Top 10 Steven Spielberg Movies, According To Critics

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — As one of the world’s most prolific film directors, Steven Spielberg’s career spans nearly four decades and more than 30 feature films. The movie pioneer is behind box office hits such as Jaws, ET the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park.

In addition to being ranked among the highest-grossing directors in history, Spielberg has won Best Director Oscars for films like Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, in addition to receiving numerous nominations throughout his career.

His latest film is The Fablemans, a semi-autobiographical film about a 16-year-old film phenom named Sammy Fabelman, played by Gabriel LaBelle. Michelle Williams plays her supportive mother and Paul Dano plays her pragmatic father.

Stacker has compiled a list ranking films by directors. Here are the Top 10, along with Stackers descriptions of each movie.

10. West Side Story (2021)

Dance with danger. West Side Story/Amblin

– Stacker score: 85.33

– IMDb user rating: 7.2

– Metascore: 85

– Duration: 156 minutes

The latest iteration of the timeless stage play, 2021’s West Side Story stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as Tony and Maria, star-crossed lovers from opposite ends of a white Puerto Rican gang feud brewing in the years 1950 in New York. Despite a disappointing box office performance, critics praised Spielbergs for the drama Romeo and Juliet, with movie buff David Stratton praising that the films’ dazzling dance routines are suited for the big screen. Nominated seven times at the 94th Academy Awards, West Side Story walked away with a historic Best Supporting Actress win for Ariana DeBose (portraying Anita), making her the first queer woman of color to win an Academy Award. ‘actor.

9. Bridge of Spies (2015)

– Stacker score: 85.33

-IMDb User Rating: 7.6

-Metascore: 81

-Duration: 142 minutes

Bridge of Spies, tells the true story of attorney James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), who is tasked with negotiating the release of a captured US Air Force pilot (Austin Stowell) to the Soviet Union in exchange for a convicted KGB spy named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance). The film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor (Rylance). The film grossed $165 million worldwide and received mostly positive critical acclaim, with critics praising Spielberg for the fun and thrilling depiction of this tense moment in history. AV Clubs Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote about the film, one of Spielberg’s finest films of the modern phase, and perhaps the most eloquent.

8.Lincoln (2012)

Lincoln Still by Daniel Day-Lewis at Lincoln Photo by David James – 2012 – DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC. All rights reserved. Names: Daniel Day-Lewis

– Stacker score: 86.41

– IMDb user rating: 7.3

– Metascore: 86

– Autonomy: 150 minutes

Lincoln is a historical drama detailing President Abraham Lincolns (Daniel Day-Lewis) crusade in 1865 to pass the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution during the last four months of his life. Loosely based on the biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lincoln was a box office success, raking in $275 million and garnering 12 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and two wins for Best Actor and Best Production Design. The 86 films score on Metacritic is the highest of any Spielberg film since Saving Private Ryan.

7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

– Stacker score: 90.22

– Rating from IMDb users: 7.6

– Metascore: 90

– Autonomy: 138 minutes

Written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind tells the story of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an Indiana man whose encounter with a UFO changes the course of his life. In 2007, the Library of Congress added the film to its National Film Registry for cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. The film exceeded critical and box office expectations (although its competition with Star Wars in 1978 made Oscars and other accolades hard to come by), but Close Encounters of the Third Kind was praised primarily for its ability to inspire more sci-fi movies. The Chicago Reader called the film the best expression of Spielberg’s benign, dreamy vision.

