Notes from the sketch book

This and Spielberg's next project about a small squashy alien would be important films in my childhood diet of movies. I grew up on them and rewatched them over and over again. Indiana Jones inspired my dreams of travel, something that I have been very fortunate to do. Going through the jungles of Cambodia or visiting the Inca temples in Mexico I might have hummed the theme tune once or twice. Every year I still watch Raiders around the lazy days between the Christmas and new year holidays. Raiders of the Lost Ark was an important film for Steven Spielberg...

A Fable, Spielberg's Most Personal Film   I watched Steven Spielberg's latest film, "The Fabelmans", and I have to say, it was a powerful and thought-provoking experience. It's essentially a part fiction, part true tale of Spielberg's family. The film tells the story of a young boy named Sammy Fabelman, who is deeply affected by the train crash scene in Cecil B DeMille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" and becomes obsessed with recreating it at home using a toy train set and an 8mm camera. Spielberg may be referencing Orson Welles's famous quote that a movie studio is like the "biggest...

Well we are at the halfway point in the Spielberg collection and next week Spielberg's latest movie 'The Fabelman's' is released here in the UK. So we will be taking a week hiatus on the artwork before picking up again with the final two pieces and reviews of the collection. In his childhood, Spielberg's father took him to see a meteor shower which would leave a lasting impression.   "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is a science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg based on a short film he shot called Firelight when he was only 17. Released in...

Jaws, the blockbuster blueprint: Reliving Steven Spielberg's First Ten Years (1971-1982) This is the movie that gave Steven Spielberg the ability to have a free hit for his next few movies, including his next ambitious project that would take us into out of space. But first a close encounter of the ocean kind... The movie is quite simple, it's about a shark that becomes an ultimate killing machine and to quote Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss) “All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all” The stories about the trials and tribulations of making...

The Epic Duel That Started it All: Reliving Steven Spielberg's First Ten Years (1971-1982) ‍ Steven Spielberg is undoubtedly one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. His films are often praised for their technical prowess and emotional resonance. But before he made the iconic films Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he made his mark with the 1971 television movie Duel. This movie was Spielberg’s first feature-length project and it set the tone for his career and his films to come. Let’s take a look back at Duel and explore how it shaped...