Contra Zoom Pod: Recent Episodes
Dakota Arsenault
Contra Zoom is a film based podcast going in depth about varying movie related subjects. Dakota Arsenault, Rachel Ho and guests go over both academic and the fun aspects of enjoying the film medium. Episodes feature lists, interviews and comparisons. Email us at contrazoompod@gmail.com
With the conclusion of the 50th edition of TIFF (TIFFTY), we look back at some of the films we saw, discuss the winners of the People's Choice Awards and name our own top 3 films. Joining Dakota and Jeff is Thomas Stoneham-Judge the owner of For Reel and Darren Zakus the lead critic at Movie Scene Canada.
Movies discussed include The Christophers and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Dakota), Dead Man's Wire and The Ugly (Jeff), Hedda and Tuner (Thomas), Carolina Caroline and Obsession (Darren).
Read about Chloe Zhao making history being the first two time PCA winner.
Read Dakota's reviews of Rental Family, The Smashing Machine and Nouvelle Vague.
Read Jeff's reviews of The Testament of Ann Lee, Sacrifice and Dry Leaf.
Read Darren's reviews of John Candy: I Like Me, Modern Whore and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Read Thomas' 6 Must See Hidden Gems From TIFF.
Follow Darren Zakus on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow For Reel on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out Dakota's Letterboxd list of films watched.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival. Dakota and Jeff each pick 3 under the radar choices of movies you should have on your radar. Dakota's choices are Roofman, Steal Away and Modern Whore. Jeff's choices are Eagles of the Republic, Dust Bunny and Kokuho.
Check out Jeff's festival preview over on Classic Movies Live with fellow CZP contributor Pedro Lima.
Check out another festival preview Dakota does over on the All My Friends Are Movie Fans show.
Stay tuned for tons of great TIFF coverage including reviews and a wrap up podcast.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
In August of 1950, Akria Kurosawa released his seminal film, Rashomon where a trial of a crime is unfolded through four different perspectives showing us how flimsy "the truth" can be. On it's 75th anniversary we review the film and discuss its ongoing legacy. Martyn Strange from the Filmsplaining podcast joins Dakota and Jeff.
Listen to previous movie milestone episodes like those covering Seven Samurai, The Red Shoes, Halloween and more.
Check out some of Jeff's Fantasia reviews including $POSITIONS, All You Need Is Kill and Juliet and the King. Also listen to his Classic Movies Live episode covering Eddington and The Smurfs, the festivals opening night films.
Check out Dakota's reviews of Every Heavy Thing and Lurker from the festival.
Follow Martyn on YouTube, Instagram and Threads. Check out Dakota's appearance on episode 304: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World & Takes Off of Filmsplaining.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode Dakota and Matthew are looking at 2016's Oasis: Supersonic directed Mat Whitecross. The documentary follows the creation and rise of the Britpop band culminating in their Knebworth Festival headlining performance in front of 250,000 people in 1996. Joining the show is Alex Watson.
Our double bill pairings include Better Man (Dakota's pick), Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets (Matthew's pick) and Dig! (Alex’s pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Read Dakota's review Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm as mentioned on the show.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd. Buy Alex's book The Pieces We Carry on Amazon!
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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Every year to celebrate Dakota's birthday, he picks a topic and names his favourite films by that category. This year he picked the 10 most popular filming locations in North America, including NYC, Las Vegas, Chicago and more and named the best film by these cities.
Joining Dakota is Bil Antoniou, host of the Bad Gay Movies and Riviera Rats podcasts. Here are their picks, with Dakota's first and Bil's second.
NYC - Midnight Cowboy, Hannah and Her Sisters
Chicago - The Blues Brothers, Return To Me
LA - Singin' in the Rain, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Boston - The Town, The Bostonians
San Fransisco - Bullitt, Vertigo
DC - All The President's Men, Born Yesterday
Las Vegas - The Hangover, Diamonds Are Forver
Philadelphia - Creed, Blow Out
Toronto - Enemy, Dead Ringers
Montreal - Red Rooms, Jesus of Montreal
Follow Bil on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Check out Bad Gay Movies and Riviera Rats on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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The 2025 Canadian Screen Awards were handed out from May 30-June 1st and the television portion was hosted by Lisa Gilroy. Universal Language and The Apprentice were the big winners. We look at ten categories and discuss the winners and Dakota, Matthew and Jeff pick our own favourites.
Check out our collection of CSA nominated film reviews that cover 22 different movies.
