STEVEN SPIELBERG

I, too, admire HOOK. Its really good children film. I admire even more for wonderful and great score by John Williams.

you got some good sense of humor. I appreciate you.

Yeah... but this is Spielberg we are talking about... a director who had the ability to please everyone!

-Erik-

Because he is a film maker who has the ability to satisfy a broad audience? You guys really have an f'd up system down there don't you?

-Erik-

Well if he can please everyone he'd solve all our problems

Agreed. But for the past few years, i fear that he is losing that ability.

Oh... the ability is there. He just hasn't picked the best projects or picked some stinkers and let others take too much control... which is rare for Spielberg. I wonder what would have happened if Darabont's Indy 4 script made the cut because everyone EXCEPT Lucas LOVED IT! I've read it and LOVED it as well.

-Erik-

I have no idea why my name was brought up. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I voiced my opinion concerning the length of Clemmensen's reviews here at MT (or was at scorereviews) instead of at Filmtracks. That was a long time ago though. It was just a comment.

-Erik-

AMISTAD

I believe this film was completely underrated and failed to do good business at box office. I simply adore this movie and score. Excellent acting by all actors in the movie, especially Djimon Honsou and Anthony Hopkins were really superb. I don't have words to praise John Williams' score for this movie. Really heart touching, very emotional indeed.

But there are some scenes i felt that Spielberg poured over dramatic appeal, especially in scene where Cinque raises his arms and say "Give us us free", which is not quite convincing to me. But that scene looks good just because brilliant acting by Djimon Honsou and tremendous background score by Maestro. Apart from that, the last 10 minute court scene is really highlight of the movie. Anthony Hopkins, who played as John Quincy Adams was really superb. And most importantly, score is even greater than scene. Overall, its great film from great director. Hmmm... the only thing i am unable to discover that why this movie didn't reach many people around the world?

Tag team boxing. Luv it!

There's a couple of reasons why AMISTAD didn't connect.

(i) the critics didn't get behind it;
(ii) the double whammy, the larger potential audience didn't respond to the marketing campaign.

People, for the most part, didn't see it. And those who saw it, didn't recommend it to others.

I think some of the main reasons why SCHINDLER'S LIST connected on a larger scale and AMISTAD didn't:
(i) There hadn't been a Holocaust film that had made its way across to the mainstream at the time of SCHINDLER. The issue of slavery had been covered many times over on the other hand - most popularly in GLORY, but also in ROOTS, THE COLOR PURPLE and many other films. AMISTAD was not breaking new ground.
(ii) The scope of the action in AMISTAD doesn't lend itself to great drama. Gold-lit constitutional court rooms don't compete with the imminent chance of death in a Polish ghetto.
(iii) Slavery is a backyard issue for the native audience of AMISTAD, Americans. The persecution of Jews in WWII and prior to that is less of a backyard issue. Some insist that the residue of the slave culture can be felt today (I won't go there). I think that alone must make it harder for an American audience to go and see that issue taken on as entertainment. Try selling tickets to SCHINDLER'S LIST in Germany, or to CACHE in France (or RULES OF THE GAME for that matter).

The latter contributes to what is probably the greatest of weakness for AMISTAD. It's not the sentimentality, which would normally be the main flaw of the film. It's the sense of sanctimony that comes across. Spielberg manages to make it feel like a film about the foundations of America, highlighting how the ideals of America conflicted with this basic idea. And the sense of being lectured.... ack, can't handle it. GANGS OF NEW YORK unexpectedly tripped up on the same tonal issue.

I didn't particularly enjoy Amistad - I've only seen it once, and don't want to dismiss it without seeing it again, but Franz's comment about being lectured seems an astute one. I thought it was a pretty weak score too - quite beautiful music on its own terms, but it didn't seem to be in the right film. Scoring courtroom drama isn't easy (though To Kill a Mockingbird is a genuine candidate to be considered the greatest film score of all) and I didn't think Williams pulled off those aspects of the film very well.

There's one scene in Amistad (I watched the film when I was quite young) that is still stuck because it was so shocking; That was when the slaves were attached on each other at the feet, and then they soaped the ship floor, and let them slide into the water, to drown. Just horrible.

exactly!

Definitely, one of the most disturbing scene for many light hearted persons. Spielberg is true master in making that kind of scene. It was so realistic and heart breaking scene. Hats off to Spielberg! for bringing those horrible past on big screen.

Yeah... Michael Kahn really screwed the pooch on this one!

-Erik-