The Contrarians

Could people be overreacting a little when it comes to JAWS: THE REVENGE? Or does the movie deserve all the hate it gets because of what it does to the legacy of one of the most celebrated films of the 20th century? Real Talk allows Alex & Julio to try to be a little more serious when considering JTR’s status as the whipping boy of all shark flicks - and whether it deserves it or not. TIMELINE...

It took the JAWS series four movies to get a true masterpiece out. Predictably, the world then decided the franchise wasn’t fashionable anymore and shunned JAWS: THE REVENGE, despite it featuring the most likable Michael Caine performance and despite it telling a story that explored the horrors of grief in ways no other shark movie ever has. Listen to Alex & Julio as they highlight everything...

It’s easy to understand why THE PRINCESS BRIDE has endured throughout decades. But, objectively, does it still work once you remove the nostalgia factor? More importantly, can Alex make it through this Real Talk without regaling our audience with an Andre The Giant history lesson? Plus: heartbreak on the Criterion side of life! TIMELINE 00:00:36 Now on Patreon 00:07:04 Real Talk 00:55:26 The Futur...

If you ever wondered why there’s a whole generation of men and women who can’t get out of vapid, toxic relationships, you can blame it all on THE PRINCESS BRIDE. The celebrated fantasy classic warped young minds all over the world and now sits at an almost-unassailable 98% on the Tomatometer. Listen to Alex & Julio as they pick apart Rob Reiner’s saccharine love epic and lament that no one in...

It's Christmas in July for The Contrarians! For the fourth and final installment of LOHAN, we look at the Netflix original Falling for Christmas and the potential comeback of Lindsay Lohan! If you haven't yet listened to Parts I, II, and III, be sure to head over to  patreon.com/contrarianprime  and drop $1 for exclusive access to the entire LOHAN miniseries! -Alex Notes: Labor Pain...

We all love Steven Yeun, now that we are being serious. Alex loves him because of I Think You Should Leave, Julio loves him because of Minari — he was kind of boring in The Walking Dead, honestly. But now that we are in Real Talk, does it even matter how you feel about the biggest star in the movie, when the most important aspect of the experience is what you think is really happening in the story...

Today’s cheat code: cast the star of a wildly popular TV show in your movie and let the critical praise come to you. BURNING is a slow, confusing, meandering Korean film that managed to snag Glenn from The Walking Dead for one of the main roles. But what happens once The Steven Yeun Effect loses its novelty? Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to figure out what’s going on in the most underwhel...

Okay then, back to the present. Can we still enjoy the wall-to-wall senseless violence of an 80s action-fest in 2023 America? Is it possible there’s a valid reason why movies like INVASION USA aren’t wildly popular anymore? Has the window for a Chuck Norris renaissance closed? It’s a Real Talk segment that goes in many directions - and yes, one of those directions is Alex waxing poetic about pract...

The 80s were truly the Golden Age of American Cinema - and America in general, sure. You could solve almost any problem by shooting at it, and you had movie stars like Chuck Norris, who could believably stop a Russian invasion all by themselves. Unfortunately, INVASION USA was met with derision from snobby critics everywhere, so it’s time for The Contrarians to celebrate it. Listen to Alex & J...

Okay, so COLOR OUT OF SPACE looks as spectacular as the best Windows screensaver, and then some. But is there anything behind it? That’s the main question driving this Real Talk segment, and we throw a few things around: the true value of an unhinged Cage performance, how much would being familiar with the Lovecraft story enrich the viewing experience, and would we change anything about the way th...

Hey, look, it’s a modern Nicolas Cage movie! That means it’ll be a collection of memes trying to encapsulate a performance that’s pitched at 11 regardless of the context surrounding it. But COLOR OUT OF SPACE is based on a Lovecraft story and it’s helmed by a cult director, so of course critics ate it up! Listen to Alex & Julio as they squint their way through this psychedelic mess and call ou...

Oh hey, Eddie Murphy is back again. Not just on our show (this is our fourth Murphy vehicle) but on the mainstream. Will he stick around? Alex & Julio speculate about that while discussing everything that works in DOLEMITE IS MY NAME… and maybe a few things that don’t. And no, nobody breaks into an actual Dolemite impression - although the challenge was put forward. TIMELINE 00:00:50 Now on Pa...

