THE AI DOC: The Movie Equivalent of Doomscrolling

THE AI DOC: OR HOW I BECAME AN APOCALOPTIMIST (Blu-ray)

2026 / 104 min

Universal

Available at MovieZyng

Review by Princess Pepper🙀

For me personally, AI began rearing its ugly head during my final years as a middle school teacher. Some students who’d previously demonstrated almost no ability (or desire) to put together a single grammatically correct sentence were suddenly turning in essays that displayed a level of “thinking” and vocabulary well beyond their grade level. Worse yet, those who bothered to proofread whatever ChatGPT belched out for them freely admitted they had no idea what certain words and passages even meant. But they didn’t consider it cheating because, to them, chatbots were simply another writing tool like spell-checkers. 

That, among other things, was a sure sign it was time to retire. This tired old teacher (who still considers writing to be an essential skill) did not want to be around to experience AI’s growing impact on the classroom. But damn, if AI didn’t soon become unavoidable, turning social media into a junkyard and embraced by countless boobs who don’t know (or care) if what they see, read or hear is real or the product of a data center. 

That being said, I found The AI Doc to be a depressing experience, a film I regret having seen because it alarmingly lays out just how far-reaching this capitalism-driven technology has insinuated itself into nearly every aspect of culture, politics, finance, business and the economy (to say nothing of its immediate negative impact on the environment itself). Not only that, AI is becoming exponentially smarter and more powerful every day. Even its own creators (some interviewed here) admit they aren’t fully certain how it works and what it’ll eventually be capable of…for better or worse.

"I just wanted to reassure you that, even though you're now obsolete, I'll be fine."

To be honest, I would have preferred to keep my head buried in the sand, kind of like some of those same creators who repeatedly gush over the wonders of AI and how it’ll turn the world into a work-free utopia, while completely ignoring that it’s already eliminated jobs by the millions and consumes an ungodly amount of natural resources to function. It’s like listening to a tag-team of Mayor Vaughns. But hey, who needs a job or drinkable water when you can make videos of a high-diving horse?

The most alarming aspect of the film is that directors Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell make it abundantly (and repeatedly) clear that we have no say in the matter. At this point, AI is a Pandora’s box that cannot be closed. Roher presents himself as an artist with growing anxiety over AI’s increasing omnipresence, interviewing various experts for assurance that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Such assurance isn’t forthcoming, though. On the extreme end of the spectrum, some interviewees take the Chicken Little approach by suggesting AI will be capable of killing people through manipulation. While I’m not quite ready to follow them down that particular rabbit hole, these claims certainly exacerbate the notion that nothing good can stem from AI continuing to grow without being regulated. Unfortunately, not even those who declare AI to be the greatest thing since the industrial revolution have any idea how to do that.

The AI Doc ends with a call to action, but even then, we don’t walk away very optimistic that anything will change, not with financial gain being the driving force behind its use. In fact, what I mostly felt afterwards was resentment that AI is essentially inescapable. While the film itself is admittedly fascinating, maybe even Oscar worthy, watching it is kind of like doomscrolling without a computer mouse.

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE (4K): A Boomer's Confirmation

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE (4K + Blu-ray)

2026 / 135 min

Universal

Available at MovieZyng

Review by Princess Pepper😺

At the risk of sounding like an angry old boomer yelling at clouds, I’m of the belief that AI is ruining everything…from art to social media to critical thinking itself. Making matters worse, we’re happily giving the environment a collective middle finger just so we can make paintings depicting the president as Jesus without ever picking up a brush.

Hell, I was yelling at clouds even before AI reared its ugly head. Just ask my family, who’ve endured endless rantings over how cell phones have rendered people more isolated, self-absorbed and a hell of a lot dumber. Everyone has a good chuckle at my expense before going back to scrolling their Tick Tocks (Boomerspeak for TikTok).

But this ol’ boomer is hardly alone, and the very first scene of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die perfectly sums-up damn near everything that irritates and worries me about our addictive relationship with technology. Not only that, it’ll bring about an apocalypse that we won’t even notice coming because it turns out that AI promises a better life than the one reality provides.

This ominous future is laid-out by “the man from the future” (Sam Rockwell), who descends on an LA diner one night to recruit people in order to save the world from a child-created AI that’s about to go online and will ultimately result in civilization’s downfall. Most of the diners think he’s crazy, of course, but not only does he know things about them he shouldn’t (this is his 117th attempt to recruit a team), he reveals a bomb attached to his chest. So at the very least, he has their attention.

"I just flew in from the future, and boy, are my arms tired."

He does manage to assemble another eclectic group of volunteers, and that’s when the fun begins. To elaborate on the story any further would spoil the party, but rest assured, Good Luck, Have, Fun, Don’t Die is a sci-fi action-comedy (and a damn funny one) that’s more tonally similar to Everything Everywhere All at Once than, say, The Terminator. The film is loaded with amusing characters, each with their own backstory, which are presented as flashbacks (including a tragic one). Not only do those side stories become relevant to the plot, all involve some kind of bizarre variation of technology that currently exists (and the ominous implications that suggests). There are times this almost plays like an anthology film with saving the world serving as a wraparound story.

