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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > Murder > Drama > Comedy > Chase > Horror > Monster > WWII > Alien > Romance > Fantasy > Dinosaurs > Gen > Steven Spielberg Director's Collection (1971 - 1997/Duel/Sugarland Express/Jaws/1941/E.T./Always/Jurassic 1 & 2/Universal Blu-ray Set)

Steven Spielberg Director's Collection (1971 - 1997/Universal Blu-ray Set)


Picture: B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B+ Films: (listed below) range from B- to A+



Fresh off the success of their Universal's Monsters box set last month (reviewed elsewhere on this site), we have one of the year's most treasured releases in the Steven Spielberg Director's Collection Blu-ray set which contains eight films from the Director's career, a 58-page book entitled Steven Spielberg: A Journey In Film, and highly collectible hardcover digi-book packaging that is a must for any film buff's collection and features colorful stills and quotes from the films and director.


Surprisingly enough, I think this is the first time a Spielberg box set has been available on any format and with the superior sound and picture quality in this release and the fact that half of these films haven't been available on Blu-ray yet, it really makes this set a homerun. Spanning over 40 years, Spielberg's career began as a teenager when he made his way onto the Universal backlot and befriended studio executives.


His passion and talent quickly developed, allowing him to direct an unprecedented number of blockbuster films. The Steven Spielberg Director's Collection showcases a selection of the Academy Award winner's unforgettable movies filmed for Universal, including his very first TV feature, Duel, and his first theatrical release, The Sugarland Express, epic comedy 1941 and blockbusters such as Jaws, E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial and the first two Jurassic Park films.


In many ways, these movies preserve Spielberg's image as a populist filmmaker and an entertainer rather than a serious artist. That's why Schindler's List is not on this box set, even though it was made by Universal. Instead, this collection is served to introduce Spielberg to a new generation of adolescents or re-introduce him to long time fans that may not own these films on the Blu-ray format and making available some titles that have never been available on Blu-ray before now.


Films on the set include (arranged in the set by year):


Duel

Sugarland Express

Jaws

1941

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Always

Jurassic Park

The Lost World: Jurassic Park



Duel (1971)


Film: A-


Starring Dennis Weaver


Available for the first time on Blu-ray, Duel is one of the most intense thrillers I have ever seen and is really one of Spielberg's best movies. The film was so good that it put him on the map as a director and grew from ABC-TV movie of the week (a format the network and Universal Pictures invented) to a theatrical release overseas in the 1970s. What is also astonishing is the fact that the highly complex production of the film was shot in a mere twelve days, which really shows how dedicated and talented he is as a filmmaker.


The concept of the film is simple: a cat and mouse game with a deadly (and frightening) truck that is out of control and a desperate man (Dennis Weaver) who is trying to outrun it. What works in the film is the fact that from frame one the tension starts to build like a Hitchcock film and it doesn't let up. You are in the car with Weaver the whole time, sweating as you look in the rear view mirror and see an unstoppable force slowly moving in on you. It brings to life thoughts of death, claustrophobia, and rattles your nerves - which is why I love it!



Extras for Duel:


A Conversation with Director Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg and the Small Screen

Richard Matheson: The Writing of Duel

Photograph and Poster Gallery

Trailer

Cast and Filmmaker Production Notes



Sugarland Express (1974)


Film: B


Following in the success he had with Duel, The Sugarland Express is another chase movie but with a totally different tone. Goldie Hawn gives a fine performance as a mother wanting to fix her family and reunite her child. The amount of extras and cars that they got for this production is staggering (though the wailing sound of sirens grows taxing.) While the film is dated, it's still a fun original concept and has great production value and tone.


In May 1969, Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) visits her husband Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) to tell him that their son will soon be placed in the care of foster parents. Even though he is four months away from release from the Beauford H. Jester Prison Farm in Texas, she forces him to escape to assist her in retrieving her child. They hitch a ride from the prison with an elderly couple, but when Texas Department of Public Safety Patrolman Maxwell Slide (Michael Sacks) stops the car, they take the car and run.


When the car crashes, the two felons overpower and kidnap Slide, holding him hostage in a slow-moving caravan, eventually including reporters in news vans and helicopters. The Poplins and their captive travel through Beaumont, Dayton, Houston, Cleveland, Conroe and finally Wheelock, Texas. By holding Slide hostage, the pair are able to continually gas up their car, get food via the drive-through, and stay at motels. Eventually, Slide and the pair bond and have mutual respect for one another.


The Poplins bring Slide to the home of the foster parents, where they encounter numerous officers, including the DPS Captain who has been pursuing them, Captain Harlin Tanner (Ben Johnson). The climactic last act is unforgettable and is pretty stunning considering the film's meager $3 Million budget, even at that time.


The only extra on Sugarland Express is a trailer.



Jaws (1975)


Film: A+


Two notes defined the importance of a musical score to a film and helped create a classic that no other film of its kind will ever be able to match. Calmly enough said, Jaws is a masterpiece of cinema and of terror. The release of the film in this set is identical to the single disc Blu-ray that came out two years ago which is satisfactory and really brings out an incredible transfer for the Blu-ray format.


