70 - The Mummy (1999)

How do you feel about a Mummy Movie that features The Sandman more than the expected “man wrapped in bandages”? Do you think Brendan Fraser was an Indiana Jones knock-off or a worthy heir to Harrison Ford’s adventuring roles? Is Stephen Sommers’ movie too dumb to be fun or too fun to be dumb? It’s our seventh Gray Area episode and just as 1999’s THE MUMMY split the Tomatometer, so it has split The Contrarians as well! Julio will be on the offensive and Alex on the defense as they discuss the depiction of Americans as a destructive force, Imhotep’s adorable fear of cats, the allure of sexy librarians and more!

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69 - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

There was a Buffy movie before there was a Buffy TV show, and to say something got lost in the translation is an understatement. Listen to Alex and Julio as they mourn all the cool things the vampire slayer left behind as Joss Whedon sold out to get some sweet small screen money: an effortlessly cool Watcher like Donald Sutherland, actual creepy vampires like Pee Wee Herman and Roy Batty and, oh my god, the hotness of Prime Time Luke Perry. How do you let a 90210 star slip through the fingers of your teenage franchise??? Also: the argument is made that Kristy Swanson was playing a much more complex role than Sarah Michelle Gellar.

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68 - Donnie Brasco

Like a direct-to-video project accidentally getting theatrical release, DONNIE BRASCO rolled into movie theaters as a gangster movie that couldn’t afford proper gangsters. Listen to Alex and Julio as they discuss what happens when Johnny Depp is asked to play a normal person, what happens when Al Pacino tries to imitate Robert DeNiro and what happens when your screenwriter is a little too proud of all those cool mobster words he learned during his research. Also, the role of Nagging Wife will be played by Anne Heche tonight. Enjoy!

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Bonus! - The Travolties

One Travolta, thirteen movies and a whole bunch of made-up awards. It's The Travolties!!!! Listen as Alex and Julio recap The Summer Of Travolta while doling out recognition to the best and the worst of the past four months. Also: a "Where is Travolta now?" segment, the promised "Travolta Taco Bell Menu" and more!

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67 - Be Cool

Is there anything cooler than being meta? Yes: being John Travolta and being meta at the same time. Alex and Julio arrive at the last stop in The Summer of Travolta as they contend with a sequel that wasn't content to be a sequel. BE COOL is a sequel about sequels. And understanding that is what makes the difference between actually being cool and being someone who gave this movie a bad rating in the Tomatometer. Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace get together on the dance floor, for crying out loud! James Woods gets shot! Repeatedly! And don't even get us started on the gone-too-soon career of Obvious-Travolta-Heir Christina Milian...

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66 - Get Shorty

What did John Travolta do as soon as he rose from the dead like a Brooklyn Phoenix in the mid 90s? He made a movie that was all about him bullying his way through Hollywood. Listen to Alex and Julio begin to close the book on The Summer of Travolta as they discuss how uncomfortable it is to watch Gene Hackman try to be funny, compare Rene Russo's character to Princess Peach, criticize Danny DeVito's lackadaisical work ethic and are appalled at how quickly the movie disposes of Napoleon Dynamite's Uncle Rico. It's Part One of the Summer of Travolta Finale!

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65 - Swordfish

Improbable Smarts VS Impossible Coolness: Dawn of Hackers. My god, the early 2000s were the coolest time to be alive. Need proof? Check out this untold tale of the X-men, where Wolverine and Storm form an uneasy alliance with John Travolta. Three incredibly attractive people helping each other crack codes, steal from the government and sunbathe in the nude. So how come critics hated it? Listen to Alex and Julio do their best to redeem this forgotten treasure from the beginning of the century! There are explosions! Computers! Vinnie Jones! Don Cheadle! And that Halle Berry scene EVERYONE knows.

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64 - Blow Out

It's hard to take Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT seriously, mainly because it tries to convince you that a hunk like John Travolta belongs behind the camera, not in front of one. Also because it casts the silly guy from THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN as a supposedly creepy serial killer. And finally because it's a De Palma movie, which means it's more interested in ripping off Hitchcock than in telling a coherent story around fully fleshed out characters. Listen to Alex and Julio as they wonder why anyone would put a beloved movie star (and his fans) through the grinder and why Detective Sipowicz only has that one stained wifebeater.

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Bonus! - Saturday Night Fever

There isn't a purer Travolta than SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Travolta and what that means for the Italian American community might not be the same as for other Americans out there. Listen to Alex and Julio cope with the worst behavior exhibited in the Summer of Travolta so far: racism, misogyny, showing off on the dance floor - you name it, he's guilty of it. All this, and a pointless Fran Drescher cameo to boot! Why does the Tomatometer love this movie so much?!?

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63 - Basic

What's better than a movie twist? How about A BILLION movie twists? Alex and Julio discuss BASIC, the military thriller which not only reunited John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, but also allowed director John McTiernan to out-Shyamalan M. Night Shyamalan. Listen as The Contrarians drool over Travolta's impressive physique, decide Giovanni Ribisi is the new Marlon Brando, applaud Sam Jackson's choice of death scream and, more importantly, explain the plot of the film to all of you. This one's not for the faint of heart but it's oh, so good. It even has Taye Diggs in it!!!

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