The Contrarians

It’s such a shame that Jeremy Saulnier didn’t continue color-coding his movie titles. But how do we really feel about GREEN ROOM, and is it possible to even enjoy it in a world where white supremacists and their allies keep popping up on headlines? And how about that Patrick Stewart guy, huh? Does he have a future in acting? This and more - including an obvious lament at Anton Yelchin’s passing -...

Ah, the long gone days of 2015. When white supremacists were a little more coy about their activities and actually tried to cover them up when things got too bad. GREEN ROOM pits the dumbest punk band alive ( not for long ) against the most British American neo-nazi you can find and the results were celebrated by the Tomatometer to the tune of a 90% score. Listen to Alex & Julio try to make se...

In this episode, we mourn a king as Mario is unseated from the top spot of American Music. Joe completely goes off on Dana White and the ideal of not leaving it to the judges. Elsewhere, we relive some of the more well-known shots after the bell as well as infamous judges' decisions. Sam Hoger stirs the pot as Diego Sanchez puts down another jabroni. Oh, and Chris Leben is back! Want more from the...

Is HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION the worst entry in the franchise? Or is it merely the most inconsequential? Is it easier for a casual fan to enjoy its silly attempt to introduce Michael Myers to the wonders of the internet? And does Busta Rhymes’ performance make it all worth it anyway? The answers to this, and more, are in this Real Talk segment! TIMELINE 00:01:26 Skedaddle 00:02:22 Real Talk 00:50:21...

We can’t really quote any of Busta Rhymes’ iconic HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION lines because they could get this blurb censored. But trust us, they are just one of the many reasons to celebrate Michael Myers’ foray into reality TV. Critics, boring as they can be, slapped a 10% Tomatometer score on the movie, not that any true fan cares. Listen to Alex & Julio as they argue against that rating and a...

Following Josh Koscheck's victory over Chris Leben, it's time for a reset as new characters emerge. Coach Liddell is forced to hand over yet another member to Team Couture and we're treated to the best fight of the season (so far). Elsewhere, this episode sees the triumphant return of team challenges and Willa Ford! Want more from the hosts? - Alex and Julio discuss the freshest and most rotten mo...

Alex got sick and our schedule needed a little bit of rearranging while he got better. Enter Jordan Manse, not heard on this show since his impressive performance during our Passengers episode, here to help Julio with a bonus entry! We discuss movies we liked in 2024, movies we are rooting for in the upcoming Oscars, and movies we are excited about in 2025. Enjoy! (And don’t worry, the Halloween:...

The would-be money match of the season comes early as Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck square off to see who gets their bus ticket home. On road to the bout, diversions into the rise of Dave Bautista as well as the historical dominance of the wrestling base in MMA provide interesting discussion. Julio checks in on where he stands about half-way into the season as our story's next monster heel rests j...

We already name-dropped Daredevil and Hitchcock in the Contrarians Corner write-up, so let’s reference our friend Peter Bogdanovich in Real Talk, because… wouldn’t he had loved this elevator pitch? But what happens when director Sriram Raghavan takes ANDHADHUN in a different direction? Do we have an overload of reversals here? What’s with the ending? We get into it in this Real Talk segment! TIMEL...

What happens when a fan of Marvel’s Daredevil tries his hand at a Hitchcockian yarn? Lots of critical love, in the case of ANDHADHUN. Listen to Alex & Julio tackle another Tomatometer 100-percenter as they examine the ethics of fake blindness! TIMELINE 00:01:24 Andhadhun 00:08:56 Contrarians Corner - Wanna know how we really feel about ANDHADHUN? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your f...

As absurd as it may sound, the Ultimate Fighting Championship may be nowhere near the juggernaut it is without this episode of television. We have arrived at one of the most insane episodes in the 20+ year history of TUF. It's time to hit the town and fear the consequences. So, ask yourself: Are you a Koscheck? Are you a Bobby? Are you a Leben? Are you a Nate? Are you a Diego? Want...

As Team Liddell's domination continues, Chuck (fairly easily) gives up one of his light heavyweights to give Coach Couture a crack at. We watch Diego Sanchez fight a guy from Boston while Julio's anticipation of a possible Leben-Koscheck showdown grows. Elsewhere, we recap an obstacle course from hell and talk about that Monday Night Raw from Japan. Want more from the hosts? - Alex and Julio discu...

