You’d think the devastating climax of Avengers: Endgame wouldn’t be the best way to set up Peter Parker’s lighthearted romp across Europe, and yet that’s exactly what the MCU deployed as an Endgame follow-up. Critics lapped it up, but real fans know SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is as empty and superficial as Mysterio’s illusions. Listen to Alex & Julio yearn for the days when Spidey had adventures that mattered!

The Contrarians embark on a quest unlike any other as they’re joined by Joe Hulbert and STEVE(!) to host a 20-year retrospective on the ground-breaking reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter.

For Episode 1 of this 14-part journey, we chronicle the history of the UFC heading into 2005 and put into perspective just how much was at stake with this show. We pick our teams and learn about our coaches. 

We also set the table with discussion of the worlds of contemporary film, fashion, and professional wrestling. 

Put on your team jersey, grab a drink, and buckle in because you are going to FEEL IT!

Even if you haven’t seen MAN ON FIRE, you probably have a good idea of whether you’ll like it or not, especially once you learn it was directed by latter-day Tony Scott. It’s Denzel on a revenge rampage across the border! But does that play a little differently 20 years from when it was released? And how does it hold up against other revenge stories we’ve covered on the show? That and more on this Real Talk segment!

There’s no explosion like an explosion Denzel Washington walks away from in slow motion. Tony Scott understood this, audiences in 2004 understood this, but critics did not. And so MAN ON FIRE sits with a shocking 38% Tomatometer score, despite giving us the very first Denzel / Dakota Fanning team-up. Listen to Alex & Julio celebrate another exciting Denzel adventure while trying to ignore the problematic depiction of an apocalyptic Mexico!

We gave it a shot, but it was inevitable to bring up Bone Tomahawk time and again when talking about S. Craig Zahler’s most recent effort. There’s more to this Real Talk segment than unflattering comparisons thought! Gibson’s persona, Vaughnn’s seriousness, and what can we really make of that Jennifer Carpenter sequence? This is how we close 2024!

It took S. Craig Zahler three movies to unleash an anti-woke manifesto on the masses - all wrapped around an attempted Mel Gibson comeback vehicle. It must have looked like a ridiculously bad idea on paper, yet critics loved DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE. Thus, The Contrarians are here to tell you it is, indeed, ridiculously bad. Listen to Alex & Julio as they ponder the meaning of “anchovies”!

We have a wide range of Trek-experience on this episode, and that’s part of what makes this Real Talk segment so special. Both Contrarians and both Yum Yum Podcasters agree it’s a slow movie and we all also agree it’s not the best adventure the Enterprise crew has been in - but at least one of us loves it, and one of us finds it extremely boring. Plus: should this story have ended with Kirk sacrificing himself? Listen to find out!

Long before Star Trek was anchored by young hipsters like Chris Pine and Sonequa Martin Green, it was a franchise that revolved around adults dealing with heady matters. Less shooting, more thinking. Less quips, more philosophical pondering. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE has been underappreciated ever since its debut, even by Trek fans, so it’s time for Alex & Julio - with help from Trek experts Ryan & Rachel, from Yum Yum Pod - to sing its praises!

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!