The Spy Who Loved Me is a great movie. Even though it is You Only Live Twice underwater 10 years later with the same director and a different Bond. It just works so well. And I do have to say it is art.
Films now are empty. Just take a quick look at what we had in the 90's to compare. Then people were moaning about the lack of story, but at least there was some semblance of story left in mainstream cinema! Compare an action film of today to the force that is Hard Boiled. The action in that film is wonderfully overdone, but with no CGI and never overwhelms the story. Also we still care about these characters who are allowed to flesh out their roles-this is why we actually care about our heroes in the final hospital shootout.
Films with story are unreleased, dumped, ignored, or butchered. Kingdom of Heaven was cut by nearly an hour into a messy good film. The original 194 minute version is the masterpiece that Gladiator laid the groundwork for.