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Oh, and Spielberg's film trajectory cannot be explored (certainly not by a part-time Oscar guru) without mentioning his tortured relationship with that industry group that doesn't seem to care for Spielberg much--the Academy. This movie is tied for the most Oscar nods without a single win at 11, and also somehow did not get a Best Director nod despite those 11 nominations and an outright win at the Director's Guild of America awards (only one of two times in history this has ever happened). No matter, of course, because Spielberg's career would continue true and strong and eventually, they'd have to begrudgingly award him their top prize.

4. E.T. (1982)

But before we go forward in time, we probably should go back. Although I love the more serious (but still somewhat magical) realism of The Color Purple, that's not to say that Spielberg's science-fiction/adventure movies don't deserve recognition. After all, they are what made him most famous. It was a bit hard to pick between the now classic E.T. and the first Indiana Jones movie (which was made around the same time as E.T. and also spanned a multi-decade franchise, even if not as successful as Jurassic Park), but ultimately I remember being more touched as a child by this (also slightly terrifying) poem to the innocence of childhood.

When it was released, E.T. became the highest grossing movie of all time and broke box office records (sound familiar?). It still holds the record for the most (non-consecutive) weekends in the number one box office spot (at 16), one that I can't imagine any movie will ever break in this age of quick DVD release. And, like all of the other movies on this list and a sizeable portion of Spielberg's films, it received a nomination for Best Picture.

But what is really noteworthy about E.T. is the sincere appreciation for imagination and childhood that it depicts. Innocence is a virtue in ways that have now become clichéd in movies - but then children as the heroes was an essentially new concept. The score is, of course, unforgettable, and the phrase “E.T., phone home,” now immortalized as one of the greatest of all time. Of his successful science-fiction entries, E.T. is also blissfully untouched by the Hollywood greed machine, standing alone without unnecessary and destructive sequels. But it is as timeless as any other movie, one that children of all generations and epochs can and will continue to be enamored by. The innocence, dreamy, creativity of Spielberg's genius is probably nowhere as strongly on display as this masterpiece.

3. Lincoln (2012)

My favorite movie of 2012 is also the third entry on today's list. Panned by some as “too talky” or as consisting of speech after speech, leave it to the masterful Spielberg to sell over $250 million worth of tickets for a movie with a lot of speeches about a bunch of legal concepts and battles that occurred a ton of years ago. Although acting has not normally been associated with Spielberg's films, he directed one of the best performances in the history of modern cinema with Daniel Day-Lewis' masterful portrayal of our 16th President. Indeed, several other performances in the film received deserved praise.

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