6. The Fabelmans (2022)

From left, Paul Dano as Burt Fabelman, Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord as young Sammy Fabelman, and Michelle Williams as Mitzi Fabelman in “The Fabelmans,” a film based on Steven’s childhood Spielberg. Spielberg saw his first film in New Jersey, a milestone depicted in the film.Merie Weismiller Wallace | Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

– Stacker score: 90.76

– Rating from IMDb users: 8.3

– Metascore: 84

– Autonomy: 151 minutes

Dreaming beyond his dysfunctional upbringing, the life of young Sammy Fabelmans (Gabriel LaBelle) is changed forever once his parents introduce him to the wonders of cinema. With the encouragement of his mother (Michelle Williams), Sammy embarks on a lifelong emotional journey to become a filmmaker destined to share his love of cinema with the world. Loosely drawing inspiration from Spielberg’s formative years as an aspiring author, the director originally conceived The Fabelmans in 1999 (as Ill Be Home); he courted Williams for the role of Mitzi (based on his late mother) more than a decade later after seeing her Oscar-nominated role in Blue Valentine. Critics hailed the film as another Oscar-worthy contender for Spielberg, whose latest effort claims 92% on the tomatometer.

5. Jaws (1975)

– Stacker score: 91.3

– Rating from IMDb users: 8.1

– Metascore: 87

– Autonomy: 124 minutes

Now widely considered the premier example of the summer blockbuster, Jaws is the story of a giant man-eating great white shark who hunts and kills people in a resort town. This prompts the chief of police (Roy Scheider), a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss), and a shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to find and kill the terrorizing sea monster. Another important aspect of this film is John Williams’ Oscar-winning score, which contains the alternating two-note pattern that would become the prototypical example of thriller music. Jaws was the highest-grossing film of all time until 1977’s Star Wars and received critical acclaim and a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

– Stacker score: 91.85

– Rating from IMDb users: 8.4

– Metascore: 85

– Duration: 115 minutes

Raiders of the Lost Ark, also known as Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark, is the first and highest rated in the Indiana Jones series. In this episode, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) tries to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis and Adolf Hitler, who want to use the Ark to make the army invincible. When adjusted for inflation, the film remains one of the 25 highest-grossing films of all time and walked away with four of the nine Oscars for which it was nominated in 1982. The New York Times called the film a one of the funniest and most delirious films. , ingenious and elegant American adventure films ever made.

3. ET the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

– Stacker score: 92.39

– Rating from IMDb users: 7.9

– Metascore: 91

– Duration: 115 minutes

Based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents divorced, ET the Extra-Terrestrial is the sci-fi fantasy story of Elliott (Henry Thomas), a boy who befriends an alien failed called ET. The film beat out Star Wars for the title. highest-grossing film of all time ($619 million worldwide), a record held for 11 years before Spielberg topped the feat with Jurassic Park in 1993. Critics loved the film. Richard Attenborough, whose film Gandhi won Best Picture that year, said: I was certain that ET would not only win, but that he should win. It was inventive, powerful, [and] tremendous.

2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

A still from the 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan” starring Tom Hanks. Photo via Stacker courtesy of Amblin Entertainment.

– Stacker score: 96.2

– Rating from IMDb users: 8.6

– Metascore: 91

– Autonomy: 169 minutes

This 1998 war drama depicting the invasion of Omaha Beach during World War II is one of Spielberg’s finest and has won acclaim for its accurate and heartfelt depiction of the horrors of war. It follows Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) of the US Army Rangers and a team of servicemen as they fight to find Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon). Saving Private Ryan won five of 11 Oscars, including Spielberg’s second win for directing. The stories’ audience and critical acclaim were apparent, but its effect hit veterans the hardest. Many found it to be the most accurate portrayal of wartime violence they had ever seen, so much so that the Department of Veterans Affairs set up a hotline for affected veterans. by the movie.

1. Schindler’s List (1993)

– Stacker score: 100

– Rating from IMDb users: 9.0

– Metascore: 94

– Autonomy: 195 minutes

Based on Thomas Keneally’s Australian novel Schindlers Ark, the historical drama Schindlers List remains one of Spielberg’s most successful achievements. Based on a true story, the film centers on German businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who during World War II saved the lives of thousands of Polish Jewish refugees by employing them in his factory. Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley also play. The film received seven of 12 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. The film, mainly due to its international appeal, was a box office smash and delighted critics around the world. More importantly, it brought to light more of the inhuman atrocities of World War II. After the success of the films, Spielberg founded the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization whose goal is to create an archive of filmed testimonies from the remaining survivors of the Holocaust.

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