It’s so true. The only time I watch one of these movies is when I’m stressed and exhausted and want something so dumb I’ll fall asleep in 20 minutes.

When it comes to these “worlds” that are generated, there’s no there there. I’ve tried various of these and after three minutes I close the browser. Walking around my neighborhood is a million times more interesting. Whereas the creator-constrained and -designed experiences (GTA comes to mind) actually deliver something engaging.

Exactly. I am not de-facto against the use of AI in art. But artful use of the medium is sparse at the moment.

Why would you look for that in any standard action movie?

Not every movie needs to awaken your soul to some big revelation about the universe.

The industry is called "the entertainment industry" for a reason. People are able to be entertained without deep philosophical introspection.

You occasionally see thoughtful movies. Many of them are unsurprisingly based on books. The horror genre has become this weird eddy of creativity too with interesting characters and plots and some surprisingly good acting. Of course you’ve historically had innovation in that genre, often ignored because it’s horror and thus low brow by definition.

My take on horror being creative is that it’s like old school punk, pulp novels, zines, underground music. The key there is that these are genres and styles that give you permission to suck, and therefore permission to try stuff.

If it must be high art or it must gross nine figures, you can’t suck. So you can’t innovate.

I can name several, as well as something profound to be discovered in the execution of the MCU as a whole, but perhaps more salient is why so many people feel the need to tear down the straw man version of Marvel that they have in their minds.

...Oh, fine, I'll give you one:

  "What is grief, if not love persevering?"