Check out Jeff Bulmer’s Letterboxd list and Matthew Simpson put together where to watch all of the nominees.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to listen to Dakota and Matthew rank the Mission: Impossible films to celebrate the release of the 8th entry (and possibly last film in the series?) , The Final Reckoning. Joining the show is former co-host Rachel Ho the film editor at Exclaim!
Our Rankings
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Final Reckoning (time stamp for spoilers 9:30 for general discussion and 19:30 for big spoilers)
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M:I-II
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Dead Reckoning (spoiler warning for Final Reckoning at 38:35)
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Mission: Impossible
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Rogue Nation
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Ghost Protocol
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M:I-III
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Fallout
Back in 2023 Rachel ranked the top 5 Mission: Impossible stunts.
Follow Rachel on Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
The 2025 edition of Hot Docs ran from April 24-May 4th, and we recap six of the films we watched including Ultras, Coexistence, My Ass!, The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, The Secret Lives of My Three Men, Always and Writing Hawa. Joining Dakota and Jeff is Pedro Lima, a writer for Contra Zoom Pod.
Check out Dakota's reviews of Paul, and The Secret Lives of My Three Men.
Check out Jeff's reviews of I Dreamed His Name, Shamed and Endless Cookie.
Check out Pedro's reviews of The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, Yalla Parkour, Khartoum, Mama and My Boyfriend the Fascist.
Watch C. Tangana's music video for the song Oliveira Dos Cen Anos.
Follow Pedro on Threads, Instagram and Letterboxd.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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With the announcement of there being a stunt Oscar coming in 2028, we decided to name who we think should have been the nominees and winners for the past five years. We also discuss other new Oscar rules. Joining the show is critic Todd Pengelly.
Read about the addition of the Best Stunts category.
Read about the upcoming changes to some Oscar categories.
Dakota's picks for Best Stunts the last five years: The Fall Guy, The Iron Claw, The Batman, No Time to Die and Tenet.
Todd's picks for Best Stunts the last five years: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, John Wick: Chapter 4, RRR, No Time to Die and Tenet.
Follow Todd on Twitter and Letterboxd.
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Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode Dakota and Matthew are looking at 2021's Val directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. The film is a documentary using actor Val Kilmer's extensive home video collection to cover his life and career up to his diagnoses with throat cancer that left him without a voice. Kilmer sadly passed away on April 1st, 2025 so we decided to jump forward to cover this film.
Both Matthew Simpson and Jeff Bulmer are officially joining the podcast as permanent rotating co-hosts!
Our double bill pairings include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Dakota's pick) and Top Secret! (Matthew's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
The Canadian Screen Awards announced their nominations for the June 1st gala with Universal Language leading the pack with 13 nominations. Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast, joins the show as the guys try to predict who will be nominated and then react to actual films that made the cut.
See the Letterboxd list that Jeff made that features all of the nominated films.
Check out some of our Canadian Screen Award reviews from this past year, Darkest Miriam, Paying For It, Rumours, Shepherds, The Apprentice, Universal Language and Young Werther.
Check out new reviews from Contrazoompod.com including Wolf Man, The Penguin Lessons and Julie Keeps Quiet.
Follow Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
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Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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Now that Oscar season has come and gone, it is finally time to put a bow on the films from 2024. We rank our top 10 films of the year. Joining the show is CZP's former co-host Rachel Ho. We also feature voicemails from friends of the show who name their favourite film of the year.
Dakota's List
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The Seed of the Sacred Fig
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Dune: Part Two
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The King Tide
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Kneecap
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Challengers
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Dìdi
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Saturday Night
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Civil War
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Sing Sing
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Conclave
Rachel's List
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The Bikeriders
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Sing Sing
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A Different Man
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All The Long Nights
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Dune: Part Two
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Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story
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I'm Still Here
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Better Man
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September 5
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Mars Express
Thank you our special guests for sending in voicemails of their favourite films: Jeff Bulmer from Classic Movies Live (Paying For It), Bryan Loomis from What A Picture (Evil Does Not Exist), Pedro Lima from ContraZoomPod.com (exergue - on documenta 14) and Marta Djordjevic from Rewind and Revive (All We Imagine As Light).
Check out Dakota and Rachel's blog post If We Were Oscar Voters.
Check out Dakota's full list of 2024 Films Ranked on Letterboxd.
Follow Rachel on Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Read her interview with Seven Veils director Atom Egoyan.
Read Dakota's recent reviews on Shepherds and Can I Get A Witness.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
Oscar season is officially over after Anora won Best Picture and four other trophies at the 97th Academy Awards. We recap the ceremony, give our thoughts on the biggest winners and losers and judge the production of the show itself. Joining the show is critic Alex Southey, who was last heard on episode 295: 2025 Oscar Nomination Reactions.
