Ozone Nightmare

Today on the 5: As a dihard Milla Jovovich fan, I felt it was my civic responsiblity to watch one of her newer releases, a 2025 film titled Protector. Many negative reviews fixate on the fact that it's largely a blatant copy of Taken, and as an Italian ripoff film connoisseur I had no issue with that. What I couldn't overlook was how bad the film was from a technical standpoint.

This week we're talking about Incog XL, IG-88, Q The Winged Serpent, and Pacific Rim. 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: There's no shortage of coverage right now about computing component shortages and the impacts they're having throughout the technology landscape. One of the areas most under pressure is the video game industry, which was hardly in a great state even before the AI explosion happened.

Today on the 5: I read an article over on Aftermath covering the unexpected success of a game titled Forbidden Solitaire. Based on the premise, the very positive reviews and the cheap price, I picked it up. I've played it for a bit now, and I've been enjoying it immensely.

Today on the 5: Thanks to a YouTube channel titled Liminal Spaces, I read You're All Alone by Fritz Leiber. It's a wonderful novella that feels a lot like a Philip K. Dick story, except without the overwhelming doom and paranoia!

Today on the 5: For week 3 of "Kai-June", Lando and I watched the 1982 film Q The Winged Serpent. Much like 2016's Colossal, this movie is attempting to have at least 3 different genres happening at once, and it's just barely the monster movie the film artwork would have you believe. Unlike 2016's Colossal, this movie is very good. 

This week we're talking about Sauron, Wolverine, This Is How The World Ends, The Host (2006), and Colossal. 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 most recent Red Letter Media episode is covering the recently released Masters Of The Universe movie. Before talking about the film itself, the hosts discuss whether the movie was timed correctly to capitalize on MOTU nostalgia. I wonder if He-Man as a property really requires nostlagia or name recognition to perform well.

Today on the 5: Apple made a whole avalanche of announcements during the keynote of this year's WWDC conference, almost all revolving around AI and Siri. They showed off a lot of fancy things, but I've got a very simple baseline test for whether any of this matters to me.

Today on the 5: We followed up our underwhelming experience with The Host by watching 2016's Colossal. Neither of us knew anything about this one, so we weren't sure what to expect. What we got was a movie that wasn't really about giant monsters, and also was so bad we didn't really finish it. 

Today on the 5: As part of "Kai-June", Lando and I watched the 2066 Korean film The Host. The movie has one of the more impressive opening segments you could hope for in a monster movie, but unfortunately the rest of the film never quite returned to that level of quality.

This week we're talking about Bone Smashing, Star Wars: Outlaws, Roger Dean, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and Godzilla Minus One. 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 Google's I/O conference and the announcement of changes coming to the search engine, DuckDuckGo saw a rise in the installs of the iPhone app and the usage of their search engine. Most outlets see this as an anti-AI response, but I tyhink that's only part of the reason.

Today on the 5: For the first film in our "Kai-June" marathon, we watched 1994's Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla. This movie is often seen as a lesser entry is the classic Godzilla film series, but I find it one of the peak example of a great villain and absolutely spectaular miniature work. Also, psychics! 

Today on the 5: If you listen to a lot of tech shows today, many of them present AI as the next great tech innovation that could change the landscape of technology as an industry. I wonder if there might be another disruption coming, and AI would only be a part of it.

This week I'm joined by guest Stacey Higginbotham from Consumer Reports as we talk about alcohol, bioengineering, art, pilates, and The Banshees Of Inisherin. Show music by OGRE. Support the show!

This week we're talking about Podroll, Media Play, The Medusa Touch, It's Alive, and Fail-Safe. 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: One of the biggest stories coming out from the 2026 Google I/O conference is the Google search engine becoming an AI first tool that will attempt to do more than just provide simple answers. While accuracy is always a concern with these tools, I don't think that's what most people will react negatively to.

Today on the 5: For the third film in our final week of "May-be It Won't Suck", Lando and I watched 1964's Fail-Safe. A cautionary tale about the involvement of computers in war as well as the inevitable result of human distrust, this movie is a remarkable triumph of intense storytelling across minimal scenes.

Today on the 5: The second film for our last week of "May-be It Won't Suck" was 1974's It's Alive. A movie Lando had never seen and I only remembered the beginning and end of, this could have been a gimmick movie with a lot of boring stretches. As it turned out, it's a deeply tense exploration of how a VERY problematic pregnancy can push people to the breaking point.

Today on the 5: For one of our "May-be It Won't Suck" movies this week, Lando and I watched 1978's The Medusa Touch. It had been a long time since Lando had last seen it, and I had never even heard of it so we were both curious how it would land. Not only was it a great movie, but it had some of the hardest hitting scenes we've witnessed it a while!

This week we're talking about Project Hail Mary, Pebble, Mike Tyson, The Humanoid, Shocking Dark, and Dark Angel: The Ascent. 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 picked up Star Wars: Outlaws during a recent PSN sale, and have been playing it in short burst sessions for the last few weeks. For a game that seemed to come and go without much love or hate, I have to say I'm enjoying it as some of the best Star Wars related material in a long while.

Today on the 5: For the latest selection in

Today on the 5: As part of "May-be It Won't Suck" month, we watched a 1994 movie I just barely remember titled Dark Angel: The Ascent. Starting a Full Moon production is always a dice roll, but this movie rises above budgetary limitations by presenting a "Heaven & Hell" story that works very differently than you might expect.

This is the bonus content with Andy Last of Beyond Synth that would originally have been exclusive to Patreon. Seeing as how that platform is busy figuring out new ways of flushing their value to creators down the toilet, I figured I'd just post it on the main feed. Enjoy! Show music by OGRE. Support the show!

This week we're talking about steelbooks, Matthew Peak, Hell Comes To Frogtown, Eliminators, and Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone. 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: 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.