The Contrarians

Happy Halloween! We hit our donations goal at this year’s Livestream For The Cure, which means we are now on the hook to do commentary tracks for all five Exorcist films. Can’t think of a better time to start than now, on Halloween day, so enjoy listening to us talk about William Friedkin’s horror classic - ideally while you watch it! (Don’t worry, The Embries 2025 should drop this weekend) Intere...

All these years later, we know FREDDY’S DEAD was far from the “final nightmare”. Freddy went on to fight Jason Voorhees, be meta in New Nightmare, and get a grim makeover in 2010. But word on the street is Rachel Talalay’s Elm Street entry was meant to be the end of Freddy at the time. Does that context make it a better or worse movie? And can we ever come to terms with the darkness and campiness...

Horror icons are not allowed to die - but that doesn’t mean they are not allowed to try. And so, Fred Krueger gave it a shot in the boldly titled FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE. Predictably, critics panicked at the idea of a world without Elm Street terrors and stamped a 23% rotten Tomatometer score on Freddy’s efforts. Listen to Alex & Julio defend this surprisingly emotional (and sincere...

We will always do our best to celebrate big swings and original ideas - even when we can’t make heads or tails of them. So yes, we’re going to cut QUANTUM COWBOYS some slack even though some of our qualms from Contrarians Corner also stand in this Real Talk segment. But even when acknowledging the value of trying new things, we also have to analyze why a well-meaning effort doesn’t work. That’s wh...

Take a hit of whatever your drug of choice is - that’s your best chance to grasp how QUANTUM COWBOYS scored 100% on the Tomatometer. Yes, universal acclaim is a little easier to attain when the review pool is shallow, but still, it’s weird when a nearly incomprehensible movie gets so much praise. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to wrap their minds around a trippy plot and even trippier anim...

Well, it was The 80s, so maybe we were all a little easier to impress. With that in mind, how does CONAN THE BARBARIAN hold up in a world that’s been inundated with fantasy epics since its release? Can we spot what James Cameron might have seen in young Arnold Schwarzenegger back then? And will anyone think of the original Conan fans? That, and more, in this Real Talk segment! TIMELINE 00:01:26 Al...

There’s such a thing as Pre-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger and, oh boy, it’s a tough experience to sit through. Exhibit A? CONAN THE BARBARIAN, which was appreciated by critics and audiences enough to get a sequel, despite featuring a wooden performance from Arnie and excessive slow-mo that would make Zack Snyder proud. Listen to Alex & Julio marvel at the T-800’s humble beginnings! TIMELINE...

The third installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists focuses on The Sullivans - an Irish family trying to start anew in America. So, of course, the movie is called IN AMERICA! Directed by Jim Sheridan, with Oscar-nominated performances from Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou, it’s the kind of film that’s determined to make you cry, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thank you for checki...

Is there still room in modern society for the man-child R-rated comedy? Can bros still be funny, or are they mostly cringe these days? Either way, it certainly helps your movie when you have a stacked cast, populated by incredibly charismatic performers poised to take over Hollywood. THAT AWKWARD MOMENT would triple its budget today, but it could also get a more charitable read from critics. Find...

Ah, yes, that awkward moment when you find out one of the funniest R-rated romcoms of the new millennium is rotten on the Tomatometer. Joke’s on critics, however, as the cast of THAT AWKWARD MOMENT went on to be major power players in Hollywood, despite that 23% green splotch: Efron, Jordan, Teller, Poots, Davis, come on! Listen to Alex & Julio as they make a desperate plea for more movies abo...

Here’s a bonus treat for you, Contrarians Listeners! As discussed at the end of our The Matrix episode, the Patreon After Hours for that recording is a two-parter. We’ve decided to make Part One, which deals with Rocky III and Alex’s conflicted feelings about Hulk Hogan, available on the show’s main feed. Enjoy! And if you like this type of conversation, there’s plenty more on our Patreon channel...

Come on. It’s CASABLANCA. Who doesn’t love Casablanca? Not The Contrarians! But actually, there are people in the darkest corners of Letterboxd who find it boring and reprehensible. So you know this Real Talk segment will start with a bit of a rant before we give in to a full lovefest! TIMELINE 00:01:26 Bad timing 00:02:12 Real Talk 00:50:08 The Future & Patreon Stuff - Interested in more Cont...

You know why, as of this recording, CASABLANCA still doesn’t have a Criterion edition? Probably because The Powers That Be know that 99% Tomatometer score is a hollow accolade. The Rick/Ilsa/Lazlo love triangle was captivating back when we were in the throes of WW2 but, watching it today, it’s a silly distraction from serious international issues. Listen to Alex & Julio as they do their best n...

