July 2, 2008
Steven Spielberg has evolved as a filmmaker. Duh. I know, but it doesn't happen to all filmmakers. They might improve their technical craft, but often they don't mature as a storyteller, or in their preferred themes. Spielberg's evolution is easy to pinpoint. There's pre-family Spielberg and there's post-family Spielberg. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the pre-family Spielberg, and he's even said in interviews that there's no way he would've written Close Encounters of the Third Kind if he had a wife and kids.