Spielberg to make movie about '72 Munich massacre and aftermath

ElJefe · Jul 11, 2005

Barbara said:

I think it's amusing that 1941 ranks above The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
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1941 is a very underrated film.

GringoTex · Jul 11, 2005

ElJefe said:

1941 is a very underrated film.
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Agreed. Would also like to add that A.I. is one of the greatest films of all time because Spielberg got to direct it without thinking about it. He's the David Beckham of filmmakers.

Dan Loney · Jul 11, 2005

I liked "Empire of the Sun."

GringoTex · Dec 7, 2005

Ehrenstein hated it:

"Munich" is one long, hard cynically horrific slog.
It's repellent, with nothing for a "mainstream"
audience to "root for" and little to think about re
political insight -- which it has literally none,
despite pretenses to the contrary. Shot in ugly
desaturated color (this device has surely hit the wall
here) and with a script credited to two people, one of
whom is Tony Kushner, it plays out like an inflated
remake of Hitchcock's worst movie, "Topaz." It even
has one of the stars of that ill-fated thriller --
Michel Lonsdale -- on board.

Eric Banna (who bear a distracting resemblance to
Maxwell Caulfield) stars a s young, upstanding Israeli
picked to head mission to kill those responsible for
the Olympic Village massacre of Israeli athletes in
Munich in 1972. He is given a group (including the new
James Bond, Daniel Craig) a Swiss bank account and
told to get cracking. A French nihilist (Mathieu
Almeric of "Kings and Queens") keeps giving him
information on where the bad guys are and our hero and
his group go about shooting and bombing them. No real
suspense here, but lots of disgusting stuff,
particularly a scene in which a very beautiful, stark
naked female assassin is killed, and a climax in which
a flashback (from no one's POV) to the climax of the
massacre that started it all is intercut with our hero
having sex with his wife (a hail of gunfire as he
comes) has to qualify as the most needlessly
distasteful scene I've seen in years.

Spielberg's going to have a ton of 'splainin to do to
his rabbi.

I can't reccomend this filmto anyone for any reason.

As a piece of direction "The Color Purple" is
Spielberg's worst. but in every other way "Munich"
scrapes rock bottom.
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yasik19 · Dec 7, 2005

and i was really looking forward to this movie.

Sine Pari · Dec 7, 2005

Do I understand it that he used "Vengenance" by George Jonas as his ONLY source ?

Oh boy.........

monop_poly · Dec 7, 2005

I guess I'm too much of a commoner to post here. Is hating Spielberg now a measure of conniseur (sp?) status? His movies are almost inevitably very entertaining or interesting and sometimes both.

Time's got Munich on its cover. Haven't read the article yet, but apparently it's not being panned but just the opposite.

I would like to say, however, that the timing is terrible, releasing this prior to the World Cup in Germany. Terrorists need no additional impetus or encouragement to strive for glory and martyrdom.

argentine soccer fan · Dec 7, 2005

Spielberg has it made, he can do whatever he wants. He's made some great films and some crap.

I'd say from what I've seen of his work, I think the Indiana Jones trilogy is the best, and AI is the worst.

As far as a movie about the Munich massacre, I don't know. It is an intriguing topic, but not really appealing. I'll wait to see what critics say and maybe I'll rent it, or maybe not.

argentine soccer fan · Dec 7, 2005

monop_poly said:

I would like to say, however, that the timing is terrible, releasing this prior to the World Cup in Germany. Terrorists need no additional impetus or encouragement to strive for glory and martyrdom.
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Maybe they can come up with a movie about the man who stabbed Monica Seles, before June, to give all the psycho German fans some motivation to put a knife on some Brazilian at the World Cup?

BenReilly · Dec 7, 2005

monop_poly said:

I guess I'm too much of a commoner to post here. Is hating Spielberg now a measure of conniseur (sp?) status? His movies are almost inevitably very entertaining or interesting and sometimes both.
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Partly it's a reaction to his being so overrated. He doesn't come close to measuring up with the elite American directors (John Ford, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, etc).

yasik19 · Dec 7, 2005

argentine soccer fan said:

Maybe they can come up with a movie about the man who stabbed Monica Seles, before June, to give all the psycho German fans some motivation to put a knife on some Brazilian at the World Cup?
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that was an awful incident. And at the peak of Seles's career.

BudWiser · Dec 7, 2005

argentine soccer fan said:

Maybe they can come up with a movie about the man who stabbed Monica Seles, before June, to give all the psycho German fans some motivation to put a knife on some Brazilian at the World Cup?
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If the dramatic happened, and it's famous enough to where even average people know about it, Spielberg can film it and it could be a box office hit baby!

Matrim55 · Dec 7, 2005

Dan Loney said:

I liked "Empire of the Sun."
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So did I.

That said, I haven't liked anything Spielberg's done since AI. I've generally defended him in the past, and there's no doubt that he's directed some of the best movies of our time and all time, but to me he really looks like he's lost the plot. He's definitely not the same director he was 20-30 years ago.

Interesting that Kubrick, Lean and Truffaut all listed Spielberg as or among their favorites, and that each had a hand in one of Spielberg's artistic triumphs - Kubrick and AI, Lean and Empire of the Sun and Truffaut and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I keep hoping he'll rediscover some of the things that made his movies both enjoyable and rewarding, but I'm not holding my breath.

Matrim55 · Dec 7, 2005

BenReilly said:

Partly it's a reaction to his being so overrated. He doesn't come close to measuring up with the elite American directors (John Ford, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, etc).
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Spielberg's never been original, but he's every bit - and more - the craftsman as any of those guys save Welles. I still maintain that Wilder's best attribute as a director was his ability to pick a great casting director and a better script (and I say that as someone who lists One, Two, Three, Sunset Boulevard and The Apartment as three of the best movies ever).

As for Welles... people should make the sign of the cross when they say his name. He was the foremost artistic genius of the last century in any field.