Spielberg still feels like a respectful appreciation of a beloved figure more than an insightful study. There's nothing wrong with that, but ... it's also OK to ask for more.
Spielberg shows the extraordinary life of a cinephile turned director, whose work has left an indelible mark, one that's perhaps so entrenched that we often fail to notice it.
At nearly two-and-a-half hours, Spielberg is as epic in scope and lively in detail as the classic films he devoured and studied while dreaming of helming his own masterpieces.
Ehat do its 145 minutes (an appropriately Spielberg-ian chunk of time) really tell us about Steven Spielberg, aside from the fact that the man has made a lot of movies? Not much.
The filmography traces the evolution of the artist who first fell in love with movies as a young boy and later blossomed into a master craftsman and storyteller whose phenomenal financial and commercial success changed the face of the film industry.
To anyone who has grown up consuming Spielberg's work, Lacy has delivered a documentary that will speak to them too -- one that at its best approximates the feeling of the last 40-some-odd years of movie-making flashing before your eyes.
