Make Spielberg Great Again: The Steven Spielberg Chronicles Paperback – October 2, 2020

Make Spielberg Great Again: The Steven Spielberg Chronicles collects Armond White's film criticism on the most popular and famous filmmaker of the last half century. First, White explains what makes Spielberg a "true pop artist" who "works to make his deepest feelings understood." Then, White argues Spielberg's "aimimg toward approval through partisanship [...] has dulled his artistry." White witnesses in Spielberg's movies a transition from "pop artist" to "partisanship," from seeking understanding to approval. With auteurist rigor, White elucidates the "ecumenicism" Spielberg brought to the '70s movie brat generation until, as detailed here, the director capitulated to Obama-era "idolatry."As such, Make Spielberg Great Again chronicles both Spielberg's and White's parallel development as filmmaker and film critic respectively. This book features reviews and essays written from 1974 to the present—a life's work on a life's work. In most, White responds to the movies at the time of their original release (from 1974's The Sugarland Express to 2018's Ready Player One). However, retrospective reviews feature 20/20 hindsight (like E.T.'s 2002 re-release) and new essays provide #2020 insight. (This volume's exclusive chapter on 1989's Always is worth the price of admission alone, with perhaps the most-beautiful-ever writing on the significance of film lighting.) The book represents a kaleidoscopic vision (like Vilmos Zsigmond) and a prismatic perspective (like Janusz Kamiński). In other words, it's an autobiography of a sensibility.Through these pieces, White gets to the essence of what made Spielberg great. As he explains, Spielberg mastered cinema's ability to "encapsulate an experience imaginatively and then to find the image that simultaneously conveys the story's theme, the character's emotion and the viewer's awareness." That distinguishes this volume as essential Film Theory/History/Criticism, as well as Sociology. White synthesizes, epitomizes, and surpasses Pauline Kael's essayistic cultural incisiveness, Andrew Sarris' auteurist focus, and Andre Bazin's dialectical-theoretic genius.With this compendium, White hopes to Make Spielberg Great Again—and, in the process, he Makes Criticism Great Again.

I think Armond's criticism is essential only because he expects a lot from the filmmakers he reviews but also from the audience (as well as the critical community). Agree with him or not but he he does contribute an impassioned voice to the world of film criticism. If you are a fan or foe of Spielberg, this is a great read for you.