A girl named Chrissie Watkins leaves a beach party at dusk on Amity Island and goes skinny dipping. While swimming out near a buoy, she is seized by something from below; it thrashes her around and drags her underwater.


Chrissie is reported missing and her remains are later found on the beach by the Deputy of police chief Martin Brody. The medical examiner informs Brody that she was killed by a shark. Brody plans to close the beaches but is overruled by mayor Larry Vaughn, who fears that reports of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season, the town's primary source of income. The medical examiner consequently attributes the death to a boating accident. Brody reluctantly goes along with the explanation. The shark then kills a young boy swimming at the beach. His mother places a bounty on the shark, sparking an amateur shark-hunting frenzy and attracting the attention of local professional shark hunter Quint, who offers to kill the shark for $10,000. Marine biologist Matt Hooper examines Chrissie's remains and determines that she was killed by a shark, not a boat.


A large tiger shark is caught by fishermen, leading the townspeople to believe the problem is solved. Hooper asks to examine its stomach contents, but Vaughn refuses. That evening, Brody and Hooper secretly open the shark's stomach and discover that it does not contain human remains. They head out to sea to find the shark, but instead find the wreckage of a boat belonging to local fisherman Ben Gardner. Hooper explores the vessel underwater and discovers a sizable shark's tooth protruding from the damaged hull before he is startled by Gardner's corpse, causing him to drop the tooth. Despite Brody and Hooper's protests, without evidence, Vaughn refuses to close the beaches.


Many tourists arrive on the Fourth of July. A children's prank causes panic at the main beach while the shark enters a nearby estuary and kills a man. Brody's son Michael, who narrowly escapes the attack, goes into shock. Brody persuades Vaughn to hire Quint, and Quint reluctantly allows Hooper and Brody to join the hunt. The three set out to kill the shark aboard Quint's vessel, the Orca.



Extras for Jaws:


The Making of Jaws

The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of Jaws

Jaws: The Restoration

Deleted Scenes and Outtakes

From the Set

Storyboards

Production Photos

Marketing Jaws

Jaws Phenomenon

Theatrical Trailer

BD-Live

My Scenes

Pocket BLU App



1941 (1979)


Film (B-)


1941 is a wild and crazy movie that Spielberg quotes is like having your head stuck in a pinball machine with someone hitting tilt over and over again. While delivering epic scope and production value along with great performances by John Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune and Robert Stack and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (Back to the Future) the film tends to be one of Spielberg's weaker entries.


The story involves a panic in the Los Angeles area after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor with the Japanese forces threaten to strike Hollywood.


Although not as financially or critically successful as many of Spielberg's other films, it received belated popularity after an expanded version aired on ABC, and its subsequent home video reissues, raising it to cult status.



Extras for 1941:


The Making of 1941

Deleted Scenes

Production Photographs

1941 Comic Relief

The Marketing of 1941

The Reviews

Production Notes

Cast and Filmmakers

Theatrical Trailer



E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)


Film: A+


E.T. is a true cinematic treasure and a film that will always be timeless and mean so much to so many people, even its director. The concept for the film was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents' divorce in 1960.


In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the stalled science fiction/horror film project Night Skies. It was shot from September to December 1981 in California on a budget of US $10.5 million. Unlike most motion pictures, it was shot in roughly chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast including Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, and an adorable little Drew Barrymore.


After accidentally getting stranded on Earth, E.T. befriends a ten year old boy named Elliot who finds him hiding in this tool shed. Dealing with the divorce of his parents, Elliot and his two siblings befriend the alien that ultimately changes their young lives. Once the Government becomes wise that the younglings are housing this alien being, they soon come on a mission to find and captivate him. It's up to Elliot and his gang of bicycle riding friends to save E.T. and help him return home.



Extras for E.T.


Deleted Scenes

Steven Spielberg & E.T.

The E.T. Journals

A Look Back

The Evolution and Creation of E.T.

The E.T. Reunion

The Music of E.T. : A Discussion with John Williams

The 20th Anniversary Premiere

Designs, Photographs and Marketing

Theatrical Trailer

Special Olympics TV Spot

My Scenes

D-BOX

BD-Live

Pocket BLU App



Always (1989)


Film: B


Always is a touching and emotional romantic drama starring Richard Dreyfuss, John Goodman, and Holly Hunter. The story revolves around Pete Sandich (Dreyfuss) who is an aerial firefighter, flying a war-surplus A-26 bomber dropping fire retardant slurry to put out forest wildfires. His excessive risk taking in the air deeply troubles his girlfriend, Dorinda Durston (Hunter), a pilot who doubles as a dispatcher, and is also of concern to his best friend, Al Yackey (Goodman), a fellow fighter. On one flight, Pete makes one extra drop, runs out of fuel, and barely manages to glide onto the runway.


Pete shrugs off his brush with death and surprises Dorinda with a stunning white dress for her birthday, although it turns out to be the wrong day. Irate at first, she eventually puts on the dress anyway, and the couple dance to their song, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".