Have you ever wondered how hard it is to make a movie? According to the celebrated DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, it’s a breeze! All you need is a plucky crew and a good amount of can-do attitude. Listen to Alex & Julio pick apart the latest Eddie Murphy comeback and try to figure out if Wesley Snipes’ performance is the best part of the movie or the worst. Also: why would you cast Titus as the quiet me...

As promised, this is us taking care of some loose ends from our Livestream for the Cure 2023 segment. We do Josh Gad Minutes for every movie we covered and we also get to some movies we ran out of time for. Thank you all for your support!

There’s a very good chance we wouldn’t have had this long a conversation if we were covering the actual Casablanca. Instead, we’re covering a riff on Casablanca that landed terribly with most critics. Was it a reaction to its star, Pamela Anderson? A reaction to its silly, hypersexual tone? A reaction to how it predicted things going to hell in 2017? More importantly though, this is where you find...

Wow. Does America hate sexy badass women or what? Pamela Anderson could’ve taken over the world if we’d only given BARB WIRE an actual chance, but instead critics decided she already had enough good fortune in her life and planted a 28% Tomatometer score on the film. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to convey the awesomeness of Barb, her wacky sidekicks, and her even wackier enemies — none m...

Palme d’Or winner. Criterion selection. 94% Tomatometer score. Will any of this be reflected in Alex & Julio’s true opinions about PARIS, TEXAS? This Real Talk segment sees The Contrarians discussing the experience of watching movies that come with an abundance of hype as baggage, along with their own personal histories with Wim Wenders ode to the American South! And how do we really feel abou...

Welcome to the most boring road trip in the history of film! Acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders decided to show the world the nightmare that it is traveling across Texas with a small child, and he succeeded - to the tune of a 94% Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio take the beloved PARIS, TEXAS down a few pegs while also acknowledging they, too, would be obsessed with finding Natassj...

Ok, let’s get real. Is 12 Monkeys really too convoluted for its own good? Does La Jetée still work all these decades later, when we are used to more bombastic sci-fi moviemaking? What possessed patron Stu Willis to task us to tackle both of these puzzle-box films? We talk Oscars, performances, and what connects Julio to Terry Gilliam’s most mainstream movie… all in this Real Talk segment! TIMELINE...

Critics like to be confused, apparently. The experimental mind-bender LA JETÉE has a Criterion release, even though most people can’t make sense of it. And then, when Terry Gilliam decided to turn it into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Bruce Willis, he somehow made the plot even more impenetrable. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to figure out the rules of the 12 MONKEYS universe, the reas...

Come on. If Jurassic Park was part of your childhood or teenage years in any capacity, you probably have strong feelings about this final (?) entry in the series. But, are we over-reacting, one way or another? Are critics and audiences asking for too much from a franchise that is basically about giant reptiles chasing people throughout different locations? It’s all about blockbuster filmmaking in...

Taking the best lessons from The MCU, the most popular dinosaur franchise in the universe took its time building to its very own Jurassic Avengers. Everyone comes back for this one! So what happened? Why all the hate for JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION? At 29% on the Tomatometer, you’d think people didn’t want to see Doctor Alan Grant finally find love while also teaming up with Starlord. Listen to Alex &...

Our Jurassic World Dominion episode is running a little late, so we figured we’d share something from our Patreon archives with you: our conversations about the last two chapters (so far) in the Halloween Saga. An epilogue of sorts to our Haddonfield Nights arc from a couple of years ago. But also, we wanted to give you more details about our upcoming segment in the Livestream for the Cure: 5/20,...

Is it time to add another movie to the very limited list of noirs that The Contrarians like? Or do we simply enjoy making fun of whatever it is Altman and Gould are doing in this collaboration? Alex & Julio had a blast talking about Marlowe’s 70s adventures with Dale Bridges and exploring how his own book relates to the film… but does that mean THE LONG GOODBYE gets as high a score as THE MEAN...

Who do you get to play hard-knocks noir gumshoe Phillip Marlowe when Humphrey Bogart is not available? The future Jack Geller, of course! Dale Bridges, author of the hilarious THE MEAN REDS and film noir enthusiast, joins Alex & Julio to try to make sense of Robert Altman’s weird, lackadaisical detective story, THE LONG GOODBYE. Come on, Elliott Gould, really??? And wait until you hear about t...