{"id":525659,"date":"2026-06-09T05:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/525659\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T05:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T05:09:11","slug":"steven-spielbergs-best-films-in-reverse-order-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/525659\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Spielberg\u2019s best films, in reverse order \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrival of any new Steven Spielberg<\/a> title is an event. It\u2019s just over half a century since Jaws, his masterly second film, transformed the way commercial cinema was made and marketed. <\/p>\n

It would be insane to argue that his subsequent near-golden run through to the mid-1980s continued for another 40 years, but, though there have been significant troughs, the great entertainer has always come back swinging. <\/p>\n

This week he returns to alien visitation with Disclosure Day, starring Emily Blunt<\/a>, Josh O\u2019Connor<\/a>, Eve Hewson<\/a>, Colin Firth<\/a> and Colman Domingo<\/a>. Where will it sit in any future ranking?<\/p>\n

We include only those features that received theatrical distribution. Duel, made for TV but screened in European cinemas, makes it in. Murder by the Book \u2013 opening episode of Columbo, the greatest cop show ever made \u2013 does not qualify, but we would mischievously place that 1971 small-screen classic around number 18 in a more forgiving parallel selection.<\/p>\n

34. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)<\/p>\n

Unspeakably dumb sequel to the 1992 smash that \u2013 we can say little more damning \u2013 plays as if farmed off to a much lesser director. Still better than the recent Jurassic World trilogy.<\/p>\n

33. Hook (1991)<\/p>\n

Too many directors have come unstuck tackling Peter Pan for the big screen. Borderline-stunt casting \u2013 Dustin Hoffman as Hook, Robin Williams as Peter, Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell \u2013 can\u2019t save a doomed project.<\/p>\n

32. The Terminal (2004)<\/p>\n

He means well. Keep saying that to yourself as you suffer this weedy yarn about Tom Hanks\u2019s oddball refugee trapped at JFK airport. Beyond twee.<\/p>\n

31. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)<\/p>\n

It has its fans. But the uncanny-valley motion capture does no favours to this soulless assault on Herg\u00e9\u2019s timeless bande dessin\u00e9e about the flick-fringed Belgian sleuth. Justifiably forgotten. <\/p>\n

30. Amistad (1997)<\/p>\n

Drab take on the real-life trial of the brave African men who, in 1839, launched a rebellion while being transported into slavery on the titular ship. Djimon Hounsou<\/a> and Anthony Hopkins work hard, but, once again, meaning well ain\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

29. 1941 (1979)<\/p>\n

Maybe the only point in this story when Spielberg\u2019s career looked in danger. Arriving between Close Encounters and Raiders, this chaotic comedy was (contrary to reputation) only a modest flop, but for a moment it cast doubt on the golden touch. <\/p>\n

28. Ready Player One (2018)<\/p>\n

Spielberg\u2019s take on Ernest Cline\u2019s exhausting novel \u2013 a melange of video games, movies and other high trash \u2013 has tolerable enough energy, but the director doesn\u2019t have the postmodern touch.<\/p>\n

27. The BFG (2016)<\/p>\n

Launched to polite yawns out of competition at Cannes, Spielberg\u2019s take on a Roald Dahl<\/a> classic is a bit too cosy for its own good. Mark Rylance is fine as the titular giant. <\/p>\n

26. War Horse (2011)<\/p>\n

Pretty. Well acted. Sincere. But Michael Morpurgo\u2019s adored novel \u2013 adapted brilliantly for the stage by the National Theatre in London \u2013 deserved a little more grit and irony. <\/p>\n

25. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)<\/p>\n

Remember the South Park episode that tore the belated fourth Indy film to shreds? It ends with a bemused Butters saying: \u201cI thought that movie was pretty good.\u201d That\u2019s me. It\u2019s not great. But it\u2019s not terrible. <\/p>\n

24. Always (1989)<\/p>\n

This remake of an old Victor Fleming flick is pleasurable enough \u2013 Richard Dreyfuss<\/a> plays the ghost of an aerial firefighter \u2013 but one still can\u2019t see why Spielberg bothered. Notable for Audrey Hepburn<\/a>\u2019s final role.<\/p>\n

23. War of the Worlds (2005)<\/p>\n

Nobody has yet produced a film of HG Wells\u2019s great 1897 novel set in its original time or location. Spielberg\u2019s take is a nippy enough contemporary romp with fraught Tom Cruise<\/a> and charming Elle Fanning.<\/p>\n

22. The Color Purple (1985)<\/p>\n

An unmistakable lunge for adult respectability, Spielberg\u2019s take on Alice Walker\u2019s novel still shares the record for most Oscar nominations \u2013 it had 11 \u2013 without a win. He later admitted that he softened this robust tale of African-American life.<\/p>\n

21. Minority Report (2002)<\/p>\n

This Philip K Dick adaptation throws an excellent cast, Colin Farrell<\/a> and Samantha Morton<\/a> among them, at the tale of a future where citizens can be arrested for crimes they have not yet committed. Passes the time well enough.<\/p>\n

20. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)<\/p>\n

Indy fans maybe go on too much about the blood and gore in episode two of what, for a while, seemed like a trilogy. A fast-moving romp with a stripe of carnival cruelty.<\/p>\n

19. AI Artificial Intelligence (2001)<\/p>\n

Famously developed from a script once intended for Stanley Kubrick<\/a>, this lavish film does impressively creepy work with Haley Joel Osment\u2019s lonely cyborg kid. Unfortunately, the central meander is a tad dull.<\/p>\n

18. The Post (2017)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not quite All the President\u2019s Men, but Spielberg\u2019s study of the Washington Post\u2019s involvement with the Pentagon Papers scandal is gripping, educative and beautifully acted by renowned names that include Tom Hanks<\/a> and Meryl Streep<\/a>. <\/p>\n

