Did anybody visit the Guardian’s film page over the weekend? On the left-hand column (and somewhere in the real paper, I guess) there was a piece by Kidman-fancier-in-chief David Thomson entitled Ozu vs Avatar — this really is what cinema has come down to. On the right hand column, reliable LA-based film journo John Patterson was happy to bellow: No more Ninja Assasin, I’m going back to Ozu.

I’ve had enough of Ozu. I’m going back to Big Momma’s House 2.

I guess Yasujiro Ozu, director of Tokyo Story and a dozen other masterpieces, would be delighted to hear that film hacks were still using him as a stick — or perhaps a Kendo Shinai –  with which to hammer contemporary cinema. But two hand-wringing pieces in the same vein really is at least one too many.

Anyway, if you want to compare for yourself the Ozu season continues at the IFI.