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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62 - Face/Off

Don't just turn your brain off for FACE/OFF - take your brain out and smash it with a mallet. The Travolta/Cage vehicle may rank high on the Tomatometer but it's way down when it comes to IQ tests. Listen to Alex and Julio as they weave in and out of all the plotholes director John Woo scattered throughout the film! Ponder if we really needed a Travolta/Cage overacting competition! Worry for Joan Allen's sanity!

Also, in Real Talk: the results of our first ever poll! Find out what's the consensus when it comes to organizing your Criterion discs! Witness Alex be a sore loser!

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Bonus! - Grease

The biggest musical in John Travolta's career features the oldest seniors in town teaching youngsters everywhere that all you have to do to win the one you love is change absolutely everything about you. Listen to Alex and Julio unpack GREASE, a movie that's all about bullying, body shaming, deceiving, conniving and lots of unprotected sex! And people in their mid-thirties acting like teenagers.

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61 - Look Who's Talking Too

Possibly John Travolta's greatest challenge: playing a man who isn't happy to be in a relationship with Kirstie Alley. As the Summer of Travolta rolls on, Alex and Julio go deep into the Tomatometer abyss and retrieve a film that might hold the key to whatever's going on in Roseanne Barr's head. LOOK WHO'S TALKING TOO features terrible parenting, a wise black baby, Gilbert Gottfried being Gilbert Gottfried, and the Man Of The Hour, John Travolta, dancing to an Elvis song. What more could you want?

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60 - Phenomenon

Is PHENOMENON a brilliantly low-key push-back against standard superhero movies? Or is it a boring John Travolta vehicle featuring the most unremarkable person to ever get superpowers? Is it a mistake or a masterstroke to have Travolta play the nicest guy since George Bailey? That scene where Kyra Sedgwick shaves him: romantic and sexy or awkward and creepy? And is that really Robert Duvall's butt? It's The Contrarians' sixth Grey Area Episode, which means the Tomatometer is split in half and Alex and Julio will argue all throughout this one!

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Bonus! - Hairspray (2007)

What's more passive-aggressive racist than a movie full of white people whitesplaining racism while they keep black people away from the spotlight? In this bonus late night, long distance recording, Alex and Julio reckon with the musical adaptation of HAIRSPRAY, a film that tries to fight segregation by focusing on the love story between two super white kids. This new installment of The Summer of Travolta asks the question: should a (re)established male movie star be taking a prominent female role that could have gone to an actress in need of a breakout part? And how silly it is that all it takes is the combined powers of Zac Effron and James Marsden to end racial inequality in America? And was Michelle Pfeiffer's character really that evil, or just unfairly maligned by the patriarchy?

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59 - Pulp Fiction

Why should we care for a bunch of despicable criminals? "Because they're cool!", says Quentin Tarantino. John Travolta's comeback vehicle gets The Contrarians Treatment as Alex and Julio wonder why Uma Thurman speaks like Juno McGuff, why Tarantino wouldn't cast an actual actor to play Jimmy and, more importantly, what gives Travolta those time-traveling regenerative powers. And are Bruce Willis' terrible breakfast habits to blame for everything? Why can't we get a whole movie about Eric Stoltz? Most importantly: how can a movie with so many guns have so little action?!?!?!

The Summer of Travolta continues!

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