Like somebody said earlier, he is a master manipulator, and the music cues are always very obvious. When he wants you to cry, you'll know it. And he could really leave the daddy issues alone at this point.

A lot of the way Hollywood is now (both good and bad) is because of him. He was not alone in starting blockbuster culture, for Lucas and even Coppolla have something to do with that, but he is at least one of the key figures.

That being said, the most depressing thing about Spielberg to me is the amount of autonomy he has within the industry, and what he chooses to do with it. He made his big money movies and his art flicks, but all Dreamworks does is just continue to do everything that is bad about Hollywood: it's just another studio. When an artist does enough quality work that is commercially successful to start a studio, and he uses his power to do this, it bothers me. I don't know what his role in Dreamworks is now, but I know he had a lot of influence at one time. Although he was always more of a commercial director than anything else, so it's not surprising.

Taking all of this into consideration, he still made Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's a life pass from me.