We look at who won the the contest back on episode 299: 2025 Oscar Draft, with Alex Watson winning with 7 points, followed by Dakota and Thomas Stoneham-Judge with 5 points each and Brodie Cotnam finishing in last with 3 points.
Check out the collection of Oscar nominated reviews, blogs and podcasts all in one convenient post.
Follow Alex Southey on Instagram and Letterboxd. Check out his podcasts Your Worst Song... and The Human Interest Hour...
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
We are less than a week away from the Oscars, so we put our reputations on the line to predict who will win at the 97th Academy Awards. Joining the show is Elizabeth Mulloy a Washington based critic.
Below are our picks of who we think will win:
- Best Picture - The Brutalist (D), Anora (E)
- Best Director - Sean Baker (D+E)
- Best Actor - Adrian Brody (D+E)
- Best Actress - Demi Moore (D+E)
- Best Supporting Actor - Kieran Culkin (D+E)
- Best Supporting Actress - Zoe Saldaña (D+E)
- Best Adapted Screenplay - Conclave (D+E)
- Best Original Screenplay - Anora (D+E)
- Best Cinematography - The Brutalist (D), Nosferatu (E)
- Best Documentary - No Other Land (D+E)
- Best Original Song - El Mal (D+E)
- Best Original Score - The Brutalist (D+E)
- Best Sound - Wicked (D+E)
- Best Costume Design - Wicked (D+E)
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling - The Substance (D+E)
- Best Production Design - Dune: Part Two (D), Wicked (E)
- Best Animated Feature - The Wild Robot (D), Flow (E)
- Best Visual Effects - Dune: Part Two (D+E)
- Best Film Editing - Anora (D), Conclave (E)
- Best International Film - I'm Still Here (D), Emilia Pérez (E)
- Best Live Action Short - A Lien (D+E)
- Best Documentary Short - I Am Ready, Warden (D+E)
- Best Animated Short - Wander to Wonder (D), Beautiful Men (E)
Follow Elizabeth on Threads, Instagram and Letterboxd.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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We are back with our third annual Oscar Draft. It is very simple, each person selects 5 movies that are nominated at this year’s Oscars and whoever gets the most awards, wins! Joining Dakota is Thomas Stoneham-Judge, Brodie Cotnam and Alex Watson.
Stay tuned to the Oscar Wrap Up podcast to see who the winner was!
Check out 2024's Oscar Draft and the 2023 Draft too.
Dakota's team - The Brutalist, A Real Pain, The Wild Robot, No Other Land, A Lien
Alex's team - Anora, Conclave, Nosferatu, Flow and Sing Sing
Brodie's team - The Substance, Dune: Part Two, A Complete Unknown, Wander to Wonder and The Man Who Would Not Remain Silent
Thomas' team - Emilia Pérez, Wicked, I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys and Black Box Diaries
Follow For Reel on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift and log it on Letterboxd. that he wrote and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd.
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Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this final episode of the series we talk aboutWicked,Conclave,I'm Still Here andNickel Boys. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista host of theOscars Death Race Podcast.
Check out ourOscar Primer blog entries where we look at other films nominated at the Oscars. The most recent entry covers Nosferatu, The Six Triple Eight and Black Box Diaries.
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to theAltadena Girls Fire Recovery or theLA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Check out Jeff Bulmer's review of I'm Still Here and thank you to Sony Pictures Classic and StarPR for the screener.
Follow Paulo onTwitter andLetterboxd.
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Pleaserate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visitcontrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this episode of the series we talk about Emilia Pérez, Dune: Part Two and The Substance. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Ethan Simmie, the host of The Movie Draft Podcast and 24 Minutes of A24.
Check out our Oscar Primer blog entries where we look at other films nominated at the Oscars. The most recent entry covers A Real Pain, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Memoir of a Snail and Gladiator II.
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to the World Central Kitchen or the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program.
Check out more of Ethan's work by subscribing to his YouTube channel Movies Are So Back and read his writing at Agents of Fandom. Follow Ethan on Letterboxd, Twitter and TikTok.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the first episode of the series we talk about The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown and Anora. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast and frequent contributor to ContraZoomPod.com.
Check out our nomination reactions podcast where we looked at the biggest winners, surprises and snubs.
What is VistaVision?
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank or the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
Check out Classic Movies Live episodes on Anora and The Substance.
Follow Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards have been announced and we react to the big winners, surprises and snubs for this years show. Joining the show is Alex Southey, who runs the Play With Rabbit Ears blog.
