“You should see Ex Machina, Adam.”
“Oh yeah? What’s it about?”
“It’s right up your alley. It’s about a guy who gets to meet the first artificially intelligent robot, and decide if it’s actually artificially intelligent.”
“Oh wow, that does sound good.”
“Yeah. It’s right up your alley.”
“You said that already.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Okay, I’ll check it out some time.”
“You should watch it, like, tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, tonight.”
“Is it that good?”
“I mean, I think it’s right up your alley.”
“I get it. It’s up my alley.”
“But I don’t know if you do get it.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t really seem like you’re in much of a hurry to see the movie.”
“You literally just told me about it. You want me to just drop what I’m doing right now and go watch it?”
“Ehhh, I mean, not like, right this second. It’s not THAT good.”
“But it’s pretty good?”
“Yeah. It’s good. It’s kind of like an extended, higher budget Black Mirror episode. It’s even got Domhnall Gleeson in it.”
“Nice. He was good in Be Right Back.”
“He was. So check it out! It’s right up your alley.”
“Okay. You’ve said that four times now. I’m starting to think YOU’RE a robot.”
“Ha ha. That’s humorous.”
“Is it?”
“…….”
“Okay then.”
Next Day…
“Did you watch it?”
“I did.”
“And was it right up your alley?”
“It was, actually. Future tech movies are plentiful right now. So it’s easy for them to fall into the same patterns and clichés. But Ex Machina was able to carve its own little path. I’m not sure if it necessarily presented anything we haven’t seen before. But I don’t think it has to, in order for it to be good. In fact, sometimes it’s just as important what you do with already established ideas as it is coming up with totally new ones. So yeah…I really liked it.”
“Great! Do you still think I’m a robot?”
“Yes.”
“What?! Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“…But an artificially intelligent one at least, right?”
“Um…no, not particularly.”
“Dang.”
“Yeah…sorry.”
“So, I didn’t pass the Turing Test, even though I accurately predicted a movie that was up your alley?”
“No. Again, sorry.”
“That’s okay.”
“But hey! Let me know if there are any more movies you think would be, you know, right up my alley.”
“Sure thing!”