The Contrarians

The fifteenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists takes us to a dystopian United Kingdom where a mystery man in a funny mask may kickstart a revolution. It’s the 2005 film adaptation of Alan Moore’s V FOR VENDETTA! Also, you may have heard that the MAGA party got obliterated in the recent US midterms, so of course we open with a mini-celebration of a mostly-blue United States of America.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!- 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!

Twelve years of Contrarians goodness means it’s time to hand out awards again - and we are including the FIRF entries in this year’s line-up too! Listen as we hand out Embries, Hooeys, Ruffalos, Gads, and The Lancaster Dodd Grant for the Development of White People Movies!TIMELINE00:01:24 The Embries 202600:13:42 Supporting Actress00:25:45 Supporting Actor00:40:44 The Ruffalo00:47:49 The Lancaster Dodd Grant00:58:47 Lead Actor01:17:34 Lead Actress01:38:04 The Gad01:46:44 The Hooey01:52:00 The Embry- 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 begin Year Thirteen with a new FIRF entry, as we tackle the film adaptation of Alan Moore’s V FOR VENDETTA! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of this edition of The Embries: were your favorites appropriately rewarded? Did you feel there were notable snubs? How many of the eligible movies had you seen? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

It’s a tough spot, living in the shadow of the Scream franchise and, specifically, living in the shadow of Sydney Prescott. Not that Jennifer Love Hewitt didn’t do well by herself as a movie & TV star, but the Last Summer films do tend to get lost amid other 90s slashers. So how does I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER fare when it’s judged on its own merits - if that’s even possible? Listen to this Real Talk segment to find out!TIMELINE00:02:21 Rio00:03:14 Real Talk00:49:38 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, it’s time to celebrate another year of Contrarians goodness with our EMBRIES 2026 ceremony! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer: is it a worthy successor to the original Last Summer movie? Should Jennifer Love Hewitt have gone on to become a bigger horror icon? Would the movie be better if Freddie Prinze Jr. was around for the whole adventure? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

The best thing Scream did was start a rebirth of slasher movies. The worst thing Scream did was initiate a slasher market saturation - a saturation which is probably to blame for the poor critical reception I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER suffered. Listen to Alex & Julio as they do their best to vindicate an underrated sequel with as many musical numbers as killers in its story! Welcome back Jennifer Love Hewitt!TIMELINE00:02:19 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer00:17:45 Contrarians Corner- Wanna know how we really feel about I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER? 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!

The Livestream for the Cure is back for their tenth installment and we will be participating with a two-hour block on Saturday, October 24th, from 1pm to 3pm CST. Join us and help us raise money for cancer research! There will be movie talk, re-enactments of scenes from the X-Men franchise, special appearances by Zoë and Jordan, and a lot more!Check out www.livestreamforthecure.com for all the links. We’ll see you this Saturday!

The fourteenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to Alejandro, a young immigrant from El Salvador in dire need of an American sponsor - a path that entangles him with… a Tilda Swinton character. PROBLEMISTA is written and directed by Julio Torres, the mind behind the Papyrus skit on SNL, so that should tell you everything you need to know.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!- 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 really get a lot of leeway when your movie is 75 minutes long - and when its leads have the chops and chemistry to carry a feature. TRANCERS isn’t high art, but does it need to be? And if we are positive about it, do we need to justify why we are harsher on more polished films? We discuss that and more on this Real Talk segment!TIMELINE00:01:25 That’s swell00:02:20 Real Talk00:42:46 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 present day New York where a Salvadorean immigrant pursues his dream of working at Hasbro, in Julio Torres’ PROBLEMISTA! And the episode after that will tackle the unpopular horror sequel I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER! In the meantime, let us know what you thought of Trancers: are you intrigued enough to check out the sequels, or would you rather not risk sullying the memory of the original? Would you at least consider watching more Tim Thomerson movies? What’s Helen Hunt up to these days anyway? E-mail us at [email protected] or share your thoughts with us on Threads or BlueSky!

Imagine the hubris necessary to release a movie about a time-traveling hero sent back to the 80s to protect someone from a futuristic killer… the same year The Terminator came out. But TRANCERS doesn’t coast purely on hubris and riffs on better sci-fi movies - it also features a young Helen Hunt doing her best to make an impression and graduate to better films. Is that why Trancers is better on the Tomatometer? Listen to Alex & Julio try to figure out!TIMELINE00:01:24 Trancers00:11:33 Contrarians Corner- Wanna know how we really feel about TRANCERS? 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!

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!TIMELINE00:01:26 Berserker00:02:26 Real Talk00:45:23 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!TIMELINE00:01:26 Alita: Battle Angel00:11:53 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!