Well there's the Woody Allen line Have you seen Ghandi? No but I love it!

   And there is a formulation one sees often in some arty movies. There's a group of straightlaced repressed people. They're afraid to live. Into this comes a wildcard character, stirs things up. Sets someone free. I don't always object to formula per se, but of itself, without some fresh observation, it won't always grab me. Sometimes a few key scenes just seem actually wrong, and it loses you.

   I don't know about Dances With Wolves Peter. I agree with all the reasons you say it shouldn't work, but it frustrated me. Black Robe makes a good antidote to my problems with it.

   I liked Adaptation in many respects, it was audacious and conveyed a lot of truth about creative striving, but somehow its clever telling lacked the feel of resolution.