Steven Spielberg's 20 best movies, ranked

It might be a little controversial that we have Crystal Skull at the tail end of Spielberg’s top 20, but Temple of Doom is not on this list. Well, time has moved the perception of those two films in opposite directions. They are both merely pretty good action films, but Crystal Skull is a romp, while Temple of Doom is fairly mean-spirited.

Spielberg and Peter Jackson really like Tintin. The problem is that the comics' character has never been a hit in America. Thus, The Adventures of Tintin flopped, given the track record of the people involved. However, the film’s quality is solid, and the animation is fun.

War Horse is not memorable Oscar bait. However, it’s Spielberg making Oscar bait, and the man knows how to direct a film of that ilk. Even when he does a lesser version, it can still turn out reasonably well. War Horse doesn’t stand out in Spielberg’s filmography, but it’s a perfectly reputable movie.

Spielberg made A.I. in honor of Stanley Kubrick, who died before he could make it. Some felt like those two had sensibilities that clashed, but Spielberg is the one who made A.I. as bleak as it is. It’s a film you have to endure in ways, and that is not to its credit, but the rest of the film makes up for it.

Remaking a Best Picture winner? Spielberg had always wanted to make a musical, and he finally did. It turns out he had quite the eye for it. You could argue that Spielberg’s film is better than the version that won Best Picture, though it is not quite as effervescent. It yielded an Oscar win for Ariana DeBose.

Some of Munich works. It’s a dark drama that feels like an Oscar play, but Spielberg was perhaps a bit heavy-handed, which is rare for him. The melodramatic elements don’t hit well. Also, Munich has a truly ill-crafted sex scene that makes you realize that is something Spielberg hadn’t done before, perhaps with good reason.

The Post is late-period Spielberg and can feel workmanlike. Is there anything remarkable here? Only the names involved, including Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. It almost feels like a programmer, but the best version of that. The Post is good. It’s just that, by 2017, we took “good” for granted with Spielberg.

Was Spielberg the right person to direct an adaptation of Alice Walker’s iconic novel? Maybe not, but he did it reasonably well. After all, the film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards. Sure, it won zero of them, but movies with double-digit Oscar nominations have something going for them.

Spielberg mined his own childhood, and his parents' fraught relationship, for "The Fabelmans." Knowing that, it can feel almost intensely personal, but it also hums with more energy than many of his recent films. It didn't prove the Oscar darling some, including Spielberg, may have envisioned, but it was well-received, and fairly so.

This could be controversially low. E.T. is considered a beloved classic of the 1980s. Well, for one, this is Spielberg, so he has quite a catalog of movies. This would indeed be many filmmakers’ best work. Secondly, the film is, perhaps, a little overrated by being in the “classic” category. A good movie? Absolutely. An all-time great? Not quite.

This kind of talky drama isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. For those who are into a contemplative spy film, though, Bridge of Spies hit. Mark Rylance won an Oscar. Tom Hanks was really good, as is often the case. Bridge of Spies is not a showy blockbuster, but it is quite a film.

A little heady science fiction for you from Spielberg. He joined forces with the superstar energy of Tom Cruise and filled Minority Report with strong supporting actors. That includes a pre-fame Colin Farrell. While the movie is maybe a little convoluted, and the twist is not a surprise due to the casting of the part, Minority Report is a trip and an intriguing sci-fi film.

The best of Spielberg’s many alien-related films. It’s directed the best. It looks the best. While his alien films tend to be action flicks of family-friendly tales, this is a headier movie. It’s a domestic drama by way of alien encounters. Sure, it came out the same year as Star Wars, but you could call it the thinking person’s space movie of 1977.

The Oscar bait biopic that was promised. Lincoln was what we expected and was also the best version of that. It’s a deftly crafted biopic of an American icon. Daniel Day-Lewis rightfully won another Best Actor Oscar, and a couple of other actors got nominated as well. There have been a lot of movies about Abraham Lincoln. This one is the best.

Sure, it turns out that much of what is depicted in this film was probably fabricated. Who cares? It’s movie star filmmaking, and Spielberg crushes that. Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio join forces for the story of a con artist and the government agent who is on his tracks. Catch Me If You Can is equal parts rollicking and emotional, a deft balancing act that Spielberg nails.

Even Spielberg and George Lucas were kind of bummed about Temple of Doom, so they regrouped (and worked through their respective divorces) and returned with Last Crusade . Sean Connery debuts as Indiana’s father, a vital addition of energy to the film.  Last Crusade is a really good movie that would be the best film in most franchises. Just not this one.

It took Spielberg a while, but he finally did it. He won Best Director and Best Picture. Spielberg had been a blockbuster filmmaker and a massive success, but winning those two big Oscars was the capstone to his career (not that he retired). Schindler’s List is bleak, to be sure, but it’s Spielberg’s sole Best Picture winner for a reason. If you can handle the raw depiction of Holocaust trauma, it’s an impressive artistic achievement.

They say it’s the film that invented the summer blockbuster. It’s the film that made Spielberg a name. To many, it’s still an all-time great movie, the director’s top film. We’d say that once Brody, Hooper, and Quint get on the Orca, it is indeed in the running as a true classic. Before that, though, Jaws is just a good film, and thus, it finishes fourth.

This may be the best war film ever made. It can be hard to watch at times, but in part because of its bravura filmmaking from Spielberg. The cast is great, and Saving Private Ryan is an incredible action movie and a heart-wrenching drama combined. Spielberg won his second Best Director, but the movie did not take Best Picture.

Like with Jaws, Spielberg once again changed the movie landscape. This time, it was by embracing CGI. The director took the lessons from Jaws and built on them in Jurassic Park. It’s a fantastic blockbuster and full of excitement and intensity. No wonder it spawned a franchise. Jurassic Park is a classic.

In the end, Raiders of the Lost Ark is Spielberg’s top movie. From start to finish, it’s engrossing. Harrison Ford is great. Karen Allen is great. Think of all those iconic set pieces. There are dozens of them! Raiders of the Lost Ark is the kind of “popcorn movie” that gets nominated for Best Picture. That, in a nutshell, is the essence of what makes Spielberg so great.