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to the California Fire Foundation and the California Community Foundation.
Listen to Dakota's predictions on who would get nominated on the Oscars Death Race Podcast (surprise he got a 75% accuracy rate).
Follow Alex Southey on Instagram and Letterboxd.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
The first half of the decade is now behind us, so let's look back at the best films that came out from 2020-2024. We sent out a poll to critics and made a list of the 50 best films of the decade so far. Last week on Part 1, we revealed picks 50-26. Now here is Part 2 where we count down picks 25 through number 1!
Huge thank you to the following people for sending in voicemails on behalf of films that made the list: Calum Macnab, Bryan Loomis, Brodie Cotnam, Daniel Grant, Matthew Simpson, Alex Watson, Martyn Strange, Matt Schmidt, Aria, Nathan Sizemore, Todd Pengelly, John Richards, Sean Wilson, Bil Antoniou, Jeff Bulmer, Harper Thompson, Rachel Ho and Nate Storring.
See every film mentioned on ballots on the complete Letterboxd list.
A very special thank you to Cristel Tapia for designing the custom artwork for this series.
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Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr
The first half of the decade is now behind us, so let's look back at the best films that came out from 2020-2024. We sent out a poll to critics and made a list of the 50 best films of the decade so far. On Part 1, we reveal picks 50-26, with the rest being named on Part 2 next week.
Huge thank you to the following people for sending in voicemails on behalf of films that made the list: Bryan Loomis, Stephanie Prior, Ethan Simmie, Calum Macnab, Ricky Valero, Darren Zakus, Mike Noyes, Adam Schoales, Simon Best, Eric Zhu, Katey Yost, Raf Stitt, Alex Kokke, Mark Hofmeyer, Brett Schutt and Lori Alex.
A very special thank you to Cristel Tapia for designing the custom artwork for this series.
Follow Contra Zoom on Instagram, Threads and Bluesky.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's The Witch directed by Robert Eggers. The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy, as the eldest child of a New England family who moves out of their plantation home to live near woods where witches may habitate. Joining the show is Ethan Simmie, the host of The Movie Draft Podcast and 24 Minutes of A24.
Our double bill pairings include Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (Dakota's pick) and The First Omen (Ethan's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Check out more of Ethan's work by subscribing to his YouTube channel Movies Are So Back and read his writing at Agents of Fandom. Follow Ethan on Letterboxd, Twitter and TikTok.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the ninth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday podcast. Dakota and Matthew discuss how to market a film podcast, how you can still discover Airplane! jokes even after dozens of viewings, what makes Sam Raimi so special and more!
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel and Bil to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Check out the nominees for Best Cascadian Film from the CFTCA critics group that Matthew and Dakota co-founded.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
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Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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It's November, which means it is time for our annual Noir-vember themed episode! To celebrate Columbia Pictures 100th anniversary, The Criterion Channel put together a pack of some of their noir hits. We discuss Gilda, The Crimson Kimono and Experiment in Terror. Joining the show is Alisha Mughal, editor at The Asian Cut.
Alisha previously joined the show for 261: McCarthyism in Noir and 216: Fox Film Noirs.
Read Alisha's Silence As Salvation: The Quiet Femmes of Modern Horror.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2019 and 2021's The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II, written and directed by Joanna Hogg. The films are autobiographical stories of Hogg's own life with Honor Swinton Byrne portraying her during a bad relationship and the reverberating effects it has on her life. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer and Pierre Frigon, hosts of the Classic Movies Live podcast.
Our double bill pairings for Part I include Barry Lyndon (Dakota's pick) and La La Land (Pierre's pick) and for Part II include The Wonder (Dakota's pick), Cold War (Jeff's pick) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Pierre's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Follow Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
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Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Breaker and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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For our Halloween special this year we decided to fill in some horror blind spots and check out the Giallo collection that is available to stream on the Criterion Channel. We review Blood and Black Lace, Don't Torture a Duckling and Deep Red. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday podcast.
Check out the full list of movies in the Criterion Channel collection on Letterboxd.
Check out Filmsplaining with Martyn Strange episode 206: Giallo that was used as research for this episode.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2016's Mojave, directed by William Monahan. The film stars Garrett Hedlund as Tom, a depressed director who goes into the desert and ends up coming across Oscar Issac’s drifter Jack where they have a confrontation that continues back in LA. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday podcast.
Our double bill pairings include The Gift (Dakota's pick) and The Hateful Eight (Matthew's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
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The 2024 edition of VIFF just wrapped its 43rd year. We discuss our thoughts on the festival and review some of the films watched. Joining the show is Todd Pengelly, Marta Djordjevic and Christopher Cross.
