Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1984-Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, and Amrish Puri.

 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1984-Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, and Amrish Puri.

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects 

Available on Amazon Prime Video 

In this second installment of the "Indiana Jones" franchise, Harrison Ford reprises his iconic role of Indiana Jones. After a nightclub deal goes south, Indy and his unlikely companions — singer Willie Scott and street-smart kid Short Round — make a dramatic aerial escape out of Shanghai. Their bad luck doesn’t stop there — they must abandon ship right before their plane crashes spectacularly near a remote village, where the community has been struck by a theft of its sacred stone. Unable to say "no" in the face of adventure, Indy journeys to recover it and comes up against a force more evil than he could have ever imagined.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of The Lost Ark - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1981 - Starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen

 

               

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of The Lost Ark - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1981 - Starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen

                                  

Who is right Sheldon or Amy? - Season 7, Episode 4 - Big Bang Theory 

The Movie and Big Bang Theory are both Available on Amazon Prime Video on The Max Channel 

"" I found the movie very entertaining except for "the large plot-hole". (Amy) )

Sheldon tells her that it was made by two of the most gifted film makers of our time, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has watched it 36 times except for the snakes and the face melting that he won't watch after dark. Sheldon defies her to find a plot-hole to make his jaw drop. Amy explains that if Indiana Jones were not in the movie, the Nazis would still find the Ark of the Covenant, would still have taken it to the island, then opened it up, and all would have died. Sheldon does open his mouth with his jaw hanging and Amy closes his mouth for him."

I found Indiana Jones and the Raiders of The Lost Ark very entertaining and a lot of fun to watch.

Set in 1936, the film stars Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, a globetrotting archaeologist vying with Nazi German forces to recover the long-lost Ark of the Covenant which is said to make an army invincible. Teaming up with his tough former romantic interest Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Jones races to stop rival archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman) from guiding the Nazis to the Ark and its power..  

Raiders of the Lost Ark is considered one of the greatest films ever made and has had a lasting influence on popular culture, spawning a host of imitators across several media and inspiring other filmmakers. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first entry in what became the Indiana Jones franchise, which includes four more films—Temple of Doom (1984), Last Crusade (1989), Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and Dial of Destiny (2023)—a television series, video games, comic books, novels, theme park attractions, and toys.

Saving Private Ryan - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1998 - Starring Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Davies.

 Saving Private Ryan - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1998 - Starring Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Davies.

Available on Amazon Prime Video on Max Channel 

Academy Award Winner for Best Director 

Saving Private Ryan is set in 1944 during World War II in France. The film follows a group of American soldiers dispatched to locate Pvt. James Ryan so he can return home after his three brothers have been killed in combat.

In a flashback, the film portrays the first wave of Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach in Nazi-occupied Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in a 24-minute scene that has been described as one of the most brutal film depictions of war. The invaders incur heavy losses, with soldiers dying onscreen in a variety of grisly and unpredictable ways. As the battle progresses, cameras follow Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) as he pushes dazedly through the confusion of battle. Miller and a few survivors are eventually able to breach the German fortifications, clearing the way for subsequent waves of Allied attackers.

In a U.S. War Department office, as secretaries type out a tremendous quantity of condolence letters to the families of those killed in combat, officials become aware that one family in particular, the Ryans of Iowa, are poised to experience an extraordinary loss: three of the family’s four sons have died in combat, with the last remaining son, James, currently in an unknown location behind enemy lines in France. The army officials determine that the sole surviving son must be rescued and shipped home.

Back in France, Miller receives orders to find and rescue Ryan and assembles a group of soldiers to accompany him: Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Richard Reiben (Edward Burns), Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Stanley Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Daniel Jackson (Barry Pepper), Irwin Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), and Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies), the last of whom lacks any combat experience.

The film follows the efforts lead by Captain Miller to find Private Ryan.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1977- Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1977-  Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut.

Winner of Academy Award  for Best Cinematography 

Available for Free on YouTube and on Amazon Prime Video- 2 Hours- 17 minutes 

Wikipedia has a thorough article on the movie so I shall just share here a few of my reactions.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a master work, truly beautiful and thought provoking.  In addition to issues related to the appearance of aliens on earth it depicts the break up of a marriage, of Terri Garr and Richard Dreyfuss, in a fashion most married individuals can understand and accept.  The opening sequences where once thought lost decades ago planes are discovered perfectly sets the tone of things to come.  The use of French throughout adds to the other world feel.

The Alien ships are as good as I have ever seen.  The close stunned me.

I hope to post on a number of films Directed by Stephen Spielberg in January. 

Please share with me your favourites and least liked of his films 

The Color Purple - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1986 - Starring Woppi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, Margaret Avery and Rae Dawn

 

The Color Purple - Directed by Stephen Spielberg - 1986 - Starring Woppi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, Margaret Avery and Rae Dawn

Available on Amazon Prime Video 

Based on the Pulitzer Prize Winning novel by Alice Walker 

Filmed in Anson and Union counties in North Carolina, the film tells the story of a young African-American girl named Celie Harris and the brutal experiences she endured including domestic violence, incest, child sexual abuse, poverty, racism, and sexism.

 The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey, and Best Adapted Screenplay, but did not achieve a single win. It also received four Golden Globe Award nominations, with Goldberg winning Best Actress in a Drama.

Wikipedia has a thorough article on the film so I will just share a few of my reactions to The Color Purple.

Winnie Goldberg is brilliant, Oprah Winfrey amazing in a complicated role and Danny Glover makes you hate him.  The Color  Purple is used with great power.  Spielberg follows the life of Celie Harris from 1909 to 1937. The greatest love in her life was her sister.  She was thrown off the farm by  Celie's abuse husband when she fought him when he tried to rape her.

Celie is beaten into submission.  We could a vivid picture of African American life in the deep rural south in the era.  White people are best avoided or approached head down.  The music in the Juke Joints was a great pleasure to hear and see.  Black men proof their manhood by beating their wifes, with some exceptions.  

Even given the lifetime of abuse Celie regains her spirit and turns on her husband,  having to be restrained from killing him.  

A transformation inspired by two of numerous lives that cross her path: the outspoken Sofia (a determined Oprah Winfrey), who marries Celie’s stepson, and charismatic blues singer Shug (Margaret Avery), Mister’s former mistress and Celie’s lover.

The heartwarming so gratifying close of the film was just a joy