“What’s the next big film essay/review project?” I wondered to myself two months ago. I had been debating with myself several ideas: 

Should I run through the entire Disney animated canon? Nah, others have done it. 

Should I do every Best Picture winner? Oof, that’s a bit much.

Should I focus on 1993? Outside of the two films I would want to cover, there’s not much.

That’s when it hit me. I should cover the films of the person who made me fall in love with film, who always lingered there and I’ve always wanted to tackle. The two films I would like to talk about the most in 1993 are his films, so why not run the whole gamut of his filmography? My main man, Steven Spielberg. 

He has been talked about for decades, documented in docs and books, and has a dominant presence over various forms of entertainment. Yet, Spielberg has always been someone I looked up to who inspires me. But how do you make that different? Easy, I have not seen all his films, and I would like to share my experience and takes on them (you’d be surprised which ones have yet come to my radar). The format will be slightly different, more in an essay style than a proper review. Toward the end of the ‘92 Cinema Revue, everything started to run together and get caught in a formula. This time, I want to be more personable about it. Even after watching The Fabelmans this past weekend, I feel even more inclined to do the series, which will be called Tip of the Spielberg. Even made a neat little logo in Canva to prove I’m committed to the bit. 

Every Spielberg-directed film project will be included with a few caveats. One Television project will begin the series with the first episode of Columbo, “Murder by the Book.” It’s a great jumping-off point before getting into Duel, the TV movie that put him on the map and even garnered a theatrical run. I also want to cover some films he was either attached to or left. These review essays will be under the Almost Spielberg banner. You’ll know them when you see them as they also have their unique logo.

It’ll also be great to cover other directors on similar wavelengths with Spielberg. It’s fantastic to see what almost could have had a “Directed by Steve Spielberg” credit attached. Twilight Zone: The Movie is the anomaly as it will be covered as Spielberg did one segment, but we have three other directors to cover in that one alone. 

I hope you appreciate this year’s run-through of Spielberg’s output and the projects other directors took on after he was offered. Here’s the rundown of what to expect from Tip of the Spielberg and Almost Spielberg.

Tip of the Spielberg

1. Columbo “Murder by the Book” – Feb. 1
2. Duel (1971) – Feb. 8
3. The Sugarland Express (1974) – Feb. 15
4. Jaws (1975) – Feb. 22
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Director’s Cut (1977) – Mar. 1
6. 1941 (1979) – Mar. 8
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Mar. 22
8. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – Mar. 29
9. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), segments directed by Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis, and George Miller – Apr. 12
10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) – Apr. 19
11. The Color Purple (1985) – Apr. 26
12. Empire of the Sun (1987) – May 3
13. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – May 17
14. Always (1989) – May 24
15. Hook (1991) – May 31
16. Jurassic Park (1993) – Jun. 14
17. Schindler’s List (1993) – Jun. 21
18. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) – Jun. 28
19. Amistad (1997) – Jul. 5
20. Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Jul. 12
21. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) – Jul. 19
22. Minority Report (2002) – Aug. 2
23. Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Aug. 9
24. The Terminal (2004) – Aug. 23
25. War of the Worlds (2005) – Aug. 30
26. Munich (2005) – Sep. 13
27. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) – Sep. 20
28. The Adventure of Tintin (2011) – Oct. 11
29. War Horse (2011) – Oct. 18
30. Lincoln (2012) – Oct. 25
31. Bridge of Spies (2015) – Nov. 8
32. The BFG (2016) – Nov. 15
33. The Post (2017) – Nov. 22
34. Ready Player One (2018) – Nov. 29
35. West Side Story (2021) – Dec. 13
36. The Fabelmans (2022) – Dec. 20

Almost Spielberg

1. Cruising (1980), directed by William Friedkin – Mar. 15
2. Poltergeist (1982), directed by Tobe Hooper – Apr. 5
3. Big (1988), directed by Penny Marshall – May 10
4. Cape Fear (1991), directed by Martin Scorsese – Jun. 7
5. Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (2001), directed by Chris Columbus – Jul. 26
6. Big Fish (2003), directed by Tim Burton – Aug. 16
7. Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), directed by Rob Marshall – Sep. 6
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), directed by David Fincher – Sep. 27
9. Interstellar (2014), directed by Christopher Nolan – Nov. 1
10. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), directed by Aaron Sorkin – Dec. 6