17. Bridge of Spies (2015)<\/p>\n

The master\u2019s treatment of the legal efforts to free Gary Powers, a downed CIA pilot, from Soviet captivity is rich in procedural detail and period colour. Mark Rylance<\/a> deservedly won an Oscar for his turn as the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. <\/p>\n

16. West Side Story (2021)<\/p>\n

The most common criticism of Spielberg\u2019s dynamically shot take on an imperishable musical was that, after the 1961 film, it was unnecessary. Nobody says that of the many stage revivals. Ariana DeBose<\/a> was another warranted Oscar winner as Anita.<\/p>\n

15. Jurassic Park (1993)<\/p>\n

Too low? This film is a technical marvel \u2013 the computer-generated dinosaurs broke new ground \u2013 but, unlike, say, Jaws, it works only fleetingly at the level of character. A great afternoon out, nonetheless.<\/p>\n

14. Catch Me if You Can (2002)<\/p>\n

Gorgeously sleek entertainment about Frank Abagnale, a suave charmer who, from the late 1970s, conned his way throughout the United States. Christopher Walken is in impressively ambiguous form as the anti-hero\u2019s father. <\/p>\n

13. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)<\/p>\n

Spielberg closes out the decade that \u2013 maybe with Madonna \u2013 he made his own. The first three Indiana Jones films hop along without taking a breath. Sean Connery is adorable as the hero\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

12. The Sugarland Express (1974)<\/p>\n

Spielberg\u2019s proper theatrical debut is the only one of his films to have competed at Cannes and the only one to have won a prize there. It\u2019s a terrific chase movie that doesn\u2019t quite point where its director was headed.<\/p>\n

11. Duel (1971)<\/p>\n

Lean as liver, tight as a balloon, this TV movie stars Dennis Weaver \u2013 already famous for the cop show McCloud \u2013 as a lone driver pursued by a mysterious truck. Received raves on theatrical release in Europe. <\/p>\n

10. Empire of the Sun (1987)<\/p>\n

The most underrated film on this list? Spielberg\u2019s interest in childhood wonder is well suited to this adaptation of JG Ballard\u2019s autobiographical novel about a kid detained in a Japanese camp during the second World War.<\/p>\n

9. The Fabelmans (2022)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s striking how closely Spielberg sticks to his own life story in this yarn about a budding film-maker growing up in mid-century Arizona and California. It\u2019s properly poignant throughout before getting a wonderful jolt in an already legendary last scene.<\/p>\n

8. Lincoln (2012)<\/p>\n

Intense study of a key incident in Abraham Lincoln\u2019s career that drew a deservedly celebrated Oscar-winning performance from Daniel Day-Lewis<\/a>. Sally Field is poignantly broken as Mary Todd Lincoln. <\/p>\n

7. Munich (2005)<\/p>\n

Controversial on release, this tale of Mossad\u2019s response to the Black September attacks on the 1972 Olympics would be harder still to release now. It remains a properly brutal immersion in fruitless violence. His best of the century (at time of writing).<\/p>\n

6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)<\/p>\n

Yes, nothing later in the film lives up to that opening teeth-rattling assault on the Normandy beaches. Then again, what could? After all that innovation, we still get a solid war drama of the old school. <\/p>\n

5. Schindler\u2019s List (1992)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an appropriate use of the form,\u201d Michael Haneke said of a famous scene in this gruelling Holocaust tale. Schindler\u2019s List is unquestionably \u201cproblematic\u201d, but it is clearly the film Spielberg wanted to make, and it mourns the murdered with notable grace.<\/p>\n

4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)<\/p>\n

Who knew that the era\u2019s kids desired a retread of forgotten movie serials from the 1940s? George Lucas<\/a> and Spielberg, apparently. Those film-makers transform the material with their superior contemporaneous craft. <\/p>\n

3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)<\/p>\n

Still a remarkably odd film. Not because it ends with an alien visitation. More because its focuses on a man \u2013 the Spielberg fave Richard Dreyfuss \u2013 modelling a mountain in mashed potato. As much a study of familial angst as a science-fiction flick.<\/p>\n

2. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)<\/p>\n

Why is \u201cmanipulative\u201d seen as criticism? Spielberg\u2019s singular tale of a young boy and his pet alien is certainly that. It is also among the most ruthlessly moving family movies in the medium\u2019s history. If you don\u2019t blub then you\u2019re not human.<\/p>\n

1. Jaws (1975)<\/p>\n

The first of three Spielberg films to become the highest grossing of all time, this propulsive adaptation of Peter Benchley\u2019s tawdry novel is, clunky mechanical shark aside, a perfectly realised exercise in high tension. The nuanced characters are at least as important as the liberally scattered viscera.<\/p>\n

Disclosure Day opens in cinemas on Friday, June 12th, with previews from Wednesday, June 10th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arrival of any new Steven Spielberg title is an event. It\u2019s just over half a century since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[174086,78414,9441,53531,77483,26401,175181,18,28693,117,23700,67368,19,17,140509,37687,223962,30883,226911,327,106282,82618,59482,609,6000,33857],"class_list":["post-525659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ariana-debose","tag-audrey-hepburn","tag-colin-farrell","tag-colin-firth","tag-colman-domingo","tag-daniel-day-lewis","tag-djimon-hounsou","tag-eire","tag-emily-blunt","tag-entertainment","tag-eve-hewson","tag-george-lucas","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-josh-o-connor","tag-listicles","tag-mark-rylance","tag-meryl-streep","tag-michael-morpurgo","tag-movies","tag-richard-dreyfuss","tag-roald-dahl","tag-samantha-morton","tag-steven-spielberg","tag-tom-cruise","tag-tom-hanks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116718431372852520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}