Best movies like Spielberg on Spielberg
Some stories need to be told in the first person.
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Spielberg on Spielberg Starring Steven Spielberg, and more. If you liked Spielberg on Spielberg then you may also like: The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan, Altman, Amblin', De Palma and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
Film critic Richard Schickel interviews Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg about his craft, his body of work and the movie business.
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Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
There’s only one person who so accurately personifies movie magic in the history of film, and that man is special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen. Focusing on the man behind the landmark effects on films like Clash Of The Titans, One Million Years B.C., Jason And The Argonauts and many more, this in-depth film features interviews with the great man himself, and with an array of animators and directors influenced by his work including Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Terry Gilliam, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. The film also features unseen footage of tests and experiments recently uncovered.
Altman
Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.
Hitchcock/Truffaut
Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.
Life Itself
The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to surprise his audience, a romantic and legendary figure who lived only for cinema.
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
An exploration of the history, artistry and emotional power of cinema sound, as revealed by legendary sound designers and visionary directors, via interviews, clips from movies, and a look at their actual process of creation and discovery.
Mifune: The Last Samurai
An account of the life and work of legendary Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune (1920-97), the most prominent actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
With commentary from Hollywood stars, outtakes from his movies and footage from his youth, this documentary looks at Stanley Kubrick's life and films. Director Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and sometime collaborator, interviews heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen and Sydney Pollack, who explain the influence of Kubrick classics like "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and how he absorbed visual clues from disposable culture such as television commercials.
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son.
The Auteur
THE AUTEUR follows formerly renowned porn director Arturo Domingo (Five Easy Nieces, Requiem for a Wet Dream) through a bizarre weekend as he receives a lifetime achievement award at a film festival in Portland, OR. Encountering crazed fans, former collaborators, bitter enemies and free-loving hippies, Arturo attempts to put the pieces of his broken career and personal life back together.
A Slight Case of Murder
In the midst of a spat, film critic Terry Thorpe accidentally kills his lover. Though Thorpe covers his tracks, he raises the suspicions of a private investigator, who then tries to blackmail him. Thorpe also falls under the watchful eye of Detective Fred Stapelli, a cop who is intent on becoming a screenwriter. Before long, Thorpe's girlfriend, Kit, and Stapelli's wife, Patricia, are roped into the case.
Island Of Blood
The cast and crew of a low budget movie, filming on an island, are murdered one by one in accordance with the lethal lyrics of a punk rock song.
Independent's Day
Filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival discuss what it is like to be an independent filmmaker, and what Sundance has done for them.
Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us
Directors Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott and James Cameron discuss the science fiction movies of the 1950s that influenced them.
Raging Boll
Widely recognized as the planet's worst film director, Uwe Boll embarks on a quest to conquer Hollywood and take vengeance upon the film fanatics striving to destroy him. Filmed over three years on and off the set, 'Raging Boll' is a walk in the shoes of a man people love to hate.
The American West of John Ford
A documentary encapsulating the career and Western films of director 'John Ford' , including clips from his work and interviews with his colleagues.
Scorsese on Scorsese
Martin Scorsese discusses his personal background and his filmography as they relate to each other.
Woody Allen: A Life in Film
An account of the life and work of US filmmaker Woody Allen as told by himself.
Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis
It will surprise few to discover that star of stage and screen Jerry Lewis has sought to amuse others since he was five years old. Since that early age, audiences split their sides watching his wacky antics, whilst wannabe comics aspired to his prolific career, from his solo work to his double act with Dean Martin. Indeed, many of his famous fans share stories of affection and admiration for the now 86-year-old performer and filmmaker in Gregg Barson’s documentary. Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld are among those waxing lyrical about Lewis’ particular brand of genius, and his place in the annals of history. Including a cavalcade of hilarious clips from eight decades in the spotlight, Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis examines the icon and his influence, and is essential viewing for aficionados of the man and his legacy.
Eastwood on Eastwood
Autobiography of Clint Eastwood up to his movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
All About Desire: The Passionate Cinema of Pedro Almodovar
A rare look at the the career of film director Pedro Almodóvar, especially his early works, with interviews with the director himself and his stars and admirers.
From 'Star Wars' to 'Jedi' : The Making of a Saga
From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is a 1983 television documentary special that originally aired on PBS. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, with particular emphasis on the final film, Return of the Jedi. Narrated by actor Mark Hamill, the documentary was written by Richard Schickel who had written the previous television documentaries The Making of Star Wars (1977) and SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun
Documentary about the making of director Steven Spielberg's film Empire of the Sun
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend.
The Harryhausen Chronicles
As an actor, director and producer, Ray Harryhausen has been a vibrant figure in Hollywood, working on everything from family films to mind-bending sci-fi. But his true genius lay in the creation of special effects for movies such as Mighty Joe Young and It Came from Outer Space. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and featuring appearances by George Lucas and Ray Bradbury, this film documents Harryhausen's remarkable life's work.
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford
An in-depth look at an incredible moment in film history when Steven Spielberg and George Lucas assembled an amazing creative team to collaborate on another cinematic benchmark featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews with Spielberg, Lucas, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, James Mangold, and many others as well.
Fuck You All: The Uwe Boll Story
Honing his craft as an indie filmmaker in Germany in the early 90s, Uwe Boll never could have imagined the life that lay before him. From working with Oscar-winning actors and making films with US$60million budgets to having actors publicly disparage him and online petitions demanding he stop making films, Boll continued to work; he has a filmography of 32 features, a career that has led to his new life as a successful high-end restauranteur. Already a cult legend, he will be remembered forever in the film world; for some, as a modern-day Ed Wood, who made films so bad, they're good, while for others, a prolific filmmaker who came from a small town in Germany and never compromised his integrity while forging his own unique Hollywood trajectory.
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.
Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck
A look at the life and work of legendary film producer Richard D. Zanuck.
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
This documentary recounts the life and work of one of most famous, and yet reviled, German film directors in history, Leni Riefenstahl. The film recounts the rise of her career from a dancer, to a movie actor to the most important film director in Nazi Germany who directed such famous propaganda films as Triumph of the Will and Olympiad. The film also explores her later activities after Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945 and her disgrace for being so associated with it which includes her amazingly active life over the age of 90.