Some critics say THE APARTMENT hasn’t aged particularly well. Is it the lighthearted depiction of infidelity, the sudden shift into very dramatic circumstances, the patriarchal happy ending, or something else? We discuss that in this Real Talk segment, as well as our ongoing efforts to figure out Billy Wilder as a filmmaker.
Also: a special announcement about an upcoming new project!

Let’s travel back to the 50s, when men cheated on their wives like it was a competition and the one dude who enabled them was considered a hero. Billy Wilder’s THE APARTMENT sports a towering 93% score in the Tomatometer, so it clearly needs to be taken down a peg. Listen to Alex & Julio as they discuss the logistics of turning your bachelor pad into a cheap motel, and wonder if Jack Lemmon was ever a teen heartthrob!

Will Alex be able to look past his unabashed adoration for The Exorcist so he can embrace a sillier exorcism movie? Will THE POPE’S EXORCIST be part of that rare group of horror flicks Julio can enjoy? More importantly: are you aware of Russell Crowe’s Wrestlemania connection? All this and more in this Real Talk segment!

Russell Crowe has reached the delightful stage of his career where he’s just having fun. No longer burdened with the responsibility of being a hunky leading man, Crowe has played a schlocky Mr. Hyde, a campy Zeus, and now, a lighthearted exorcist. Love it. Unfortunately, THE POPE’S EXORCIST met with lukewarm critical reception, which means is up to The Contrarians to sing its praises. Listen to Alex & Julio make the strongest case for a POPE’S EXORCIST sequel!

It’s taken close to ten years for MOANA to get a sequel - an uncommon length of time for a movie so successful. Does it hold up as we prepare for the further adventures of Moana and Maui? Even better: does it live up to the hype for someone who had never seen it before? And what are the odds that The Rock dresses up as Maui on his next wrestling match? The answers to this (and more!) lie in this Real Talk segment.

Every now and then, Disney likes to apply its Disney Template to other cultures in an effort to diversify the way it makes trillions of dollars. As the release of Moana 2 looms in our immediate future, it may be a good time to revisit the original MOANA and try to figure out why critics keep falling for the same tricks over and over. Listen to Alex and Julio as they try to figure out if the novelty of an animated Dwayne Johnson is all this movie has going for it!

It wasn’t that long ago that we praised Steven Spielberg’s gritty take on the war genre. Does Clint Eastwood’s similar approach to Westerns manage to capture our interest the same way? UNFORGIVEN is just as celebrated as Saving Private Ryan, but you could argue we have less of a connection to its origin and its stars. So do we find anything transcendent in Eastwood’s most acclaimed cowboy adventure? It’s all in this Real Talk segment!

Props where props are due: back in 1992, Clint Eastwood figured out a way to turn his status as an aging cowboy into an asset. UNFORGIVEN may be an unremarkable Western, but Clint managed to trick critics and audiences into buying it as an exploration of the first half of his career - successfully fueling the second half. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to determine if this movie has anything to say beyond “Eastwood is still a badass”!

This one’s for the fans. And for us, honestly. It’s been ten years since we sat down to record the first episode of The Contrarians, and the journey has been fun, rewarding, and well-worth celebrating. So allow us to be more than a little self-indulgent as we stroll down memory lane, go over some of the show’s milestones and listen to messages from our friends and patrons!

In a Contrarians year dominated by Peter Bogdanovich and PJ Hogan, will their filmographies take over our annual awards ceremony? The only way for you to find out is to listen to The Embries 2024, as we celebrate the last twelve months of Contrarians awesomeness by giving away Embries, Hooeys, Ruffalos, Gads, and The Lancaster Dodd Grant!