_men will literally direct a 2½-hour Oscar bait movie before going to therapy /s_

This is essentially Spielberg's _Almost Famous_. It's way too sentimental and white, which is a complaint that's often thrown at Spielberg's work (one I don't always agree with myself), but this is undeniably him at his schmaltziest. Every genuine emotion is buried under such a deep layer of cheese that the entire picture ends up feeling phony and disingenuous to me. There's an unironic record scratch sound effect in here at some point, and it's just so corny. Michelle Williams is also a major victim of the direction, her performance and the dialogue she's given are awful. The other performances are passable at best, with Gabriel LaBelle and Paul Dano being the clear standouts. Visually I did not find the movie to be that compelling, it's overly reliant on a generic orange/teal color grade, but there are some strong moments that illustrate the power of visual filmmaking very well. John Williams' score is probably one of his most forgettable ones, it sounded like a composer who's trying to do an imitation of Alexandre Desplat. I just don't really see the overall appeal. Emotionally it clearly doesn't work for me, but I also find it to be lacking in substance. We don't learn that much about Spielberg as a filmmaker or artistic force, it's mostly focussed on him as a person, which doesn't interest me as much. He probably poured his soul into this project, but to me it's a perfect example that artists should not be in charge of their own memoir, because it doesn't focus on the interesting stuff. 4/10

The Fabelmans is a great movie. While Sam Fabelman is the main character, this is still an autobiographical story of Spielberg's childhood, his family, discovering movies, and his growth in making films. Spielberg wrote, produced, and directed the film, and it is a masterpiece of direction, sound design, and editing. While I'm not a huge Michelle Williams fan, she was amazing as Sam/Steven's mom, giving an amazing performance in a very physically and emotionally wrought role. Plus she shows off her real piano playing skills. John Williams did the music, so the sound design and editing of the music with the scenes in the movie, and in Sam's films is beautifully done. Well worth the watch just as a movie, but all the more for anyone who is a fan of Steven Spielberg's and would appreciate how he came to love making movies.

Like a photograph of oatmeal taken with a CANON Eos R6 II: technically perfect but still boring. To kill time during the slow parts, I watched the guy in front of me play games on his phone. Seriously. At least I wasn't the only one who thought Spielberg overestimated how interesting his childhood was. This was also the first film in a while I watched someone walk out on. So, you may cancel me for my opinion but I am not alone.

The slow motion crumbling of a marriage that just so happens to shape a child that will go on to effect an entire industry and multiple generations. Sometimes real life is just so on the nose.