Ozone Nightmare

Today on the 5: As part of our "May-be It Won't Suck" month, we watched a movie neither had seen in a good 30+ years, 1986's Eliminators. This is story of a group of various warriors coming together to battle a mad scientist, or at least that's what it's trying to be. While the movie has a few flaws, it also does a few things that are remarkably better than other movies of the era.

Today on the 5: As part of "May-be It Won't Suck" month, we watched a 1983 science fiction film titled Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone. It had been a long time since either of us had seen it, and we were both delighted to find it holds up as a fantastic piece of practical filmmaking!

Today on the 5: Last week IndyCar posted and then quickly removed a shirt for sale in celebration of their upcoming "Freedom Race 250" event. Having looked at the shirt design and the company employees that had to be involved in approving it, it becomes hard not to make some concrete determinations about the motives behind it.  

Today on the 5: If you're a Patreon member, you may have noticed that our content changed pretty signifcantly last week. That was the result of finding out the scummy direction Patreon is going in regards to age verification.  

This week we're talking about age verification, Absolute Martian Manhunter Vol. 1: Martian Vision, Vampyros Lesbos, A Virgin Among The Living Dead, and Phantasm. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: The final film in our "April Sleaze" series ended up being 1973's A Virgin Among The Living Dead, aka Christina, Princess Of Eroticism. Another Jess Franco film, this one relies heavily on creating atmosphere and bizarre characters instead of presenting a coherent narrative. This decision results in a movie that manages to be entertaining through sheer force as long as you can do without really knowing what's supposed to be going on.

Today on the 5: For the first movie in our commentary set this week, we watched 1971's Vampyros Lesbos. This is a Jess Franco film, so I expected a movie with a lot of skin and not much else. There was definitely plenty of borderline silly nudity, but there was also a surprisingly competent attempt at a new interpretation of Bram Stoker's Dracula!

Today on the 5: I came across this Wired article about a DeepMind spinoff company preparing to enter human trials for drugs designed using AI. It reminded me once again that if this was the kind of story these large companies focused on marketing, the sentiment towards these tools would likely be a lot better.

Tonight Andy Last of the Beyond Synth podcast. In this episode we're talking about movies, video games, and the tension around using AI. Show music by OGRE. Support the show!

This week we're talking about April O'Neil, Dazzler, Saturnalia, Madness, Bugie Rosse, and The Phantom Of The Opera. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: I saw that a fairly newer film from 2025 titled Saturnalia had hit VOD. The film was heavily marketed as an homage to the original Suspiria, even going as far as highligting that one of the members of Goblin had crafted the score. While I enjoyed the movie well enolugh, I wonder if inviting a comparison to a horror classic was the smartest move.

Today on the 5: For the third film in this week's selection of "April Sleaze" movies, we watched 1998's The Phantom Of The Opera. A truly unique take on a beloved classic, this one goes in some truly crazy directions. A passion project by horror legend Dario Argento, the movie is a flawed but highly entertaining version of the Phantom story.

Today on the 5: The second movie we watched this week for our "April Sleaze" commentary series was 1993's Bugie Rosse. This Italian slasher is a bit of a strange one as it unfolds far more conventionally than others we've seen lately. That's not a bad thing, though, as the movie manages to tell an interesting story that reflects the politics of the time it was made.

Today on the 5: As part of our "April Sleaze" slate of films this week, Lando and I watched 1994's Madness. For a movie directed by a notorious trash film director in a genre that was already well past its prime years, this one one is a really entertaining slasher!

This week we're talking about The Batman, Hard Ticket To Hawaii, Picasso Trigger, and Savage Beach. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: You've likely seen or heard the news that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO at Apple. Much oif the discussion around this news is centering on what the new CEO will do going forward. I feel like most of these conversations leave out the true limits on what anyone can really do at Apple now.

