About this podcast
Hosts Alex and Julio take on popular opinion, trashing movies everyone loves and praising movies everyone hates. Visit their website at www.wearethecontrarians.com
Episodes
The newest 50 of 300 episodes
- Bonus - The Embries 2026! · 2 h 0 minTwelve years of Contrarians goodness means it’s time to hand out awards again - and we are including the FIRF entries in this year’s line-up too! Listen as we hand out Embries…
- 277 - Pt. 2 - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (RT) · 58 minIt’s a tough spot, living in the shadow of the Scream franchise and, specifically, living in the shadow of Sydney Prescott. Not that Jennifer Love Hewitt didn’t do well by…
- 277 - Pt. 1 - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (CC) · 56 minThe best thing Scream did was start a rebirth of slasher movies. The worst thing Scream did was initiate a slasher market saturation - a saturation which is probably to blame for…
- Livestream for the Cure X! · 5 minThe Livestream for the Cure is back for their tenth installment and we will be participating with a two-hour block on Saturday, October 24th, from 1pm to 3pm CST. Join us and…
- FIRF #14 - Problemista · 57 minThe fourteenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to Alejandro, a young immigrant from El Salvador in dire need of an American sponsor - a path that…
- 276 - Pt. 2 - Trancers (RT) · 47 minYou really get a lot of leeway when your movie is 75 minutes long - and when its leads have the chops and chemistry to carry a feature. TRANCERS isn’t high art, but does it need…
- 276 - Pt. 1 - Trancers (CC) · 52 minImagine the hubris necessary to release a movie about a time-traveling hero sent back to the 80s to protect someone from a futuristic killer… the same year The Terminator came…
- 275 - Pt. 2 - Alita: Battle Angel (RT) · 50 minYou’d think the joint forces of James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez would produce an unstoppable box office juggernaut - a franchise that would capture the world’s imagination for…
- 275 - Pt. 1 - Alita: Battle Angel (CC) · 50 minFrom James Cameron, they said. From the mind behind Titanic and Avatar, they said. But Jimmy C couldn’t even be bothered to let the actual director of ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, Robert…
- FIRF #13 - El Conde · 54 minThe thirteenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists takes us to Chile, where infamous dictator Augusto Pinochet is revealed to be a vampire. Just another off-kilter…
- 274 - Pt. 2 - Troy AND The Odyssey (RT) · 1 h 31 minIs the world big enough for standard Hollywood blockbuster adaptations of Homer’s work and artsier, brainier takes on the fall of Troy? Can Wolfgang Petersen’s TROY and…
- 274 - Pt. 1 - Troy (CC) · 54 minOdyssey-mania has taken over the world, and it hurts to see so many people have forgotten its unofficial 2004 prequel, TROY. Sure, it wasn’t a big hit with critics back then, but…
- 273 - Pt. 2 - The Other Side of the Wind (RT) · 56 minOur Bedroom to Box Office journey has been a bit of a wild ride so of course the final stop would be Orson Welles’ long lost movie. The adult film industry connection was already…
- 273 - Pt. 1 - The Other Side of the Wind (CC) · 55 minMan, we cut Orson Welles way too much slack. The guy makes Citizen Kane at the beginning of his career, then he gets to coast for the rest of his life - and posthumously too! THE…
- Bonus! - An interview with Adam Graver (Gary Graver's nephew) · 35 minGary Graver was the cinematographer on Orson Welles’ final feature film, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. As a warm-up to our upcoming episode giving that movie the Contrarians…
- FIRF #12 - Sin Nombre · 50 minThe twelfth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists takes us all the way to Honduras for a complicated road trip toward the Mexico/US border - all courtesy of Cary…
- 272 - Pt. 2 - Inherent Vice (RT) · 60 minWe love PTA here at Contrarians HQ. This has been documented all throughout our podcasting journey. We may disagree on specific ranking placement for most of his movies, but we…
- 272 - Pt. 1 - Inherent Vice (CC) · 59 minThere came a time in Paul Thomas Anderson’s career when he decided he wanted to try to be funny again. So he called up Joaquin Phoenix, gave him Irish sideburns, and told him to…
- 271 - Pt. 2 - The Girlfriend Experience (RT) · 1 h 3 minSteven Soderbergh. Sasha Grey. Barack Obama. This thing should write/direct itself, right? So what’s the deal with THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, really, and is there anything to the…
- 271 - Pt. 1 - The Girlfriend Experience (CC) · 59 min2009 Hollywood rolled the dice on Steven Soderbergh and got artsy, experimental Sodes. THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE looks like it was shot on an old iPhone - which is an insane…
- FIRF #11 - Jojo Rabbit · 57 minThe eleventh installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists forces us to confront what happens when hateful ideologies spread to children, and features Taika Waititi prancing…
- 270 - Pt. 2 - Romance (RT) · 59 minYou’d think that after spending an hour trying to be funny about ROMANCE for Contrarians Corner, having an honest conversation about the movie for Real Talk would be much easier…
- 270 - Pt. 1 - Romance (CC) · 49 minForeplay is over, as Bedroom to Box Office goes full-artsy, full-French, full-frontal. Most people think of movies like The Matrix and The Phantom Menace when they think of 1999…
- 269 - Pt. 2 - The Running Man - 1987 (RT) · 59 minWell, Alex stretched the B2B gimmick pretty thin for this episode - no, Kurt Fuller did not star in an adult film early in his career - but the important thing is we got THE…
