91 - A Nightmare on Elm St. (1984)

Let’s be honest: what self-respecting adult could possibly find Freddy Kruger (the 1984 version) scary? More importantly, what self-respecting movie watcher could argue A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (original recipe) is a good film? Alex and Julio start The Autumn of the Remakes by tackling a so-called classic, the horror flick that gave us a liquified Johnny Depp, a flaky Robert Englund, and a collection of genre clichés that somehow earned a 94% on the Tomatometer. It’s almost like its only merit is that it would eventually give us an awesome remake.

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90 - Never Been Kissed (and OUATIH)

Millennial Queen Drew Barrymore had some questionable adventures in the 90s, but her most controversial outing is probably the one where she pretends to be a teenager and an adult teacher falls for her. Adorable romance or disturbing lack of boundaries? It’s The Contrarians’ ninth Grey Area Episode, which means Alex and Julio will battle it out to decide what the Tomatometer couldn’t: Is NEVER BEEN KISSED good or bad?

Also: a lengthy spoilerific talk about ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD in the last 30 minutes of the episode. You’ve been warned!

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Bonus! - Passengers

It’s been a while since the show has tackled a love story as epic and inspirational as that of J-Law and C-Pratt in the holiday delight PASSENGERS. In this bonus episode, Alex and Julio are joined by first time guest Jordan Manse in order to unpack the twists and turns in this space adventure from the same guy who wrote PROMETHEUS! (not Lindelof, the one you didn’t hear about) How many genres can you jam-pack in one single film? How great does your movie have to be to warrant a 5-second cameo from Andy Garcia? And wouldn’t you forgive anything from someone who looks like Starlord, even if you looked like Katniss?

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89 - Wild Hogs

We end our Summer Road Trip by welcoming back the star of our last Summer adventure. In 2007, John Travolta recruited Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H Macy for a cross-country motorcycle trip and all of America got to tag along in WILD HOGS! Listen to Alex and Julio admire the movie’s brave examination of emasculation, its ingenious pairing of Marissa Tomei with the least likely biker and its generous offering of a Hall of Fame Villain Role to Ray Liotta!

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88 - Almost Famous

On our way to the fourth stop in The Contrarians Summer Road Trip, we picked up a hitchhiker. Kinsey Jones returns to the show and joins Alex and Julio in analyzing the blandest, least insightful rock ‘n roll movie of all time! Why do people love ALMOST FAMOUS? Why did Cameron Crowe put his sort-of biopic on the shoulders of the black hole of charisma that is Patrick Fugit? And who let Jimmy Fallon in? All this plus: Alex finally comes to terms with Kate Hudson’s Oscar nomination!

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87 - Crossroads (2002)

The third stop in The Contrarians Summer Road Trip takes us back to that time critics prevented Britney Spears from becoming a bona fide movie star! Not even the combined powers of Shonda Rhimes, Gamora and Pensatucky could help Britney overcome The Patriarchy and we are all the poorer for it. Listen to Alex and Julio as they discuss Dan Ackroyd’s niche as a single parent, Captain Pike’s pre-Starfleet career as a hunk, and, of course, the awe-inspiring experience that is seeing The Queen of Pop perform. It’s Tamra Davis’ CROSSROADS!

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86 - Little Miss Sunshine

The second stop in The Contrarians Summer Road Trip is a movie that celebrates quite possibly the worst parenting in the world. Listen to Alex and Julio as they try to figure out what’s more harmful to Abigail Breslin in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: a creepy Child Beauty Pageant or her toxic family! Is it okay for Greg Kinnear to be absolved from his sins just for doing a silly dance at the end? Does anyone buy that Miss California actually eats ice cream? And why is Toni Collette still together with her monster of a husband?

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Bonus! - Why Do I Own This?

Movie lovers know movie collections tend to grow out of control and sometimes you find yourself staring at your dvd/blu-ray shelves and wondering how some of that stuff got there. We interrupt The Contrarians Road Trip with a brief pit stop in which Alex and Julio pick the oddest movies in their respective collections and ask themselves “Why do I own this?” The answers will NOT shock you but they WILL entertain you!

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84 - Aladdin (1992)

Filled with more plotholes than a David Lynch movie and featuring a Robin Williams performance that’s so over the top your kids will be driving you crazy quoting it for months, Disney’s original ALADDIN fails at recognizing Jaffar as its true hero. If only that was its only problem. Listen to Alex and Julio deconstruct the flimsiest story ever released by That Company Which Owns Everything and cross your fingers that Guy Ritchie’s live-action remake finally gets it right!

Also: stick around after the end credits for an unexpected super long digression about the aforementioned remake, Alex’s feelings about the film industry, Julio’s feelings about Game of Thrones and online toxicity and my god, we went on for 18 minutes. That’s why it’s stuck at the very end of the episode.

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