It just so happens that I have seen many works for some of the filmmakers you have mentioned, which I am familiar will all of them and a whole lot more... I would include Lars Von Trier and even some Gus Van Sant, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love and 2046 are some of my favorites... Babel isn't perfect but it is one of the most ambitious projects I have seen in a long while and I still would put Babel up there with some of the best of them... Obviously I am not alone in my appreciation of this film... just check out the nominations it has recieved... I am aware of the politics involved with awards ceremonies, but typically the nominations do actually mean something... Any movie that tries to indulge an educated audience is always coined pretentious and boring to most... With films like Norbit continuing to reign the box office #'s, it's not a surprise that most will dislike some of the more slow pace and thoughful films out there.

Yeah, I know, but Asians (especially Koreans) tend to reverse their first and last names a lot more than us Western folk - mostly because Asian sur-names are a lot more common, and if someone says "Wong", it's difficult to know which Wong you're talking about - there's a lot of Wong numbers in the phone book...

I am going to take you up on that offer!

I would like to know what are the other best examples you suggest as the only point in your post I agree with is that this is indeed an ambitious project.

And so was Amores Perros, and so was 21 Grams!

In fact, this is the third time Inarritu utilizes the same technique of fractured storytelling mixing the scattered pieces in the finale. And this time around it isn't nearly as good of an approach as what we/I saw in 21 Grams.

Finally, I don't consider myself a person whose MO is spoon fed predictability. Yet, I find Babel's structure annoyingly questionable.

Pro-B

I also found 21 Grams an amazing film as well, but I feel that Babel takes this type of film making to a new level... there were moments in Babel that really worked perfectly with the style, one of the best examples is the sound editing throughout the Japanese segment complimenting the character's deafness... to me, this was extremely successful in forcing the audience to become the character and relate to the situations in an introverted level... The quiet moments throughout the film resembled the pacing in the brilliant Lars Von Trier film, Breaking the Waves - which is also a film that many have considered to be boring and pretentious... The same can be said about Eyes Wide Shut... How much backlash came out around this movie, but in 10 years from now, I firmly believe it will be a film that many will learn to love and be viewed as a classic... The movie Cache... which is also a brilliant film that most people, particularly in America, passed up or fell asleep to... Now Ron Howard plans to remake it with a thick coat of sugar so that the dumbed down mainstream will give it a chance... There are so many examples of movies that have the same impact, the previous mentioned included, that I would say are more successful than Babel, but Babel is not that far off from being something to stand the test of time... and considering the mere scope of the project... which should be a consideration in viewing Babel, is incredible... it was such an enormous project to undertake.. almost on the level of a David Lean film... saying a lot I know, but as a filmmaker myself, I understand how difficult it is, and to make a film knowing that the majority of the people that will see it are probably not going to like it, takes guts... I admire that, and in the end I find Babel mostly successful, it's a beautiful film with stellar performances and a few moments that are extremely successful in evoking emotion and thought... After viewing it, it sticks with you, and that to me is a success whether or not you liked it.

What, you don't like Steve Martin?

Unless you're good friends with him on a first name basis, best to just spell out his full name Wong Kar-Wai.

If I wanted to refer to a film by Wes Anderson, I probably wouldn't just call him "Anderson", for fear of being confused with P.T. Anderson or even Paul W.S. Anderson. But at the same time I couldn't be presumptuous enough to just call him "Wes". As in, "Some of my favorite directors are Scorsese, Bergman, Truffaut, and Wes". Therefore, I would spell out his full name "Wes Anderson".

Ah, but see, you knew who I was talking about and that's all that mattered - if I would've just typed "Wong", you, or others, may have been confused. Still, I can't believe we're even discussing this, when typical converstion on the internet has devolved into short-hand phrases such as LOL OMG WTF BBQ!!!!

And you probably would have known who I meant when I typed "Wes". Nonetheless, it reads awkwardly. If he has a common surname, you should type his full name.