- 269 - Pt. 1 - The Running Man - 1987 (CC) · 59 minWe like Glen Powell as much as the next film fan, but let’s get real. There’s only one Running Man, and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Critics and audiences weren’t quite…
- FIRF #10 - The Namesake · 1 h 8 minThe tenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to the Gangoli family - first generation Indian immigrants to America. Familiar faces Irrfan Khan and…
- 268 - Pt. 2 - 52 Pick-Up (RT) · 60 minHow much sleaziness is too much sleaziness? Is Elmore Leonard’s 52 PICK-UP as nasty as its John Frankenheimer adaptation? Does the movie deserve its somewhat forgotten status in…
- 268 - Pt. 1 - 52 Pick-Up (CC) · 48 minThe second chapter of B2B - Bedroom to Box Office - brings us a gaggle of porn stars smack dab in the middle of a mean, nasty, supremely entertaining John Frankenheimer joint…
- 267 - Pt. 2 - Rabid - 1977 (RT) · 1 h 1 minThe real surprise when it comes to RABID is that Cronenberg meant it to be about the dangers of mishandling an epidemic. As much as we can all relate to that, it can be difficult…
- 267 - Pt. 1 - Rabid - 1977 (CC) · 56 minOur Bedroom to Box Office Summer Event begins with David Cronenberg’s sophomore effort, RABID - a horror ditty starring iconic adult movie star Marilyn Chambers. The concept of…
- Bonus! - Haywire Commentary Track · 1 h 43 minAs the long-awaited(?) Ronda Rousey Vs. Gina Carano fight looms, Julio and Alex are, once again, joined by Joe and STEVE(!) to reflect on a fighter crossing over to film. As the…
- FIRF #9 - Wag the Dog · 1 h 3 minThe ninth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists features a presidential sex scandal, and the (fake) war the White House creates to distract from it. WAG THE DOG could…
- 266 - Pt. 2 - Dennis the Menace (RT) · 60 minIt’s hard to think anyone could argue against the cast of this DENNIS THE MENACE adaptation. It’s not just Matthau, Thompson, and Christopher Lloyd doing solid work, but also…
- 266 - Pt. 1 - Dennis the Menace (CC) · 58 minWe’ve been around our fair share of children and we can assure you, there is far worse than poor Dennis out there. That’s not to say that DENNIS THE MENACE doesn’t work as a…
- 265 - Pt. 2 - Rye Lane (RT) · 49 minLike Westerns and Musicals, Romantic Comedies keep being pronounced dead and then fighting their way back into relevance. RYE LANE is certainly a strong effort to revive the…
- 265 - Pt. 1 - Rye Lane (CC) · 49 minWhen you take the concept of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl and you apply it to an entire movie - making a Manic Pixie Dream Film, if you will - you get RYE LANE. And you know what…
- The First FIRFies · 2 h 27 minEight episodes of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists in, it’s time to pause, take a breath, and invite someone to help us recap what we’ve gone through so far. Enter the always…
- 264 - Pt. 2 - Silent Running (RT) · 45 minNot sure “Bruce Dern one-man show” was on our checklist for this Contrarians Year but that was the hand we were dealt on this episode. And yes, the drones are cute, but can we…
- 264 - Pt. 1 - Silent Running (CC) · 54 minIt’s tough out there for old sci-fi movies, as their once-cutting-edge visuals can feel dated and even silly. And then, if you are SILENT RUNNING, you have to also deal with the…
- 263 - Pt. 2 - Big Night (RT) · 54 minWho doesn’t love Italian food, even when it’s surrounded by petty, self-involved men? The case could be made that BIG NIGHT is worth watching just on the strength of how much fun…
- 263 - Pt. 1 - Big Night (CC) · 59 minYou can get away with making a lightweight movie if you appeal to critics’ base instincts - hunger in this case. That’s probably how BIG NIGHT scored a fresh 96% Tomatometer…
- FIRF #8 - Cabaret · 54 minThe eighth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists takes us to 1931 Germany, where a whole lot of people keep telling each other the rise of the Nazi party is not a big…
- 262 - Pt. 2 - Marathon Man (RT) · 59 minThat William Goldman… what a tough writer to pin down, huh? MARATHON MAN never reached the popularity or garnered the reverence some of his other works have, but it’s still a…
- 262 - Pt. 1 - Marathon Man (CC) · 55 minWhat do you know, Dustin Hoffman doesn’t run a single marathon in John Schlesinger’s MARATHON MAN. He does run from Nazis and corrupt American operatives a lot though. Was that…
- 261 - Pt. 2 - Dogfight (RT) · 55 minAll joking aside, it’s a bummer that a movie like DOGFIGHT is not better known and, once we get past our annoyance at younger reviewers engaging with the film on a superficial…
- 261 - Pt. 1 - Dogfight (CC) · 54 minWhat if Dinner for Schmucks was an artsy love story? Yes, that change would suck the fun out of the film, but, in exchange, it would get it some cred with film critics. And…
- Bonus! - The Exorcist V Commentary Track · 1 h 56 minWe were going to originally drop this on Valentine’s Day, but we figured the In the Heights conversation needed an extra holiday in the spotlight. Regardless, here we are, at the…
- FIRF #7 - In the Heights · 1 h 28 minThe seventh installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to a whole host of characters that would get harassed by ICE in today’s America. Writer and friend…
- 260 - Pt. 2 - Serenity (2005) RT · 1 h 0 minIt would be disingenuous to talk about SERENITY without addressing the Whedonesque Elephant in the ship, so to speak. So, yes, this Real Talk segment devotes some time to the…
- 260 - Pt. 1 - Serenity (2005) CC · 53 minThe year was 2005 and Joss Whedon decided to audition for a spot among Big Hollywood Blockbuster Directors. He submitted SERENITY for our collective consideration and it didn’t…
