Death By Movies

Steven Spielberg's Ten Best Set Pieces with Keegan Parrish

Nick Sanford & Keegan Parrish Episode 24

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Steven Spielberg is one of the most ubiquitous filmmakers to ever emerge out of Hollywood, and he changed the game forever because he's just so damn good at what he does. And one of the things he does best are set pieces, when Papa Steve really gets to flex his muscles and make a meal out of an important moment, such as the introduction of the T-rex in Jurassic Park, or the intersection sequence in War of the Worlds.

But what are his best ten? And in what order would they be ranked?

And who would be stupid enough to try and rank them?

Nick Sanford and Keegan Parrish, of course! Two Spielberg nerds who bonded over a decade ago at film school over their shared love of Papa Steve (gross, what a cliche) sit down and must hash out and come to a consensus on what The Beard's best set pieces are, and there are more than a few disagreements!

The films discussed and pulled from are:
Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1941
Raiders of the Lost Ark
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Saving Private Ryan
AI: Artificial Intelligence
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
War of the Worlds
Munich
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Adventures of Tin Tin
War Horse

More than ten movies, all filled with great set pieces. But there can be only ten. This was harder to do than you'd think. But it's important work that the American people demanded.

Follow Keegan on Letterboxd, Instagram, and check out his Monsterful Media channel!

Videos that give fun context!

See With Your Ears: Spielberg and Sound Design

The Spielberg Oner

(and in the podcast itself we discuss The Nerdwriter's video over the Omaha Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan and how we'll put a link to it in the show notes; well, it seems to have disappeared entirely from The Nerdwriter's channel, possibly due to YouTube's new bullshit whatever rules)

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Nick on Letterboxd

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