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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 00:02:26 Real Talk 00:45:23 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 the Tomatometer shackles… It’s everything a Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, we go back to The 80s, both through the magic of movies AND through the magic of time travel in the sci-fi cult classic TRANCERS! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of Alita Battle Angel: Is it an accurate representation of the manga that inspired it? Would you watch a sequel or would you rather they rebooted the whole thing? Is there a better aesthetic approach they could take? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

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 00:11:53 Contrarians Corner - Wanna know how we really feel about ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed) - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Post-Credits and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 composing our intro and outro. Fantastic collaborator to work with - and he has a They Might Be Giants podcast: DON’T LET’S START. You can also check out Jordan’s band TROUBLE’S AFOOT on Bandcamp! - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 the Tomatometer shackles… It’s everything a Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, our FIRF journey takes us to Chile, where an infamous dictator is revealed to be a supernatural creature in EL CONDE! And the episode after that will tackle the unlikely Jim Cameron / Robert Rodriguez team-up, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of The Other Side of the Wind: Is it even remotely interested in appealing to a casual viewer? Would it have been better to let the mystery of the final Welles movie go on forever? Will this ever play at midnight screenings anywhere? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

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 know how we really feel about TROY? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed) - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, we do our best to capitalize on current Greek mythology enthusiasm by tackling Wolfgang Petersen’s TROY! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of The Other Side of the Wind: Is it even remotely interested in appealing to a casual viewer? Would it have been better to let the mystery of the final Welles movie go on forever? Will this ever play at midnight screenings anywhere? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

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 Summer Event in style! TIMELINE 00:01:24 The Other Side of the Wind 00:14:55 Contrarians Corner - Wanna know how we really feel about THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed) - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 entries in the series, let us know! Many thanks to the amazing Jordan Cooper for composing our intro and outro. Fantastic collaborator to work with - and he has a They Might Be Giants podcast: DON’T LET’S START. You can also check out Jordan’s band TROUBLE’S AFOOT on Bandcamp! - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, our FIRF journey takes us to Cary Fukunaga’s directorial debut, the immigrant thriller SIN NOMBRE! Then the Bedroom to Box Office saga culminates as we tackle Orson Welles’ long-lost Netflix-rescued film THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of Inherent Vice: Is it Temu Lebowski? Can you confidently say you can follow the plot on a first-time watch? How does it compare to the book? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

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 00:01:24 Inherent Vice 00:12:08 Contrarians Corner - Wanna know how we really feel about INHERENT VICE? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed) - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from the Tomatometer shackles… It’s everything a Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, a recording Julio has dreaded and Alex has anticipated for several years, as we tackle Paul Thomas’ Anderson’s INHERENT VICE! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of The Girlfriend Experience: Did you catch it upon its initial release because you were following Sasha Grey’s career? Have you watched the TV adaptation? Is it too soon to be nostalgic for 2008? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

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. TIMELINE 00:01:24 The Girlfriend Experience 00:12:31 Contrarians Corner - Wanna know how we really feel about THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed) - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 collaborator to work with - and he has a They Might Be Giants podcast: DON’T LET’S START. You can also check out Jordan’s band TROUBLE’S AFOOT on Bandcamp! - 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 Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

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 our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from the Tomatometer shackles… It’s everything a Contrarians devotee would want! - Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos! - Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that’s emblazoned with one of our four different designs! - THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website. - Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel. - THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn’t just a show about wrestling: it’s a brand, a lifestyle. And they’re very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we’d like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time. - Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at [email protected] in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he’s written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it! Up next, our FIRF journey takes us to a recent awards darling, Taika Waititi’s JOJO RABBIT! Then the Bedroom to Box Office saga continues as Sasha Grey teams up with Steven Soderbergh in THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of Romance: Did they really kill that kitty? Is Ebert’s review more insightful than the movie itself? Are the nuances of the dialogue getting lost in translation? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!