Speaking of story, Good Luck, Have, Fun, Don’t Die might be the most original sci-fi comedy since Michelle Yeoh stumbled into the multiverse, its narrative nicely blending science-fiction, social satire, black comedy, absurdist humor and even a few serious themes. Gore Verbinski returns to the director’s chair for the first time in nearly a decade with the best film of his career, with considerable help from imaginative visuals (love the centaur cat!), Matthew Robinson’s witty screenplay and great cast lead by Sam Rockwell, who looks like he’s having a hell of a lot of fun.

The movie bombed in theaters, which is too bad because, Project Hail Mary being a notable recent exception, we don’t get a lot of original sci-fi these days. I suppose that’s more Boomerspeak saying Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is nothing if not unique. Smart, exciting, quirky and very funny, it’s so-far one of the best movies of 2026 that hardly anyone has seen. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTE - The Making of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a perfunctory 5-minute promotional spot.

KITTEN KRUSTIES: The Worst Stuff We Reviewed in 2025

While we enjoyed reviewing another big batch of Blu-Rays, DVDs and movies in 2025, they haven’t all been picks of the litter. Time to take a look back at the worst of them. Our list consists strictly of titles which were sent to us for review purposes.

BLEH...THE WORST: As much as we love movies, there are times when reviewing them feels like an actual job. The following titles deserve to be buried in the litter box (in no particular order):

THE SAND (Rising Sun Media) - The Sand might be good for a moment or two of unintentional laughter, especially with such a dead-serious tone. But ultimately, it seldom even rises to the level of endearingly tacky. A cheap flick with awful characters, a stupid ending and cut-rate CGI.

THE DEMONESS (Well Go USA) - This is a Russian production with a Russian cast, yet it's shot in English, its actors obviously dubbed to get rid of those pesky accents. The results are awful and there’s strong evidence that the cast had minimal understanding of their own lines. It also fails as a horror movie - even an erotic one - because the languid pace and an abundance of tired tropes negate its peepshow qualities.

BRIDE HARD (Magenta Light) - Rebel Wilson she plays a secret agent who squares off against a crew of mercenaries at her bestie’s wedding, but at no point is she convincing or funny, nor is anyone else. An interminable attempt to blend action and comedy, this makes Paul Blart: Mall Cop look like Lethal Weapon. Saddest of all, it's directed by Simon West, who once showed promise with such kitchy classics as Con Air.

SMURFS (Paramount) - Do you know anyone who was actually pining for another Smurfs movie? It’s yet another cynically assembled, pop song-laden product with Rihanna and a huge cast of well-known actors lending their voices (and marquee value). While there are a few interesting animated bits, this is one of those movies that you pop into your machine to keep the wee ones amused while you clean the garage.

DADDY (Anchor Bay) - The story takes place in a dystopian future where being a parent is a privilege that must be earned from the government by successfully completing a program. Interminable and irritating to the point of being almost unwatchable, the film wastes its intriguing premise on obnoxious characters, pointless ambiguity and plot threads which hint at something ominous or meaningful, but end up going nowhere.

THE RITUAL (Decal) - This is the most drab, derivative and dull horror movie I’ve seen this year, playing like a checklist of every possession trope we’ve seen in countless movies since 1973. Characterization is minimal, and all that's required from most of the cast is to react in horror. As for the great Al Pacino…while I’m assuming he earned a healthy paycheck, he brings little more than perfunctory professionalism to a role that could’ve been played by anybody.

THE BASEMENT (Uncork’d) - The Basement is essentially torture porn, and like The Passion of the Christ, nearly the entire film consists of extreme torment being inflicted on one guy. While the make-up effects are pretty convincing, the film isn’t scary or suspenseful. It’s relentlessly talky between torture scenes and serves up a dull protagonist. Worst of all, clumsy foreshadowing renders the “shocking” twist ending kinda predictable.

McCARTNEY: NOW AND THEN (Rising Sun Media) - Short, superfluous and offering absolutely nothing any self-respecting fan doesn’t already know, this is a Cliff’s Notes summary of McCartney’s career, and I doubt director Robin Bextor even met his subject before patching this thing together. If you really want to hear from the horse’s mouth, stick with The Beatles Anthology.

CROWN OF SHADOWS (High Fliers Films) - A creatively bankrupt exercise in tedium that makes your typical mockbuster from The Asylum look like Game of Thrones. Worse yet, it runs a deadly 142 minutes. Even worse than that, there’s so much obvious use of AI that I can’t help but question the amount of actual human effort involved in throwing the whole thing together.

4 HALLOWEEN (Darkside Releasing) - If you love a good horror anthology flick, look elsewhere. In addition to being nearly nonsensical, 4 Halloween is amateurish and cheap looking, with godawful performances and, aside from some of the gore, visual effects that look like something cooked up by a public access TV station in the 1990s. Not only is this garbage a complete waste of time, it’s a waste of the disc it’s burned onto.

