His movies are haunted by images of abandonment and broken families. Close Encounters has been called one of the most psycnoligcally unhealthy films ever made. The guy leaves his family forever! A.I. made lots of people uncomfortable. E.T. is on par with Bambi and Pinnochio in its evocation of the ephiphnies and emotional experience of childhood. All great artists eventually begin to reference themselves. Hitchcock included. And unlike Capra, SS isn't fizzling out.
You'd think that if he was so haunted, he'd get it right or at least reveal himself. I see his movies and they are like these perfectly calibrated machines. Completely passionless. You look at a movie like Bringing Out the Dead -- every shot isn't perfect -- but the people are three dimensional. Like life, it's messy and almost out of control. And yes, it was smaller in scale, but maybe abandoning that sweeping scope and repetitive use of "money shot" special effects set pieces would have helpe the movie.