Are we ending The Summer of the (MTV) Bangers with a bang or with a whimper? The only way to answer that is by having a real discussion about BIG DADDY and reckoning with the different types of movies Adam Sandler makes and why some work for us better than others. Plus: Alex tells a Scuba Steve story that instantly becomes a Top Tier Contrarians Classic. TIMELINE 00:01:26 Do you wear diapers? 00:0...

What’s most irresistible than a 90s slacker finding his inner father figure and (sort of) adopting an orphan? Adam Sandler’s off-kilter take on Annie charmed audiences everywhere - even as it turned critics off. And so BIG DADDY’s 39% Tomatometer score is offset by Adam Sandler’s MTV Movie Awards win for Best Comedic Performance. Listen to Alex & Julio as they close The Summer of the (MTV) Ban...

The second installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists focuses on Adenoid Hynkel - the familiar looking authoritarian played by Charlie Chaplin in THE GREAT DICTATOR. Of course, there’s more to Chaplin’s masterpiece than Hynkle’s fascist antics, including a showstopper of an ending that remains as relevant today as it was in the middle of World War II. Thank you for checking this new project...

We had our fun in Contrarians Corner, but anyone who has listened to the show for a while knows we hold The Matrix (and only The Matrix, no sequels) in high regard. So expect this Real Talk to be a bit of a lovefest, featuring personal stories while also failing to stop talking about where the franchise went and how it disappointed us. And yes, this movie did really well at the MTV Movie Awards! T...

It’s not that THE MATRIX wasn’t overrated back in 1999, but it’s more that its brand lost value with every sequel The Wachowskis threw at us over the following years. So it’s impossible to keep a straight face while experiencing Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus’ adventures today - despite what an 83% Tomatometer score may say. Listen to Alex & Julio as they battle nostalgia and roll their eyes at Ho...

There’s an alternate timeline where Katie Holmes never meets Tom Cruise and then, decades later, her filmography rivals those of her old Dawson’s Creek co-stars - at least in quantity, and probably also in quality. As it is though, we live in the timeline where she’s still mainly known as Joey Potter, despite winning the MTV Movie Award for 1998 Breakthrough Performance. We talk about this, and ot...

When it comes to the 1998 thriller DISTURBING BEHAVIOR, there’s no behavior more disturbing than that of critics stamping a 35% rotten Tomatometer score on it. Only the MTV Movie Awards recognized the brilliance of Scott Rosenberg’s screenplay, David Nutter’s direction, and, specifically, Katie Holmes’ breakthrough performance. Listen to Alex and Julio celebrate Joey Potter’s escape from The Creek...

Everybody’s gotta start somewhere, and that applies to Curtis Hanson as much as it applies to anyone else. Still, it’s weird to think of the man behind L.A. Confidential and 8 Mile as the director of THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE - a movie that, to be charitable, is not quite on the same league as his other work. But can we at least agree that Rebecca De Mornay deserved her MTV Movie Award? Liste...

If you ever wondered what caused the Great Nanny Unemployment Crisis of the early 90s, wonder no more. THE HAND THAT ROCK THE CRADLE is the worst kind of schlock: schlock that uses shock-value to fool audiences and critics into thinking it’s profound cinema. Nannies were suddenly seen as Public Enemies #1 while Rebecca De Mornay laughed all the way to an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain. Listen to...

Our Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists journey begins here: with a movie that earned Richard Jenkins his first Academy Awards nomination. THE VISITOR is a story set in the midst of post 9/11 paranoia, where a man befriends a couple of refugees whose future is about to be upended. Yes, the question “why is this better than Green Book” is addressed. Thank you for checking this new project out, whethe...

Much like The Bodyguard , ARMAGEDDON’s primary legacy is its MTV-Movie-Award-Winning song, a little Aerosmith ditty called I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing . What does that say about the movie, and would it be different if Bay’s film didn’t live under the shadow of Independence Day ? Could the Criterion Collection be wrong, or are they ahead of the curve on this one? All that and more in this Real Tal...

America to the rescue once again! Unfortunately, critics were a little harder to wow only two years after Independence Day had been the talk of the town and ARMAGEDDON got stamped with a 43% rotten Tomatometer score. But are we really so jaded that we can’t appreciate the awesomeness of Bruce Willis drilling into an asteroid? Listed to Alex & Julio defend Michael Bay’s first true masterpiece!...