Our summer event begins! “Bogdanofilms & PJ Parties” opens with a bang: a Peter Bogdanovich coming-of-age flick so revered, it could be argued the filmmaker was never able to top it - and it was right at the beginning of his career. But is the Tomatometer too easily impressed by THE LAST PICTURE SHOW? Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to figure out what this meandering black & white tale is trying to say, and as they try to reconcile how young Jeff Bridges and today’s Jeff Bridges sound pretty much the same.

MAD HEIDI is a crowdfunded indie production, so of course we are bound to support it on at least some level. But the question is, does it work for us as a movie? Or are we just more enamored with the idea of such a wacky film coming about from a grassroots effort? We’ll say this: one Contrarian is more in sync with Swissplotation than the other. Listen to this Real Talk segment to find out who it is!

Apparently, at some point in the past few years, society decided it was okay to pick on lactose intolerant people. How else can you explain the unexpected success of MAD HEIDI, a Swiss schlockfest that spends its runtime making jokes about cheese and making fun of anyone who can’t drink a glass of whole milk? Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to make sense of Switzerland’s attempt to play with the big boys! Wonder aloud if Casper Van Dien is enough to make a movie watchable! Get real sick of cheese humor!

Not being a Quentin Tarantino movie isn’t a mortal sin, and there’s a wide range of quality when it comes to Tarantino wannabes anyway - not that we’re sure THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD is trying to be one. But if you remove the QT factor (or lack thereof), how does this Andy Garcia vehicle come across? Can 90s nostalgia work wonders in our cynical hearts? Do we find its end-of-the-millennium mannerisms charming or insufferable? The answers lie in this Real Talk segment!

Pity any gangster movie that came out in the post-Pulp-Fiction 90s. THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU’RE DEAD couldn’t escape the comparisons to beloved Tarantino fare, and critics decided that was enough to turn their backs on Andy Garcia and his band of chatty criminals. Listen to Alex & Julio as they go to bat for Scott Rosenberg’s tale of redemption and acceptance of your inevitable doom. Boat drinks, on the house!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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 yeah, and happy 200th to us!