Today on the 5: Recently a humanoid robot was among the competitors in a half-marathon race, and the winner finished ahead of any of the human runners by a significant margin, setting a new world record. I can absolutely see why the robotics advancements that led to this result are impressive, but the "world record" part not only makes no sense to me but is also completely meaningless.

Today on the 5: It feels like there have been a lot of stories lately around Adobe's market dominance being under threat. None of this should be much of a surprise, and the alternatives are only going to keep getting better. Even as a virtually lifelong Adobe fan, it's hard to deny that Adobe has brought this upon themselves.

Today on the 5: You may have seen something about Bluesky having an outage last week due to a reported DDoS attack. This led many to criticize the problem of having a service that isn't decentralized. While those critiques are valid, the idea of decentralization is itself a myth in the world we currently live in.

This week we're talking about Shadowrun, Shobijin, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and Obex. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: I finished the second season of Fallout a little while ago, but just now realized I never reviewed it! You might remember that I really enjoyed the first season, and so it may not be a massive shock to hear that I had a blast with the second season as well.

Today on the 5: For one of our commentary films this week, we watched 2025's Obex. While this microbudget film won't be for everyone, I think it's a wonderfully unique story that is a rare case where the writer/director/star combination actually worked out!

Today on the 5: Tim Cain of Fallout fame has a YouTube channel where he talks about various subjects. Recently he focused on the future of generative AI, and the hellscape of a future he envisions is truly horrific to contemplate. 

Today on the 5: Recently a sports grill in Santa Cruz got a ton of hate directed at it over the use of AI in redesigning their logo. While I'm no fan of generative AI, review bombing a small business is not the right way to proest this technology. 

This week we're talking about Black Canary: Best Of The Best, Divinity: Original Sin II, Nothing Underneath, and Delirium. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: After watching Nothing Underneath, I thought a good film to follow it with would be 1987's Delirium. I reviewed this movie back in 2019, but had never done a short review and had not revisited it since. I was curious how it would hold up following Nothing Underneath, and as I expected the primary flaw the movie has it is a little harder to ignore.

Today on the 5: Often when you hear about what people are afraid of in terms of AI, the fictional concept of "Skynet" is invoked. In talking to actual people who aren't chasing clicks or heavily tech-oriented, the concerns are smaller scale and far more grounded in what we're actually seeing examples of.

This video is our commentary for 1985's Nothing Underneath, another entry in the 80s Italian giallo pantheon. One of the hallmarks of many Italian films of that era was a high degree of sleaze, often mixed in with other genres in an attempt to elevate the material. Blending it in correctly was often tricky, which makes this movie a pleasant surprise. You'll see plenty of skin, sure, but it's layered around an effective murder mystery with a killer you can actually empathize with, at least to a point.

This week I'm joined by guest host Roejen from Project Archivist as we talk about fandom, Titans, Kingdom Come, and Umbrella Academy. Show music by OGRE. Support the show!

This week we're talking about Black Canary: Best Of The Best, Darth Maul, Worldbreaker, Survivor, and Faces In The Crowd. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: Author Andy Weir recently made some comments about Star Trek that got him enough negative attention that he has since apologized for them. Apology authenticity aside, his idea of what Star Trek should be makes zero sense to me.

Today on the 5: For the second to last movie in our "Milla March" series, we watched 2011's Faces In The Crowd. A movie that has some parallels to A Perfect Getaway, this one has a killer gimmick that the rest of the movie just can't match up to. 

Today on the 5: As we head into the last few movies of "Milla March", we watched a 2015 film titled Survivor. A very competent and well made movie, the biggest mystery you'll be left with after seeing this one is why it didn't do better at the box office.

Today on the 5: We've entered the week of "Milla March" where every movie is one we haven't seen before, starting with 2025's Worldbreaker. It's a strange blend of a coming of age story amidst a monster invasion, and I found it worked far better than I had expected it would. 

