> I think loss of artistic variety as culture becomes homogenized is an underappreciated cost of globalization.

Loss of variety in terms of what's shown on traditional movie theater screens-- sure.

For everything else, technological advancement has lowered the price to create films of a base level of quality. And that has caused an explosion in artistic variety. I doubt the average American has enough leisure time to keep up with all the indie films produced in a year (nor even a sub-genre).