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There are auteurs, prodigies, and then other filmmakers. This is kind of my definition and view of Hollywood so let me roll with it. The auteurs are lovers of previous cinema who use old fish like Bourdain, slap a little bit of flavor to the material by manipulating several ingredients, and create a brand-new recipe that entertains the masses. These are the Brian Depalmas, Martin Scorceses, Quentin Tarantinos, and Paul Thomas Andersons. They’re all geniuses but are heavily inspired by the beauty of cinema (this is not a knock on their work by any means). The prodigies are the ones who create new worlds. There’s no real prior reference for their work. And sometimes their work really doesn’t age. These are the Steven Speilberg’s, Christopher Nolan’s, David Fincher’s, and I’ll even throw George Lucas in here. Lastly comes all the other filmmakers who by the way are still brilliant and can still be very successful. Anybody who has managed to capture a movie on screen and sell it as a consumer product to the public is a genius. Since the origin of the NBA, only 5000 plus players have stepped on an NBA court. So, Brian Scalabrene should be revered as a unicorn because he is closer to Lebron than we are to him.

Listen, I understand I didn’t name a few filmmakers. There’s Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppala, Sidney Lumet, Sidney Pollack, Ari Astor, Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Mcquary, etc. You can create a chart and place them all in these three categories. But you do have to understand that I was born in ’93. If you guys give a shit enough about my work, I promise you I’ll create this chart.

What’s the point of this prologue? I think AI is going to beat if not compete with most of these filmmakers. The prodigies; no way. Any producer can write them a blank check and they’ll be alright. But the auteurs; AI is going to get pretty good at producing an amalgamation of old content and enough permutations can make it just entertaining enough to sell and possibly even produce a machine version of “Pulp Fiction”. Technically, “Babylon” is Chazelle’s tribute to “Goodfellas” in my humble opinion. But “Whiplash” is something else. Hold that thought… The “other filmmakers”, oh boy you guys are in for a rough ride. Sleek Action thrillers, yea I think a software can create a better Bond or Bourne; A machine can combine mob content to produce a gangster story better than the “Alto Knights”. Even though I ride with that movie. Without Tom Cruise doing his own stunts, a better MI can probably be created because nobody understands the fucking plots of those spy movies anyways. I wouldn’t say “Den of Thieves” is better than “Heat” or “The Town” but the story revolving around the deranged cop vs the calculative robber can evolve and still be quite captivating. I can keep going with this…

Let’s get back to Whiplash. This is the way we beat AI. Colloquialism! Extraordinary circumstances yes; but the characters are…. normal. They are just pawns and I don’t mean that disrespectfully. J.K. Simmons plays a guy that would get cancelled today but you can totally picture that failed musician running a riot in Stanford or Columbia. Miles Teller beautifully plays a tortured artist who cannot follow the rules of society to be successful and would rather get really good at banging drums.

AI cannot experience anything new. It spits out the manipulated data we feed it. Now, I understand in the future these algorithms can get more sophisticated. But for now, a strong adherence to showing new but realistic experiences and slapping a little bit of A1 sauce on it can go a long way. A little bit of honesty in which characters would actually react to the current situation can really make a difference instead of having the one-legged Rock climb a skyscraper. Enough of the Shakespeare’s, Let’s get Hitchcock’s “everyday man” back on screen and try our best to appreciate it. Let’s try to understand the unique, if I’m being polite, weird, if I’m being accurate, qualities of our friends and try to put that person as a “hero” in the Nakatomi plaza. It’s the writer’s choice on whether he or she wins or loses but let’s worry less about looking suave or lustrous. We do not need to give every character a redemption arc. And sometimes losers can be winners on screen such as my man Miles from Sideways. How much of a disaster would it have been if Clooney was casted instead of Giamatti. Michael Mann should be casting me as a hacker in “Blackhat” instead of Hemsworth. Ok maybe I took that too far! If you are a writer or a filmmaker go out there and put yourselves in unique situations, safely of course. It’s hard to beat AI making a movie of Dickie Greenleaf turning into James Bond. But what would Ripley do during the tech boom? Oh wait did I just do what AI would do? I don’t know man I don’t have it all figured out, don’t shoot the messenger.