A purveyor of affable & homiletic movies about ordinary folk like you and me getting eaten alive by giant monsters.

Considered by some to be one of the greatest filmmakers ever, at least from the UnitedStates.  Has made some truly great films from many different genres (a list which includes EeTeeTheExtraTerrestrial, CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind, RaidersOfTheLostArk, TheColorPurple, SchindlersList, SavingPrivateRyan).

Considered by others to be one of the worst purveyors of overly-sentimental, treacly schlock--not to mention just a few plain stinkers (NineteenFortyTwoMovie, BatteriesNotIncludedMovie, HookMovie, AiTheMovie to name a few).  

IMHO both are right.  With a good script, and subject matter that he cares deeply about, Spielberg is a master of his craft.  However, he is too easily lured into producing sappy tearjerkers--he often tries to cram too many "emotional moments" into a film.  Quite a few of his movies would be better if 30-45 minutes of footage were left on the cutting room floor--HookMovie was a canonical example.)

Unfortunately, Spielberg is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood (the S in SKG Dreamworks)... there isn't a person in show business who can order him to cut a scene.