NBK may be a satire, but Stone is apparently impervious to the thought that his own sensational hot gas is as good an object of the satire as anything in the "media" he thinks he's fit to "comment" on. Come on, Platoon! The Doors! JFK--good god what a showy shallow fartbrain. What an enthusiastic businessman with absurd pretentions. He could search himself and his art for the sense of his subject, if he knew how, if he knew how to measure, if he even listened to his own self-indulgent artsy noodle-doodling, if he was an artist.

Scorcese's movies are pretty good and bloody. They may not be the bloodiest per gallon, but it seems like more when you care what happens. Like the movie Traffic--except for the Mexican cop, and okay, the kids, anybody could be shot in the face and So What? Ketchup doesn't count, except in fun parodies.