I've been binge-watching Oscar nominees for the past week, and it's striking how many of them—especially the big studio productions—feel like they were engineered by algorithm rather than by a director with a vision. "Dune: Part Two" is gorgeous, sure, but is it saying anything that the 1984 version didn't already say with more weirdness and soul? Meanwhile, indie films like "Past Lives" are quietly doing more with a simple conversation scene than a hundred million dollars of CGI can. I'm starting to think that big-budget filmmaking has become a safe, risk-averse investment vehicle, and that's why we get the same recycled plotlines and franchise bait year after year. Of course, there's always exceptions like Christopher Nolan, who pushes technical boundaries, but even he seems trapped in a formula of escalating spectacle. When was the last time a mainstream blockbuster genuinely surprised you with its ideas rather than its explosions?