Gross manipulation and a trial to watch

Rating: 3/10 (31 October 2002)

I have lost my enthusiasm for any Steven Spielberg movies over the past several years, ever since he made the switch from good entertainment to preachy message movies showing people all angsty and heartfelt and noble, emotions which he approaches with all the subtlety of Gallagher and his Sledge-o-matic. Spielberg's films are now more like the corny ramblings of grandpa in his dotage where good people are really good and bad people are bad and even people who are in that grey zone are given a black or white role in the end. It's all quite tedious to watch.
It took me a long time to finally get through Schindler's List, as it did Saving Private Ryan, because I was all too aware the entire time that I was being manipulated -- what to feel and when to feel it. Some reviewer put it best when he likened Spielberg to the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind a curtain and pushing buttons and pulling switches on people's emotions. Then he is hailed as an artist and a genius when it's all gross manipulation.
Liam Neeson did give a good performance. His character had more depth to explore than Ralph Fiennes. Excellent actor Fiennes may be, but he was saddled with a pitifully cardboard character. Still, I rooted for him until the end.
If I want to learn about the Holocaust, I'll watch a documentary and see the facts and have genuine emotions, not be told what to feel. Jaws, Jurassic Park, and the Indiana Jones movies are plain fun and have the true Spielberg touch, doing what he does best.
3/10