammies and eating watermelons, love to sing and dance!  Yeah, 1946 was a long time ago, and this movie really, really hasn't aged well.  I made it about halfway through and had to give up.

This movie, by the way, was a huge hit, a fact which says a lot about both Jolson's popularity and where race relations were in the late 40s.  This movie also bears some striking similarities to The Jazz Singer, a play which was adapted for film and television several times.  The most recent adaptation, which appeared in 1980 and starred Neil Diamond, thankfully did away with the blackface.

Related Entries:

Some Other Movies From 1940-1949

Some Other Movies From 1950-1959 (2)

Some Other Movies From 1950-1959

Some Other Movies From 1960-1964