This week we're talking about Sam Kieth, Gears Of War: Reloaded, Ultraviolet, Monster Hunter, and Future World. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: For our final film in this week's selection of "Milla March" movies, we watched 2018's Future World. Based on the fairly low review scores and the presence of James Franco, we were ready for a bad time. Shockingly, this movie is far better than we expected it to be! 

Today on the 5: Lando and I have finished playing Gears Of War: Reloaded. It's a very dumb game that was nontheless a fun time, at least for me. If you can find it for less than $20 and understand what it is, it'll probably provide you a good amount of entertainment!

Today on the 5: Lando and I are soldiering on with "Milla March" with 2006's Ultraviolet. A released movie that was never actually finished properly, this one has a backstory every bit as wild as the narrative itself! Weirdly, the butchered end result of this film's production lends it a fascination that it might not have had ifm it had been completed as intended.

Today on the 5: Unsurprisingly, the furor over DLSS5 has continued with some hilariously patronizing comments from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. I'm actually pretty happy that there are still CEOs who are so arrogantly dismissive of their customer base that they ignore the wisdom of silence and remind people how little they matter to these companies.

This week we're talking about MSG, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Retribution, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, and Hellboy (2019). Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: The newest release of DLSS has generated a lot of discussion, and with very good reason. DLSS5 crosses an important line by opening the door to changing the nature of graphics in video games that could easily have a significant impact on how players react to them. This is exactly the thing that many people have been concerned would happen, and they're clearly not happy about it.

Today on the 5: I saw an article over on Ars Technica about a bit of a dustup over AI powered OCR usage on a Patreon where the supporters didn't seem to know that's what their money would be used for. I found it to be a really fasincating case where I can see both sides of the arguments.

Today on the 5: After watching the Resident Evil live action films utterly fumble adapting the source material to live action, you might think I was better prepared for what was coming in the 2019 reboot of Hellboy. In almost impressive ways, this movie found new avenues infuriate me!

Today on the 5: As part of our "Milla March" movie marathon, we've now gone through the last 3 movies in the Resident Evil helmed by Paul W. S. Anderson. I wish I could tell you that there was a miraculous recovery to end in quality fashion, but unfortunately the series really never gets anywhere near the entrtainment the first movie managed to provide.

This week we're talking about Uplift, The Running Man, A Perfect Getaway, Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Resident Evil: Extinction. Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: For some reason I thought of the "tone poem" teaser trailers released in advance of the release of The Phantom Menace. Out of curiousity I decided to watch them and see if they still retained their quality. Not only do they hold up, they also still have a powerful nostalgic effect on me. 

Today on the 5: As part of our "Milla March" marathon, Lando and I are watching all of the Resident Evil films starring Milla Jovovich. Out of the entire run, the movie I'm most conflicted about it is Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It's definitely not a good movie, but I can see moments in it that make me feel like it could have been a lot better.

Today on the 5: As part of "Milla March", Lando and I watched the 2009 thriller film A Perfect Getaway. Neither of us had seen it and we were both interested to varying degrees in what it was trying to do. Then the big mystery reveal happened, and movie ran straight into a brick wall while travelling at 500 MPH.

Today on the 5: Lando mentioned that he would be watching the newest attempt at adapting The Running Man, this time as a 2025 film helmed by Edgar Wright. I had thought about checking this one out myself a little while back, but when I found read that the ending had been significantly changed, it destroyed any interest I might have had in the project.

This week we're talking about Tracker, NCIS, Blacula, Blackenstein: The Black Frankenstein, and Candyman (2021). Show music by HeartBeatHero and OGRE. Support the show! Get up to 2 months free podcasting service with our Libsyn code OZONE

Today on the 5: Thanks to a recommendation from Len Kabasinski, I watched 1987's Dark Age. For a movie that was a total unknown to me and is often labeled as a "Jaws ripoff" or an "Ozploitation" movie, this film is much better than I ever expected it to be!