[Borges]

You idolize the past greats too much at the expense of connecting them to the present. K had the same flaws as SS actually. Sentimental and schematic to a fault. I maintain that SS is as good a director of action and spectacle as any film maker who ever lived. Eisenstein and Kurosawa included. I'll agree with you on your Scrosese/Spielberg take though.

[durasell]

I don't idolize the past greats because I don't see them as "past." Their work still lives and remains vital. Citizen Kane is still a great movie. Faulkner is still a great writer. And I expect as much from movie makers and writers today as I expect from those who lived 50, a 100 or 400 years ago. Guys working today may have a different written or visual vocabulary, but I refuse to accept that art has to devolve under the burdens of money and international markets.