The Contrarians

Okay, Ari Aster. This is where we give you a fair shake. It’s been established throughout the run of this show that neither Alex nor Julio care for Hereditary or Midsommar. But this Real Talk segment forces The Contrarians to articulate their feelings beyond snarky jokes, and consider that maybe they haven’t been giving Mr. Aster and his fans enough credit. Could it be? Was Contrarians Corner one of our most deceiving performances? Listen and find out!

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00:00:56 Now on Patreon

00:11:01 Real Talk

00:56:20 The Future & Perennial Plugs

- In...

To hear critics tell it, Ari Aster reimagined the horror genre with HEREDITARY, his Tomatometer fresh debut. It doesn’t matter that the movie abandons its exploration of grief halfway through its runtime, and it doesn’t matter that the third act requires a character to drop a phonebook’s worth of exposition for it to make sense. Sometimes, people just fall hard for something new. Listen to Alex & Julio pick apart the most harrowing Toni Collette vehicle: the rise of Paimon!

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00:01:24 Hereditary

00:13:32 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really...

While Alex dropped little bits of pro wrestling trivia during Contrarians Corner, he saved all the heavy stuff for the second half of the episode. Is it possible to enjoy a mainstream biopic when you are quite familiar with the subject being explored? Is it a blessing in disguise to be ignorant of Saraya’s real life journey while watching Fighting With My Family? Can The Rock’s pet project co-exist with grimmer fare that doesn’t portray wrestling through rose-tinted glasses? All this and more in this Real Talk segment!

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00:00:58 Now on Patreon

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Leave it to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to take Saraya “Paige” Bevis’ story and make it all about himself. FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY celebrates how cool The Rock thinks he is while also trying to portray pro wrestling as the most wholesome sport in the world. The problem? We’ve already watched movies like The Wrestler and The Iron Claw, which pulled back the curtain and exposed the lack of fairy tale endings in this world. Listen to Alex & Julio as they pick apart this shockingly celebrated piece of WWE propaganda!

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00:02:10 Fighting With My Family

Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise that Quentin Tarantino was forced to split KILL BILL in two, since it’s hard to imagine both volumes holding together as a single movie - and some would argue they barely hold together as a two-parter. Is that an actual concern when it comes to appreciating Volume 2? Alex, Julio, and Chas have different experiences (with overlaps) when it comes to the second half of The Bride’s journey, and you get to hear all about them here. Who likes Esteban? Who hates Esteban? The answers lie in this Real Talk segment! Oh yea...

It took us almost ten years to make it to 200 (numbered) episodes. It feels like it took The Bride almost as long to finally get to Bill. KILL BILL VOLUME 2 presents Tarantino fans with a conundrum: if you liked Volume 1, you’re out of luck because this one is nothing like it. And if you liked Tarantino’s more “traditional” work, this isn’t as good as his first three movies. But it’s still fresh on the Tomatometer, so it’s time to nitpick it to death! Listen to Alex & Julio, joined once again by Draft Zero’s Chas Fisher, as...

It’s quite a different experience, appreciating KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 as the most recent Quentin Tarantino outing, versus watching it as the fourth of nine movies in his filmography. Has time and an expanded context softened Alex’s stance when it comes to The Bride’s adventures? Has Julio been overrating the first Kill Bill for almost twenty years? Has Chas’ unexpected clash with Tarantino over his writing in Volume 1 soured his take on the movie? Listen to Real Talk to find out!

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00:00:52 Now on Patreon

00:10:45 Real Talk

00:57:09 The Future & Perennia...

The fourth film from Quentin Tarantino was a left turn in a career that so far had given us verbose bank robbers, verbose gangsters, and verbose, um, flight attendants turned money launderers? QT zigged by giving us wall-to-wall soulless Uma Thurman action in a homage to the kung-fu movies he watched instead of going to film school. Critics loved it, not caring that it didn’t even have a proper ending. Listen to Alex & Julio, joined by Chas Fisher from Draft Zero, as they give The Contrarians Treatment to KILL BILL: VOLUME 1!

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00:01:23 Kill Bill: Vo...

Well, this episode features two hardcore FRIDAY THE 13TH fans and someone who doesn’t even care for horror movies most of the time. Get ready for some contention now that we are in the Real Talk part of the show! How does each of us react to the idea that maybe the 2009 Jason Voorhees adventure was aimed at potential new fans, so old fans need to calm down? Can we at least agree that Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki and The Flash’s Danielle Panabaker are watchable? Can we at least love Chewie? Listen and find out!

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Can you believe it’s been 15 years since the last FRIDAY THE 13TH theatrical release? Apparently, critics and audiences had issues with an installment of the franchise that actually took itself seriously. Listen to Alex & Julio, joined by Stew from the Stew World Order podcast, as they re-evaluate the battle between Sam Winchester and Jason Voorhees, and praise the much-needed polish of this 26% Tomatometer victim.

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00:01:24 Friday The 13th 2009

00:15:33 Contrarians Corner

- Wanna know how we really feel about FRIDAY THE 13TH 2009? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your fe...