Al sits Pete down for a beer and likens their situation to wartime England (Quonset huts, warm beer, and hotshot pilots flying bombers) in order to emphasize the key difference: "Pete, there ain't no war here. And this is why you're not exactly a hero for taking these chances you take." Al suggests Pete take a safer job that has just opened up, training firefighting pilots in Flat Rock, Colorado. Pete flatly refuses to consider it. However, when Dorinda confronts Pete and tells him that she hates worrying about him all the time, he decides to take Al's advice.


Pete takes one last mission, despite Dorinda's gloomy premonition. While on a bombing run, Al's Catalina water bomber hits a burning tree and an engine catches fire. When Al's fire suppression equipment fails to put it out, it looks like he is doomed. In desperation, Pete makes a dangerously steep dive to skillfully douse the engine with slurry. He saves Al, but in trying to recover from his dive, his bomber flies through the forest fire. Pete manages to pull up and climb back up to a safe altitude beside Al, but a small engine fire spreads to his fuel tank, and his aircraft blows up.


The next thing he knows, Pete is getting his hair cut in a forest clearing. His supernatural barber, Hap (Audrey Hepburn), explains Pete's new role. Just as he was inspired when he needed it most, it is now his turn to provide Spiritus ("the divine breath") to others. As she puts it, "They hear you inside their own minds as if it were their thoughts."


Six months have elapsed in the real world. Pete is assigned to guide a new firefighting pilot, Ted Baker (Johnson). To Pete's anguish, Ted falls in love with Dorinda, and she begins to respond and recover from her mourning. Pete selfishly tries to sabotage the growing relationship. The next day, Pete wakes up, back in the forest with Hap. She reminds him his life is over, and also he was sent back not just to inspire Ted, but to say good-bye to Dorinda. The last act is thrilling and romantic and not to be missed!


Extras for Always:


Production Notes

Cast and Filmmakers

Theatrical Trailer



Jurassic Park (1993)


Film: A+


Life finds a way in Jurassic Park, which is easily in my top ten favorite films of all time and a true treasure to behold on Blu-ray disc. This was one of the first films I saw as a child that really changed the way I watched movies and made me want to become a filmmaker and film critic. The special effects hold up to this day as if they were made last week, it really is astounding. Available in 3D in a separate release (which is really worth checking out), Jurassic Park is a film I can watch 100 times and never get tired of!


When an incident results in the death of an employee, Jurassic Park owner John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) brings in three specialists to sign off on the park to calm investors. The specialists, paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), are surprised to see the island park's main attraction are living, breathing dinosaurs, created with a mixture of fossilized DNA and genetic cross-breeding/cloning. However, when lead programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) shuts down the park's power to sneak out with samples of the dinosaur embryos to sell to a corporate rival, the dinosaurs break free, and the survivors are forced to find a way to turn the power back on and make it out alive. The film also stars Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mazzello, and Samuel L. Jackson.


Extras for Jurassic Park:


The Making of Jurassic Park

Early Pre-Production Meetings

Location Scouting

Phil Tippett Animatics: Raptors in the Kitchen

Storyboards

Foley Artist

Production Archives: Photographs, Design Sketches and Conceptual Painting

Theatrical Trailers Including Jurassic Park III

Dinosaur Encyclopedia

Production Notes

Cast and Filmmakers

DVD-ROM Features Including Live Web Events



The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)


Film: A


Despite not following to Crichton's original novel, I feel that The Lost World: Jurassic Park is one of the most underrated sequels in movie history. Starring Jeff Goldblum (who returns as Dr. Ian Malcolm), the film is full of intense action set pieces, wonderful performances, high production value, and an incredible score by John Williams.


When a vacationing family stumbles upon the dinosaurs of Isla Sorna, a secondary island where the animals were bred in mass and allowed to grow before being transported to the park, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is called in by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to lead a team to document the island to turn it into a preserve, where the animals can roam free without interference from the outside world.


Malcolm agrees to go when he discovers his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) is already on the island, while at the same time Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) has taken over his uncle's company and leads a team of hunters to capture the creatures and bring them back to a theme park in San Diego. The two groups clash and are ultimately forced to work together to evade the predatory creatures and survive the second island. The film also stars Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Schiff, Vince Vaughn, Vanessa Lee Chester, Peter Stormare, and a young Camilla Belle.



Extras for The Lost World: Jurassic Park


The Making of The Lost World

Deleted Scenes

Illustrations and Conceptual Drawings

Storyboards

Models

The World of Jurassic Park

The Magic of ILM

Theatrical Trailers Including Jurassic Park III

Dinosaur Encyclopedia

Production Notes

Production Photographs

Cast and Filmmakers

Posters and Toys

DVD-ROM Features Including Live Web Events



The transfers on these discs is stunning and captured in 1080p high definition with anamorphic aspect ratios varying between 1.85:1 (Duel, the Jurassic films) and 2.35:1. All of the films have been restored and upgraded to high definition and feature stunning, lossless DTS-HD (Master Audio) MA 5.1 tracks that astound and bring your home entertainment system to life. Sugarland is still 2.0 Mono, though, but sounds good for what it is.



Again, this set is not be missed and is a high recommendation!



- James Harland Lockhart V

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv



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