Couch theater — DVD previews

There are those who would argue that today’s world is going to heck in a handbasket. I’ve always found it interesting when people complain about the breakdown of our world as we know it -- I attempt to imagine their criteria for this dystopian future. Does it involve a computer takeover? Genetic tinkering? Just allout trash human behavior? Here are several iconic dystopian fantasies to choose from, and a few lesser-known morsels of impending doom. May the odds be ever in your favor.

“The Matrix” -- Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, a hacker who is liberated from a simulated reality by the elusive Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne) and learns the secret and terrible truth that the world is not what it seems. Dystopian cause: computers.

“Death Race 2000” -- For camp, I prefer Roger Corman’s 1975 version with Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine as some of the competitors in a transcontinental race where points are clocked both by speed and the number and type of pedestrian kills. Dystopian cause: totalitarianism.

“Divergent” -- A worldwide war wipes out humanity, except in Chicago, where the remaining residents separate themselves into factions -- the smart, the honest, the kind, the generous and the daring. Things get dicey when Tris (Shailene Woodley) tries to be more than one thing. Dystopian cause: war.

“The Hunger Games” -- The winner of a 13-district war subjugates the rest of the districts by culling two young people from each yearly to fight to the death in a reality show that is too real. They get more than they bargained for when Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take the place of her little sister. Dystopian cause: political machinations of terrible people.