In a Contrarians year dominated by Peter Bogdanovich and PJ Hogan, will their filmographies take over our annual awards ceremony? The only way for you to find out is to listen to The Embries 2024, as we celebrate the last twelve months of Contrarians awesomeness by giving away Embries, Hooeys, Ruffalos, Gads, and The Lancaster Dodd Grant!

We dragged poor Paul from The Countdown, kicking and screaming, through a Contrarians Corner dedicated to one of his favorite movies. Now it's time for the all-out praise-fest to be unleashed... or is it? How do we truly feel about SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and what do we make of that American flag waving us goodbye as the end credits get ready to roll? It's a heavier Real Talk segment than the one in our Shakespeare in Love episode, for sure!

Oscars are like Pringles: you can't stop at just one. And that's why Steven Spielberg spent several years chasing the high of winning all those Academy Awards for Schindler's List - a journey that culminated in a Best Director Oscar for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. The price? Sucking the fun out of the war movie genre forever. Listen to Alex & Julio - joined by SPR Superfan Paul from The Countdown Podcast - question if the man was worth the mission!

Okay, level with us, Judge Dredd fans: is the hate mostly about the helmet? The Contrarians are barely familiar with the 2000 AD comics, so it's very likely this Real Talk segment won't reflect the feelings of the average Dredd fan. But surely we can find common ground? Surely we can agree that Stallone looks great? And can this movie be judged as a 90s Sci-Fi Flick, separate from its comic book origins?

Find us a more pitch-perfect casting than Sylvester Stallone's granite jaw as Judge Dredd. Find us a more delightful comic relief sidekick than pre-MAGA Rob Schneider. Find us a hotter cop/lawyer hybrid than Diane Lane. But the Tomatometer didn't care, and it stamped the 1995 JUDGE DREDD adaptation with a rotten 22% score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they celebrate a comic book movie that wasn't afraid to have fun with violence!

Michael Fassbender: videogame geek. Who would've thunk it? There is certainly passion and determination to be felt when watching ASSASSIN'S CREED, but is it in service of a movie worth watching? This Real Talk segment finds Alex, Julio, Nerdbomber, and Techtic trying to crack the code to a successful video game adaptation!

Oh, how the world changes. Back in 2016, the ASSASSIN'S CREED movie was ahead of the curve, taking its source material seriously before people were ready to give video game film adaptations the respect they deserve. Poor Michael Fassbender put in the work to set up an ambitious franchise, and the Tomatometer stamped an 18% score on it. Listen to Alex, Julio, and special guests Nerdbomber & Techtic from the Online Warriors Podcast, as they defend this labor of love!

Who said Tom Cruise has the monopoly on ridiculously over-the-top spy adventures? And what happens once you get past the Mission: Impossible comparisons when you are discussing PATHAAN? Neither Contrarian is familiar with the other movies in the YRF Spy Universe, but does that mean they can't fully enjoy Shah Rukh Khan's escapades? This and more in this Real Talk segment!

Once upon a time, Die Hard was the template for action movies. Die Hard On A Plane. Die Hard On A Train. But we are now in the era of Mission Impossible clones, so PATHAAN is the Hindi version of an Ethan Hunt adventure - a very popular one, at 82% on the Tomatometer. Is the Shah Rukh Khan vehicle worthy of all the praise? Listen to Alex & Julio as they dive into another Indian action blockbuster and try to make sense of the YRF Spy Universe!

PJ Hogan hasn't made a movie since 2012. That's more than ten years ago, guys - and maybe it's because people barely acknowledged the release of MENTAL. Did PJ's luck run out? Does Hollywood no longer have time for his particular brand of quirk? Whatever the case, how do The Contrarians actually feel about this last PJ Party? All this and more as we close down our Summer Event!