The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 3: The 1990's - Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park

Release Date: June 11, 1993

Runtime: 127 Mins

Winner of all three Academy Awards for which it was nominated including Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects

Read our thoughts after the jump...

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 3: The 1990's - Hook (1991)

Hook

Release Date: December 11, 1991

Runtime: 144 Mins

Nominated for Five Academy Awards including Best Original Song, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up, Best Visual Effects

Winner of Zero Academy Awards

Read on after the jump...

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 2: The 1980's - Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun

Release Date: December 9, 1987

Runtime: 152 mins

Nominated for Six Academy Awards including Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound.

Winner of ZERO Academy Awards

Sean here.  J. Link viewed Empire of the Sun on her own and her thoughts on the film can be found below. I just wanted to throw in my quick two cents.  To me, this is Spielberg's most underrated film and one of his greatest accomplishments.  It is ultimately about the death of childhood and this was definitely the film that gave Spielberg the strength to go on and tackle Schindler's List. Empire of the Sun was Christian Bale's first screen performance and it is still his finest.  It's a shame that he has an Oscar for The Fighter instead of his superb work here.  The climactic images in the film are haunting as we see Spielberg putting the final nails in the coffin of leaving childhood behind.  He would try to return to the childhood realm with Hook, but would fail miserably.  If you want to see the turning point in Spielberg's career, for better or for worse, look no further than Empire of the Sun.

J. Link's thoughts after the jump...

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 2: The 1980's - The Color Purple (1985)

The Color Purple

Release Date: December 18, 1985

Run Time: 154 Mins

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress Whoopi Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress Oprah Winfrey, Best Supporting Actress Margaret Avery, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Make-Up, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.

It Won ZERO Academy Awards....

Read on after the jump...

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective: Siskel and Ebert - The Magic of Spielberg

By Sean Knight

I stumbled across this video a while ago and thought it might be fun to share on here as part of the retrospective.  Around the time of the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Siskel and Ebert dedicated an entire show to dissecting the work of Steven Spielberg.  It's interesting to hear the parallels they find from film to film and also what they think his short comings are.  Later today we will be continuing our retrospective with The Color Purple.  Until then I figured you could enjoy the videos below.

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 2: The 1980's - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Release Date: June 11, 1982

Runtime: 115 Mins

Nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Cinematography

Winner of 4 Academy Awards including Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects

Read on after the jump...

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective: Inside the Actor's Studio

JJ Here!

If you haven't seen Steven Spielberg on Inside the Actor's Studio I urge you to watch the video below. The clips have been edited out due to copyright but that's alright. Watch and enjoy!

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 1: The 1970's - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Release Date: November 16, 1977

Run Time: 137 Mins

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Supporting Actress Melinda Dillon, Best Music, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects

Won 1 Academy Award for Best Cinematography and 1 Special Achievement Oscar for Sound Effects Editing

Read on after the jump...

Welcome Back! And a Special Announcement…

Hello!  And welcome back to Two Opinionated Bitches on Film.  We took an extremely long hiatus and wanted the opportunity to apologize.  When Jeanette and I started the blog we didn’t take into account how the distance between us was going to affect it.  We both lead two separate lives in two completely different states.  Communication was always an issue as to when the two of us were going to find time and get shit done.  Her and I both picked up our fair share of the slack until we both agreed that perhaps it was best to wait until we could both fully commit.  Lucky for me and the future of the blog, Jeanette moved up to Chicago this summer, but we decided to wait until she adjusted and we both had the time to really throw ourselves into this.  Well, that time has finally arrived.  Jeanette and I have made a commitment that we will both post at least four times a week and will keep the blog going with movie reviews, various film related articles, film news, and plenty of Oscar guessing.  The awards season is upon us and that led to deciding that now was the perfect time to get this started again as there will be a wealth of things to write about in the coming months.  We also have a project that we will be working on from now until the end of December.  We are proud to announce the Steven Spielberg Retrospective.

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective is a project we came up with in order to honor the director who, as it turns out, is having one hell of a year.  He has two films that he directed coming out in the thick of Awards season at the end of December, not to mention the fact that he produced several hits this year including Super 8 and Transformers Dark of the Moon.  The other reason for starting this project is that Jeanette made the embarrassing confession that she has barely seen any of Spielberg’s major works.  This was after drinking quite a bit while watching the original Indiana Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark.  So the goal is simple – we are going to work our way through Steven Spielberg’s filmography from the mid 70’s up until today.  We are not going to be hitting every single film, but a vast majority will be covered including some of his not so great efforts.  What will be most interesting about this is that you will be getting the perspective of someone who knows and loves Spielberg’s work (me) and someone for who most of the films we will be watching will be a completely new experience.  We will also both make detours along the way to cover certain films of his separately (I know Jeanette will be covering his vastly underrated Empire of the Sun on her own) as well as some projects that he only produced (I plan on writing up a piece on Super 8 when it is released later this month).  It is an exciting project for us and a great way to get the blog going again.  And we have already started.  Last week we screened Spielberg’s 1975 thriller Jaws.  Expect pieces on that experience within the next couple of days.  And tonight we are screening his 1977 sci-fi follow up Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  A full screening schedule is listed below if you would like to follow along with us.  So welcome back to the blog and thanks for bearing with us.  Enjoy!

Sean and J.J.

Steven Spielberg Retrospective Screening Schedule

(Dates are tentative, but all films listed will be watched by the opening of War Horse, plus there will be surprise screenings and posts along the way! All responses to the films listed will be posted within two days of the screening)

November 8^th – Close Encounters of the Third Kind (watching as we speak)

November 12^th – E.T. The Extraterrestrial

November 14^th – The Color Purple

November 17^th – Hook

November 20^th – Jurassic Park

November 23^rd – Schindler’s List

November 27^th – Amistad

December 1^st – Saving Private Ryan

December 5^th – Minority Report

December 9^th – War of the Worlds

December 13^th – Munich

December 17^th – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

December 21^st – The Adventures of Tintin

December 25^th – War Horse