Steven Spielberg Talk

Can you Guess Steven Spielberg's claim to fame in high school?

"It's a good thing that Spielberg's old journalism teacher archived copies of the school newspaper. "

Hollywood action movie director, screenwriter and producer Steven Spielberg once captivated teen audiences with just a typewriter, purple prose and a few pages inside his high school newspaper.

As a teen, Spielberg was a prolific sports journalist for Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, generally relegated to covering junior varsity games and developments. No matter, he made the most of it, turning what could have been a drab story into lyrical pieces with verbal imagery and themes.

He took it incredibly seriously, if copies of his stories posted by Grantland.com this week are any indication.

It's surreal to see that Spielberg already had a masterful command of language and concept. His writing reflects the mind of someone who was an introspective thinker not just a sponge regurgitating what some English teacher had taught. At the same time he was covering sports (way too melodramatically), Spielberg was already making amateur movies in his spare time -- and he was only 17!

This fits into the movie mogul's narrative of being self-made. After high school, he briefly attended California State University at Long Beach before dropping out to try his luck in the movie business.

The rest has been documented by his long list of Academy Awards.

It's a good thing that Spielberg's old journalism teacher archived copies of the school newspaper. I think it's enlightening for artists and entrepreneurs to see the caliber of thought and writing a groundbreaker like Spielberg used for just casual events at such a young age. The lesson here is that the greats perhaps have always gone above and beyond formula and basic requirements to do something innovative and complex.

An Update of "Moses?" Big Mistake!

Director Steven Spielberg is remaking the Bible classic "Moses" as a warrior flick called "Gods and Kings." There are many classic film ideas that one can upgrade, but "Moses" isn't one of them -- no matter what kind of sensational name you give it. I can only suspect that Spielberg is stimulated by the threat of failure. Never has a movie been more out-of-sync with the predilections of its era than this one. This movie is going to bomb -- and here's why:

The version starring the late Charles Heston ("The Ten Commandments) is so iconic and beloved that I can't imagine movie lovers would accept a new one.
Today's audiences are more irreverent than reverent ...and more spiritual than religion-specific. Who will go see it? Bible-thumping octogenarians?
There are no explosives in the Old Testament. The Transformer generation is going to be pissed!
Miracles like parting the Red Sea will be kind of cheesy in the modern age of cynicism.
All contemporary religious movies require a man in a dress named "Madea" It's like a box office commandment or something. Ask Tyler Perry. I suppose Aaron could be updated to a drag character, but I suspect he would not match Madea's humor.
The only modern man capable of possibly having the alpha authority of Heston on screen isThe Rock -- and he's not Jewish.
The sole reason an updated version of Noah's Ark (aka "Evan Almighty") worked is because it was conceptualized as an over-the-top comedy. Get Steve Carrell in this or else.

Spielberg's Ode to Combat Horses: Is it Possible for Audiences to Connect to Horses??

Despite its recently being crowned with a Golden Globe nomination and a "Movie of the Year" award from the American Film Institute, Stephen Spielberg's movie "War Horse" doesn't thrill me at all.

Apparently, I'm in the minority as this film has grossed more than $69 million and is #7 at the box office this week, despite already being in theaters for 27 weeks.

It's not that I don't like horses. I've ridden horses. I have relatives with a farm in Texas.

It's not that I don't like movies with horses. "Seabiscuit" was amazing and "Hidalgo" made me weep.

For me, however, Spielberg's "War Horse," unlike the other two horse dramas I named, falls flat because it features the horse as the main narrative hook. There's no jockey's journey to draw you in or a cowboy's heroism to fall in love with. There are generic human characters and the horse, which, pardon me, is no Lassie. Dogs are funny, lovable, and animated. I don't know if you're ever been around horses, but they are not the most sociable or expressive animals.

I'm going to say Spielberg's alien character E.T. is more relatable than the war horse. And naming the horse "Joey" -- what was Spielberg thinking?

Seabiscuit. Hidalgo. Joey. One of these things just doesn't make an impact. Even the name condemns the horse to mediocrity and being easily forgotten.

In addition to the lack of connection between me and this featured horse, there's also the problem that I have with most Spielberg movies -- they are too emotionally manipulative, too mawkish. Sorry, Joey and Mr. Spielberg, I just wasn't emotionally invested in what happened to the horse.

Fortunately, others were. It turns out in the UK, especially, people are up in arms as they research the fate of real war horses who over the years have been euthanized for reasons ranging from physical lameness to aggressive temperament.