The Contrarians

People loooooooooove SOME LIKE IT HOT. Does it belong on Billy Wilder’s Mt Rushmore though? How does it compare to the other Wilder movies we’ve covered on the show? What’s it like, watching a classic Marilyn Monroe performance after having experienced her turn on THE MISFITS? Will this be our next Criterion purchase? The answers are in this Real Talk segment! TIMELINE 00:01:26 Goosepimply All Ove...

Billy Wilder channeled his inner Adam Sandler for 1959’s SOME LIKE IT HOT. All he had to do to wow critics and audiences was put Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag, and sexualize Marilyn Monroe every few scenes. Listen to Alex & Julio take on this 95% Tomatometer score, as they wonder if Wilder realized his movie celebrated a woman embracing the latest in a series of toxic relationships! TIME...

How does Chris Leben take his second loss of the season? Surprisingly well. Coach Couture's speech playing a large part, undoubtedly. Dana White finally begins explaining what the finale of this thing is going to look like. And it's time for the most anticipated fight of the season as Josh Koscheck faces Diego Sanchez to determine who fights Kenny Florian in the finals. Want more from the hosts? -...

Ah, this was so much easier to record than Contrarians Corner. If you wanted to hear us actually engage with The Son’s concerns regarding mental health and parenthood - and how the movie addresses them - well, this is where it happens. But don’t worry, we still throw in the occasional Wolverine joke. TIMELINE 00:01:26 Berserker Rage 00:02:21 Real Talk 00:54:57 The Future & Patreon Stuff - Inte...

If you’re a new listener of our show and -especially- if you like Florian Zeller’s THE SON, you might want to skip Contrarians Corner. Zeller’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed The Father was a bust with critics and audiences - which means Alex & Julio will do their best to find things to praise within it and hopefully be funny along the way… but this is a movie about Hugh Jackman trying...

Believe it or not, we've arrived at the semi-finals... But not without one last twist! We get an unexpected return to the house in case Forrest can't fight as the others remaining appear to be losing their minds. A whole lot of blood and a whole lot of bromance coat this one. Want more from the hosts? - Alex and Julio discuss the freshest and most rotten movies on the Tomatometer in every epi...

Where to begin with this one?! Team Liddell loses another man that Coach Couture is more than happy to welcome aboard. We get the most taxing and least rewarding team challenge of the season. There's a thief in the house as another chapter in the saga of Sam Hoger unfolds. And, to top it off, we get an absolutely wild fight to see who advances to the semi-finals. Want more from the hosts? - A...

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...