Midday on Film: All about Spielberg: Friday February 1, 1-2 p.m.

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Midday_020113_Hr_2_MiddayOnFilmSpeilberg.mp3

Nominated for another Academy Award, this time for Lincoln, Steven Spielberg reigns as one of the most successful directors in the world. Our film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed discuss four decades of Spielberg's work and his mark on American cinema.

INTERVIEW EXCERPTS:

*Critics' take of Spielberg: “He [Steven Spielberg] is kind of our boy wonder of a film maker, and by this time he’s an icon, and he’s also been held responsible for all sorts of sins in Hollywood Cinema, from the Blockbusterization of movies to the infatilization of movies, and traditionally scholars and critics have give him a very hard time because he does, in some ways, give us what we want, which is hope. Many of his movies end on a note of hope and optimism despite all the darkness that we’ve seen.” - Linda Delibero

*On Spielberg's appeal despite critics: “Today he [Steven Spielberg] is getting a reappraisal from a lot of critics; people are beginning to look at his work much more seriously instead of dismissing it out of hand. There is a major tendency to say that Spielberg’s films are overly sentimental, they’re simple, not complex, they’re not full of ambiguity… but when we look at his films carefully, I think there’s a lot going on there than most of his critics give him credit for.” – Linda Delibero

*Spielberg as best of the best: “His best films rank among the best films ever made. In spite of some of his failures, he really is one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, and certainly the most successful, purely based on box office. He is a filmmaker to reckon with. … He knows how to tell a story, and he knows how to tell it well.” – Christopher Llewellyn Reed