WATCH THE SKIES (Decal Releasing) - Compared to the other films on this list Watch the Skies isn’t actually terrible. But at the risk of sounding like a crusty old Boomer yelling at clouds, the idea of using AI to make foreign films look and sound more American leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Is this really the direction we want movies to go?

WATCH THE SKIES and a Bit of Boomer Rage

WATCH THE SKIES (Blu-ray)

2022 / 116 min

Decal Releasing

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😿

It’s with a profound sense of rage that I review Watch the Skies.

Not that it’s terrible or anything. For a low budget science-fiction film clearly inspired by the likes of Stranger Things and early Spielberg with a little Interstellar tossed in, it’s a fairly entertaining way to kill a couple of hours. Inez Dahl Torhaug plays Denise, a snotty teenager whose UFO-obsessed father went missing years earlier. Convinced he was abducted, she uses her considerable tech smarts to pinpoint the location of the alleged UFO that whisked him away. 

Denise recruits - more like demands - the help of Dad’s old group of likeminded looneys, UFO Sweden, now led by disgraced scientist Lennart Svahn (Jesper Barkselius), who suspects the people who once employed him are covering-up alien influenced weather anomalies. So they steal a hard drive containing all their files related to the night Denise’s Dad disappeared. 

The story is kind of meandering at times, but there are some interesting ideas here and there (some of them borrowed). I do like the whole time-altering wormhole aspect of the narrative, though it tends to negate the purpose of the title. However, it would have helped if the main protagonist was more likable and sympathetic. She is generally awful to everybody, including the one character, police officer Tomi (Sara Shirpey), who appears to care about her. Still, it’s an enjoyable film overall, if not particularly original.

Spotted shoplifting.

But here’s the big problem (for me, anyway). Watch the Skies is a Swedish film, shot in Sweden with Swedish actors. However, it has been dubbed using AI to alter the facial and mouth movements of the characters to make them appear to be speaking English. Worse yet, director Victor Danell boasts about it (in a bonus feature) as if he’s breaking new cinematic ground.

No, Victor, you are not. What you are doing is dumbing down your movie for mouthbreathers to lazy to read subtitles. I’ve never seen a foreign film made better with dubbing, to say nothing of AI dubbing. You should have enough faith in your own work to offer it abroad as is. You are also setting a bad precedent. This is more than just lazily entrusting AI to create imagery…you’re using it to alter the performances of your actors. What’s next…having a computer spit out your next screenplay? 

Maybe I sound like a crusty old Boomer watching the skies to yell at clouds, but the idea of foreign films being digitally manipulated to look and sound more American leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And where does it stop? At the rate AI use (and abuse) is growing, we could be getting Adam Sandler movies for centuries. But I digress…most people probably don’t actually care who (or what) creates the stuff they enjoy. While Watch the Skies is entertaining enough, is this really the direction we want movies to go?

EXTRA KIBBLES

SWEDISH LANGUAGE VERSION - The way it should be seen.

FEATURETTES - Filmmaker Testimonial features everyone boasting how great and groundbreaking their use of AI is; Flawless Sizzle Reel (Flawless is the company that did the AI dubbing); The Real UFO Sweden is a brief feature on the real life UFO hunters.

TRAILER

COMPANION Is Full of Surprises

COMPANION (Blu-ray)

2025 / 97 min

From Warner Bros #InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

Part of me wishes I could’ve watched Companion without any prior knowledge of the premise. But I get it…you can’t market a sci-fi horror thriller without at least dropping a hint that its main character, Iris (Sophie Thatcher), is a robot created and programmed to be a loving soulmate. Still, even the Blu-ray cover tends to undermine the big revelation writer-director Drew Hancock masterfully builds up to during the first act.

On the other hand, Hancock has plenty of other surprises up his sleeve, most of which the viewer isn’t likely to see coming. More importantly, the basic plot subverts our assumptions that Companion is yet-another tale of AI gone bad. So no…Iris doesn’t become an unstoppable Terminator or malicious Weyland Yutani android. In fact, she’s the main protagonist.

Shopping in Stepford.

To avoid spoiling some of the movie’s wild, wonderful twists and turns, I’m gonna refrain from going into any more story details. I will say that Companion features a consistently compelling narrative, excellent overall performances (especially Thatcher) and well-realized characters, most of whom, at one point or another, are not who they seem to be when first introduced. This is all largely thanks to a well-constructed, intelligent screenplay that also addresses such timely issues as toxic relationships, personal autonomy and, of course, the ramifications of AI technology.

That’s not to say Companion is some kind of serious cautionary tale. Though certainly offering ideas and themes that are worth pondering, it’s mainly a wildly entertaining sci-fi thrill ride. Suspenseful, violent and sometimes wickedly funny, it’s a fast-paced film that doesn’t wear out its welcome with unnecessary peripherals, building to a satisfying climax and resolution. So far, this is one of the best of the year.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Companion: I Feel Therefore I Am focuses on Sophie Thatcher’s role as Iris; Companion: Love, Eli features Harvey Gullen discussing his character; AI Horror includes details related to the special effects.

DIGITAL COPY