The Contrarians

The 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 entangles him with… a Tilda Swinton character. PROBLEMISTA is written and directed by Julio Torres, the mind behind the Papyrus skit on SNL, so that should tell you everything you need to know.

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have...

You 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 to be? And if we are positive about it, do we need to justify why we are harsher on more polished films? We discuss that and more on this Real Talk segment!

Imagine 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 out. But TRANCERS doesn’t coast purely on hubris and riffs on better sci-fi movies - it also features a young Helen Hunt doing her best to make an impression and graduate to better films. Is that why Trancers is better on the Tomatometer? Listen to Alex & Julio try to figure out!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Trancers

00:11:33 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we real...

You’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 decades… but that didn’t turn out to be the case with ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL. Its devoted audience is still holding out hope for a sequel, and who knows, we may get one someday, when Cameron tires of Pandora. But until then, all we can do is try to figure out what went wrong. Let’s do that in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Berserker

00:0...

From 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 Rodriguez, play with the kind of tech that makes Cameron flicks so visually impressive. So poor Alita had to settle for a direct-to-video Temu Pixar aesthetic and relied on the passionate fanbase from its manga origins to crawl to a fresh Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they wonder when Christoph Waltz became a cuddly old man!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Alita: Battle Angel

The 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 biopic from Pablo Larrain, the man who brought us Jackie, Spencer, and now… EL CONDE.

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entries in the series, let us know!

Many thanks to the amazing Jordan Cooper for...

Is 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 Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey co-exist? This super-sized Real Talk segment explores our feelings about Petersen’s epic AND also features a chat about Nolan’s smash-hit!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Careful, boy

00:02:19 Real Talk

00:45:16 The Odyssey

01:28:08 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from...

Odyssey-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 can we not appreciate the lost art of hot men trying to kill each other today? While Nolan’s movie is all about Odysseus running away from fights, Wolfgang Petersen’s adaptation of The Iliad is about Brad Pitt kicking butt and taking names. Listen to Alex & Julio geek out the way Homer intended!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Troy

00:12:53 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna...

Our 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 discussed in a bonus interview we dropped right before this episode (check it out, lots of fun) but there is a lot more to unpack about THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. For example: did we actually like it? Listen to this Real Talk segment to find out!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 $40 Million

00:02:21 Real Talk

00:52:25 The Future & Patreon Stuff

Man, 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 OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, a Welles’ joint he didn’t even get to finish, was received with pure adoration by critics even though it’s basically just a pretentious improv session from Orson and his buddies. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to focus on the unexpected return of Peter Bogdanovich to the main feed, and close the Bedroom to Box Office...

Gary 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 Treatment, here’s a special treat for all of you: an interview with Adam Graver, one of Gary’s nephews.

And yes, Gary Graver is the final adult movie industry connection in our Bedroom to Box Office Summer Event!

Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from the Tomatometer shackles… It’s everything a Contrari...

The 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 Fukunaga, who would go on to depict another harrowing journey in Beasts of No Nation. This is his writing/directing debut, a chase movie called SIN NOMBRE.

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future en...

We 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 agree that they’re all great… until now? Will INHERENT VICE split Alex and Julio apart? And let’s not forget this is still part of our Bedroom to Box Office Summer Event, so who’s the secret adult movie star? The answers lie within this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Motto panukeiku!

00:02:25 Real Talk

00:54:54 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interest...

There 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 do his version of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. And so INHERENT VICE was born, and it was branded with a fresh Tomatometer score, and PTA got to be silly again, forsaking narrative clarity in the process. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to follow Doc Sportello’s investigation and lament the waste of an interesting supporting cast!

TIMELINE

0...

Steven 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 fact that it’s basically impossible to stream online? Does the movie have anything to say about escorts? About America? Or is Soderbergh just having fun in between mainstream projects? All this and more in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Awkward Departure

00:02:08 Real Talk

00:59:15 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patr...

2009 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 aesthetic choice when your protagonist is played by Sasha Grey. But there’s also running bits about the pre-Obama recession and lots of Bourne-cam, so critics were positive enough about the film to make it fresh on the Tomatometer. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to make chronological sense of Sasha’s adventures and wonder if Barry O. ever watched this in the White House screening room.

TIME...

The eleventh installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists forces us to confront what happens when hateful ideologies spread to children, and features Taika Waititi prancing around as an imaginary Hitler. It’s JOJO RABBIT!

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entries in the series, let us know!

Many thanks to the amazing Jordan Cooper for composing our intro and outro. Fantastic coll...

You’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. Not quite. This one’s very much not for us, so we may end up with more questions than usual - which doesn’t mean it isn’t a good talk. Just don’t expect us to “get it”.

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Kermode on Romance

00:01:56 Real Talk

00:51:57 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on...

Foreplay 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, but real film buffs think of Catherine Breillat’s ROMANCE - an underappreciated sexual drama that deserves more than its rotten 49% Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they navigate the treacherous waters surrounding the most explicit movie they’ve covered in a long time!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Romance

00:13:58 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel about ROMANCE? Check out the Real Talk (RT...

Well, 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 RUNNING MAN in Contrarians Canon. The better version too (not that Edgar Wright’s take offered much competition.) So why did Arnie’s failed to connect with the world the way his other 1987 movie, Predator, did? We have theories. Listen to them in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 The One With The Boat

00:01:59 Real Talk

00:52:22 The...

We 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 ready for Arnie in full wisecracking mode though, and Paul Glaser’s 1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s THE RUNNING MAN is branded with a rotten 59% Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they welcome a cavalcade of favorite performers back to the show and luxuriate in 80s nostalgia!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 The Running Man (1987)

00:14:25 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we rea...

The tenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to the Gangoli family - first generation Indian immigrants to America. Familiar faces Irrfan Khan and Tabu play the parents, but the big marketing angle was Kal Penn’s dramatic turn as their son, he of the multiple names throughout the movie. THE NAMESAKE, based on a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, directed by Mira Nair, was certainly an important step in Penn branching out from his Harold and Kumar persona, but it’s also a gentle, heartfelt portrayal of what it’s like to have two homelands.

Thank...

How 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 the director’s filmography, or should we all push for a 52 PICK-UP re-evaluation? This and more in this Real Talk segment - including a roll call of all the adult performers in the infamous party sequence!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Second Feature

00:02:23 Real Talk

00:53:27 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, exte...

The 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. Sadly, 52 PICK-UP was too sleazy for critics and not even the Elmore Leonard connection or having Roy Scheider as its star saved it from a rotten Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they welcome the man behind Reindeer Games back to the show with another banger!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 52 Pick-Up

00:08:34 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel...

The 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 to connect to that theme when it’s carried by a movie that plays like a parody of the director’s body-horror obsessions. But how does Marilyn Chambers do, regardless of the film’s shortcomings? Listen to this Real Talk segment and find out!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Get out of there!!!!

00:02:25 Real Talk

00:56:33 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- I...

Our 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 patient zero using an armpit-stinger to infect other people must have blown critics’ minds back in the 70s, leading to a fresh 78% Tomatometer score. To us? It’s basic, uninspired Cronenberg. Listen to Alex & Julio as they analyze this awkward takedown of plastic surgery culture!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Rabid (1977)

00:12:42 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel about RABID (1977)? Check out the Real Talk...

As 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 four travel back to 2012 for Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, the conversation takes some wild, and some very expected, turns.

The perfect appetizer for Saturday's Netflix MMA event is here. Grab a drink and join the boys for an (semi)action-packed jaunt!

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free...

The 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 have been written yesterday! Although you could argue Robert DeNiro, Anne Heche, and Dustin Hoffman are waaaaaay more competent than the crooks we get in the real world…

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entr...

It’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 Mason Gamble as Dennis, holding his own against them. And it’s directed by Nick Castle, the original Michael Myers? We can all agree it’s an artifact of interest at least. But is it a good movie too, or does it only work if you let nostalgia for the 90s (and perhaps your own childhood) overwhelm you?

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Only been around for five years

We’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 brutal takedown of bad parenting and the crux carried by the community that has to deal with a spoiled kid. With a 28% on the Tomatometer, this Walter Matthau vehicle (no, he doesn’t play Dennis) is screaming for a Contrarians defense! So listen to Alex & Julio as they celebrate the return of Lea Thompson to the show and commiserate for the unfairly reviled...

Like 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 genre, even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel the way some of the critical acclaim proclaims. Does it matter if you have a good time? And can you have a good time if you are very much over some of the tropes the movie embraces? Let’s find out in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 The arms are nice

00:02:24 Real Talk

00:44:02 The Futu...

When 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, critics are so starved for romcoms that the super quirky romance between David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah received an impressive 98% score on the Tomatometer. How could we resist? Listen to Alex & Julio grind their teeth and make their way through the British equivalent of a Zooey Deschanel vehicle.

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Rye Lane

00:14:25 Contrarians Corner

...

Eight 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 articulate, always passionate, Jason from Binge Movies (and also The Slashers) - a very smart friend of the show who partially inspired this FIRF venture. Listen as Alex, Julio, and Jason talk about the eight films covered on FIRF since July 2025, rank them, and give them made-up awards!

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or s...

Not 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 really sync with what SILENT RUNNING is trying to do, with its slow pace, and in-your-face ecological activism? Find out in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 Nobody cares

00:02:17 Real Talk

00:38:34 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from...

It’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 uncanny-valley-esque experience of watching a young Bruce Dern mugging the camera non-stop. Critics - and the Tomatometer - didn’t care though, and Douglas Trumbull’s directorial debut got a suspiciously fresh score. Listen to Alex & Julio try to figure out why this 90-minute movie feels like it’s three hours long!

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Silent Running

00:17:11 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna kn...

Who 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 it can be to see people enjoying a decadent feast. But is there more to Tucci and Scott’s comedy? Can we get in sync with the movie’s open ending? Find out in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 We were dying

00:02:09 Real Talk

00:50:36 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONT...

You 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 score despite featuring a problematic Italian impersonation from Brit granddaddy Ian Holm and lots and lots of food porn B-roll. Listen to Alex & Julio as they pick apart this overcooked timpano from co-directors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott?

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Big Night

00:10:58 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel about BIG NIGHT? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on y...

The 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 deal. Yes, old chums, we are going to the cabaret - Bob Fosse’s CABARET, specifically. It will be distressing, and eerily familiar, but at least we’ll have songs.

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have a...

That 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 well-respected 70s thriller. How did it play to a couple of present-day film fans, and were Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier able to steal the show back from a super-cool post-Jaws Roy Scheider? That and more in this Real Talk segment!

TIMELINE

00:01:26 It’s over

00:01:58 Real Talk

00:54:32 The Future & Patreon Stuff

- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join T...

What 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 enough to warrant a fresh 82% Tomatometer score? Listen to Alex & Julio as they lament that Roy Scheider is relegated to back-up status in this convoluted thriller - and wonder why bad dentistry was the worst Lawrence Olivier could come up with as an evil superpower.

TIMELINE

00:01:24 Marathon Man

00:13:01 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel about MARATHON MAN...