See Beefy, your statements lead me to think you haven't spent as much time creating and studying art as I have. Your simplistic "You take a picture, develop it, and viola, the picture" comment, frankly, rankles me. My photography has hung in galleries and shows all over the US, and appeared in print world-wide. I've had 2 photographic monographs published. I can assure you, it's just not as simple as taking a snapshot.

At least not if you are expecting to create consistently good work. There are 10s of millions of photographs taken every day. 99.9999999% are the casual snapsots you describe, but trust me, the work that appears in galleries and museums is much more considered and thought out than you seem to be aware of. A lot of work goes into creating art, regardless of the medium.

Movies are the same way. Most are crap. While it's not because they are made by amateurs, they are simply just commercial ventures designed to turn a buck from the masses. Very few films aspire to be art. Some, like "Syncadoche, New York" are failures, but at least they aspire for something beyond pablum for the masses.

Some of the movies listed in this thread are great, artistic statements packed with depth, nuance and style, but it sounds like you don't really want to make the effort to grok them on a deeper level. 2001, No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood stretched the limits of what a mass market movie can be. They are not for everyone, and that's ok, but the old Twain quote "“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” really seems appropriate here.