I haven’t seen a film directed by Steven Spielberg since 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That’s not because of my reaction to that movie, but rather it’s because the three films he’s done since then (The Adventures of TintinWar Horse, and Lincoln) hold no sway over my interests. It’s genuinely possible that all three of those films are fantastic and I’m missing out, but I’d be lying if I said I feel any sense of priority when it comes to seeing them.

It doesn’t look like Bridge of Spies is going to change my stance on that. Don’t misunderstand me, none of these films look bad, but they don’t compel me to see them for one reason or the other. Spielberg tackling the Cold War could be intriguing, but it also looks to be wrapped up in some ideological soapboxing that really makes me feel Spielberg’s age.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’ve avoided his recent output: I know The Beard is aging and that makes me sad. I don’t expect him to deliver the kind of wondrous and inimitable big screen classics that he used to (and for a while there, his attempts at doing so were all incredibly dark. The Lost World, A.I., Minority Report, War of the Worlds), but maybe it’d be nice to get one last Spielberg flick that felt like mandatory viewing.

Bridge of Spies opens on October 16.


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