Director's cut: Steven Spielberg's essential movies

Director's cut: Steven Spielberg's essential movies - A filmmaking genius, Steven Spielberg showcases his incredible versatility with 'Ready Player One,' which premiered on March 29. It's the director's biggest US box office success of recent years, according to ScreenRant.
To celebrate its release, here's a review of the other great films made by this astonishing director, each a landmark production in its own right.

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'Ready Player One' (2018) - Now showing in cinemas, the virtual reality fantasy has become the biggest money-spinning Steven Spielberg release in the US in last decade, according to reports in ScreenRant.

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'Ready Player One' (2018) - The film also enjoyed the second highest debut of the year, second only to hugely popular powerful 'Black Panther,' according to ScreenRant. What makes the film a success? In addition to the incredible special effects and intriguing story line, there are plenty of references to pop culture from the 1980s, from songs to games, books, and movies.

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'Ready Player One' (2018) - The film depicts a dystopian future in 2044. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) prefers the virtual reality universe of the OASIS game to the real world. When the creator of OASIS dies, players must uncover the key to a diabolical puzzle in order to collect the creator's vast fortune.

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'The Post' (2018) - Nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress (Meryl Streep) at the 90th Academy Awards, this year's Academy Awards, the acclaimed feature film revolves around the press, power, and politics.

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'The Post' (2018) - Streep's character is the first female publisher of The Washington Post, a newspaper in crisis and getting ready for a stock market launch in order to strengthen its economic stability. Meanwhile, the paper is planning to expose a White House scandal by publishing classified documents pertaining to America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The paper could collapse under the pressure from both creditors and the government.

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'Lincoln' (2012) - A biopic on a grand scale, 'Lincoln' was another huge Hollywood success. The film was Oscar nominated in 12 different categories in 2013. Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor for his iconic portrayal as the 16th President of the United States of America.

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'Lincoln' (2012) - The film takes place during the American Civil War, which resulted in victory for the Union Army. While concerned about the outcome of the conflict, Lincoln was waging another battle with Washington, attempting to amend the Constitution in order to abolish slavery.

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The 'Indiana Jones' franchise - The action adventure film series starring Harrison Ford with Spielberg at the helm began in 1981 with 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' Five more movies followed, the most recent being 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (2008).

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The 'Indiana Jones' franchsie - The escapades of the crafty, risk-taking archaeologist are set to recommence soon. Filming of the sixth installment is slated for April 2019, with Ford reprising his heroic role. The film's release will be in 2020.

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'Jaws' (1975) - The film that catapulted Spielberg into Hollywood's stratosphere.

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'Jaws' (1975) - In the film, a great white shark threatens bathers in the waters off the fictional Amity Island, prompting the local police chief to take to a boat with a marine biologist and a professional angler to hunt the shark down.

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'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) - This is one of the filmmaker's best-loved films, and garnered his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Richard Dreyfuss and François Truffaut co-star in this tale of UFOs and unworldly beings, Spielberg's first film to explore an alien theme, a subject he would expand upon enormously with 'E.T. the Extraterrestrial' (1982).

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'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) - Homeowner Roy Neary lives in a small American town. When sensing the arrival of extraterrestrials, he sees his behavior change drastically.

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'E.T. the Extraterrestrial' (1982) - The film is one of the most successful thus far in the director's career. It currently ranks 74th in the list of the world's biggest box office hits, generating a whopping US$792.9 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

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'E.T. the Extraterrestrial' (1982) - Elliot leads a normal life until he meets a strange creature. Mistakenly left on Earth by his fellow aliens, E.T. becomes friends with the boy, who protects him from hostile humans.

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'War of the Worlds' (2005) - One of Spielberg's most underrated films, yet made competently and tenaciously to re-create a terrifying and apocalyptic atmosphere few directors have managed to achieve.

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'War of the Worlds' (2005) - Tom Cruise plays Ray Ferrier who, together with his children, witnesses the emergence of a gigantic alien machine, which rises from the ground and proceeds to incinerate every living thing it comes across. It's the beginning of an attack to colonize Earth.

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The 'Jurassic Park' franchise - Spielberg again caught the imagination of the public with this hugely successful series of dinosaur films, launched in 1993, that became a phenomenon at the box office and proved a landmark in the history of cinema's special effects industry.

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The 'Jurassic Park' franchise - The first in the series, co-starring Jeff Goldblum, is centered on a fictional island off Costa Rica, Isla Nublar. Billionaire John Hammond and a team of geneticists working for his company create a theme park where cloned dinosaurs roam.

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'Schindler's List' (1993) - Shot in black and white and with a running time of over three hours, was one of Spielberg's wartime masterpiece won seven Oscars, among them for Best Film and Best Director.

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'Schindler's List' (1993) - It chronicles the remarkable story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), an opportunistic, black-market trader well connected with top officials in the Nazi regime. Despite his personal flaws, Schindler manages to halt the transportation of more than a thousand Jews to concentration camps and certain death.

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'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) - Garnering public and critical acclaim, Spielberg's other Second World War drama won five Oscars, for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Film Editing.

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'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) - The story takes place in 1944, in Normandy. Captain Miller, the portrayal of which garnered Tom Hanks an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, is assigned the task of leading a group of soldiers from the Second Battalion to find and bring home James Ryan, the youngest of four siblings, three of whom have already been killed in combat.

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'The Color Purple' (1985) - Displaying a more sensitive side, Spielberg made this terrific drama which charts the difficult life led by a black woman, from childhood to adulthood, in the southern United States. The film received 11 Oscar nominations including Best Actress for Whoopi Goldberg, in her film debut.

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'The Color Purple' (1985) - The film tells the story of Celie (Goldberg), raped by her father and who becomes the mother of two children. Later separated from her offspring and her sister, the only person in the world who loves her, Celie is handed over to 'Mister' (Danny Glover), who mistreats her as a slave and a 'partner.'

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'Munich' (2005) - Based on real events, the story takes place in September 1972 during the Olympic Games in Munich when a terrorist attack on the Olympic village was broadcast to the entire world. A Palestinian group called Black September broke into rooms housing members of the Israeli Olympic team, killing some and taking the rest hostage.

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'Munich' (2005) - Eric Bana plays Avner, a young Israeli dismayed by what has happened. He is recruited by Mossad and is tasked with putting together a hit squad to hunt down the terrorists, who went on to kill the remaining hostages.

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'Catch Me If You Can' (2002) - Spielberg astonished audiences with a nimble, elegant and highly entertaining comedy-drama, and a departure from his usual film making style.

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'Catch Me If You Can' (2002) - Based on a true story, the film charts the career trajectory of Frank Abagnale Jr., played by an inspired Leonardo DiCaprio. Abagnale Jr. conned millions of dollars out of unsuspecting individuals by deception and deceit, disguising himself along the way in many different professional roles. Hot on his heels is FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), who uses all the means at his disposal to catch him, if he can!

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'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' (2001) - Spielberg's science fiction effort highlighted the possibility of creating machines with feelings. While fascinating, the film divided critics, and is little remembered by the movie-going public.

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'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' (2001) - David (Haley Joel Osment) is a childlike android programmed to love. Sent to live with a couple, a series of unexpected circumstances hinders acceptance by his 'parents,' who do not fully embrace him as their son, or as an android.

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