They did it. Those madmen (and madwomen) at The MCU actually did it and pulled all the strings in the world to get a sort of live-action Spider-verse movie to close out Tom Holland’s first Spider-Trilogy. Can this work for anyone who doesn’t have decades of emotional investment in Spider-Man as a movie character, and perhaps even more so, anyone who doesn’t have decades of attachment to his comic...

You could argue that the world was in such a bad emotional place around Christmas 2021 that critics and audiences would have embraced the most transparent attempts at capitalizing on feel-good nostalgia. And they did, as SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME scored a 93% Tomatometer score purely by referencing past Spidey adventures. Listen to Alex & Julio as they resist the combined charm of three Peter Pa...

The journey continues as we finally step into the cage. Before we can get there, though, we have to explain weight-cutting to an incredulous Julio. We discuss the tough (and hilarious) road to our first fight of the season and reminisce on some of the weight blunders the sport has seen. In addition, we add music of the era to the weekly format as Steve consults the Billboard Hot 100! Want mor...

The team challenges kick off as our journey of The Ultimate Fighter continues. What does sawing a utility log into pieces then reassembling it have to do with fighting? We put our minds together and try our damndest to figure it out. In this episode, we meet our host, Willa Ford, we have a heated discussion about asparagus, and we learn that no one trains harder than UFC fighters (and that’s a fac...

Whatever movie followed Avengers: Endgame would have the benefit of not having to do a thing to get people to watch it… and the disadvantage of it being impossible for it to live up to Endgame’s epic scale. Spidey drew the short-straw, if you can call it that when your movie grosses a billion dollars, and FAR FROM HOME seems to be the least liked of the Tom Holland movies. Listen to this Real Talk...

You’d think the devastating climax of Avengers: Endgame wouldn’t be the best way to set up Peter Parker’s lighthearted romp across Europe, and yet that’s exactly what the MCU deployed as an Endgame follow-up. Critics lapped it up, but real fans know SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is as empty and superficial as Mysterio’s illusions. Listen to Alex & Julio yearn for the days when Spidey had adventure...

The Contrarians embark on a quest unlike any other as they’re joined by Joe Hulbert and STEVE(!) to host a 20-year retrospective on the ground-breaking reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter. For Episode 1 of this 14-part journey, we chronicle the history of the UFC heading into 2005 and put into perspective just how much was at stake with this show. We pick our teams and learn about our...

Even if you haven’t seen MAN ON FIRE, you probably have a good idea of whether you’ll like it or not, especially once you learn it was directed by latter-day Tony Scott. It’s Denzel on a revenge rampage across the border! But does that play a little differently 20 years from when it was released? And how does it hold up against other revenge stories we’ve covered on the show? That and more on this...

There’s no explosion like an explosion Denzel Washington walks away from in slow motion. Tony Scott understood this, audiences in 2004 understood this, but critics did not. And so MAN ON FIRE sits with a shocking 38% Tomatometer score, despite giving us the very first Denzel / Dakota Fanning team-up. Listen to Alex & Julio celebrate another exciting Denzel adventure while trying to ignore the...

We gave it a shot, but it was inevitable to bring up Bone Tomahawk time and again when talking about S. Craig Zahler’s most recent effort. There’s more to this Real Talk segment than unflattering comparisons thought! Gibson’s persona, Vaughnn’s seriousness, and what can we really make of that Jennifer Carpenter sequence? This is how we close 2024! TIMELINE 00:01:26 Long-term Damage 00:02:29 Real T...

It took S. Craig Zahler three movies to unleash an anti-woke manifesto on the masses - all wrapped around an attempted Mel Gibson comeback vehicle. It must have looked like a ridiculously bad idea on paper, yet critics loved DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE. Thus, The Contrarians are here to tell you it is, indeed, ridiculously bad. Listen to Alex & Julio as they ponder the meaning of “anchovies”! TIME...

We have a wide range of Trek-experience on this episode, and that’s part of what makes this Real Talk segment so special. Both Contrarians and both Yum Yum Podcasters agree it’s a slow movie and we all also agree it’s not the best adventure the Enterprise crew has been in - but at least one of us loves it, and one of us finds it extremely boring. Plus: should this story have ended with Kirk sacrif...

Long before Star Trek was anchored by young hipsters like Chris Pine and Sonequa Martin Green, it was a franchise that revolved around adults dealing with heady matters. Less shooting, more thinking. Less quips, more philosophical pondering. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE has been underappreciated ever since its debut, even by Trek fans, so it’s time for Alex & Julio - with help from Trek exper...