We review Anora, Universal Language, All We Imagine As Light, Conclave, A Different Man, The Girl With a Needle, No Other Land and Rumours.
Read Dakota's reviews of Inedia, A Different Man, Conclave, The Mother and the Bear and Rumours.
Read Marta's reviews of All We Imagine as Light and The Girl With The Needle. Subscribe to McFly's Movie House and follow Marta on Twitter and Instagram.
Read Christopher's reviews for Universal Language and Matt and Mara. Follow Christopher on Twitter and Instagram.
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Leave a comment on Spotify for what movies you saw at TIFF!
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With TIFF now behind us, it is time to discuss some of our favourite films that played, the award winners and what comes next for the People's Choice selection. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer from Classic Movies Live, Thomas Stoneham-Judge from For Reel and Darren Zakus from Movie Scene Canada.
We review The Life of Chuck, The Substance, Queer, Eden, The Shrouds, SATURDAY NIGHT, The Assessment and Heretic.
Read Dakota's reviews of SATURDAY NIGHT and The Last Showgirl.
Read Jeff's reviews of The Substance, Vice is Broke, The Return, Julie Keeps Quiet, Universal Language, Young Werther, Paying For It and Seeds.
Read Brodie Cotnam's review of The Life of Chuck.
Read Darren's reviews of Eden, Babygirl and The Life of Chuck.
Check out Thomas and For Reel's complete TIFF coverage.
Leave a comment on Spotify for what movies you saw at TIFF!
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The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5-15th and we will be in town covering the fest. Here we preview our most anticipated films playing! Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast.
Dakota's picks: Oh, Canada, SATURDAY NIGHT, The Shrouds, The Last Showgirl, Anora and Relay.
Jeff's pick: Ick, Universal Language, The Life of Chuck, Cloud, The Return and Piece by Piece.
Read Dakota and Jeff's blog previewing their picks for films playing TIFF.
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The 2024 edition of the Fantasia Film Festival just concluded and we discuss some of the films we watched, including Cuckoo, The Silent Planet, The Tenants, Electrophilia, Darkest Miriam, Hollywood 90028 and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast.
Read Dakota's reviews of The Silent Planet and Electrophilia.
Read Jeff's reviews of Cuckoo, Infinite Summer, Kizumonogatari - Koyomi Vamp and Darkest Miriam.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Mississippi Grind directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film stars Ben Mendelsohn as Gerry a down and out gambling addict who befriends Ryan Reynolds Curtis, a man who he believes is his good luck charm. Joining the show is Eric Zhu, who publishes his work on Substack called The Insert.
Our double bill pairings include Hard Eight (Dakota's pick) and The Adults (Eric's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 277: A24 Retrospective - Dark Places.
For more of Eric's work check out his reviews on La Práctica and Notes on Films by Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler on The Insert.
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It is recently Dakota's birthday, and we continue the trend of picking a category and choosing our favourites from it. In 2020 there was 114: 30 Films in 30 Years, in 2021 it was 157: Best Films Through the Decades in 2022 it was 199: Best Films by Genre and in 2023 it was 243: Best Films By Language.
This year we are continuing 2022's theme of doing ten more genres by going through ten different film genres and name our favourite films from each of them! See our picks below (Dakota's first, then Bil's)!
Comic Book: V for Vendetta and Persepolis
Epic: Lawrence of Arabia and Cleopatra
Family/Kids: Elf and Meet Me In St. Louis
Fantasy: The Green Knight and The Double Life of Veronique
Live Performance: Stop Making Sense (both picked this film)
Silent: The General and City Lights
Sports: He Got Game and A League of Their Own
Thriller: To Live and Die in LA and Charade
War: The Bridge on the River Kwai and The English Patient
Western: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Once Upon A Time in the West
How many of our picks have you seen? Compare on our Letterboxd list.
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The 2024 Toronto Japanese Film Festival has just concluded and we wrap up the best films that we saw during the run. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast. We discuss Stay Mum, Missing, Great Absence, Life is Climbing and Mondays: See You "This" Week.
Read Jeff's reviews of Missing and Don't Call It Mystery.
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The Canadian Screen Awards celebrate the best in film, television and web content from Canada, and we discuss the films that were nominated and won at this year's ceremony. Movies discussed include BlackBerry, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, The Queen of my Dreams, Red Rooms and more! Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast.
Read our collected reviews for films that were nominated.
Check out Jeff's Letterboxd list of nominated films and Matthew Simpson's article of where to watch the films.
Read Jeff's reviews of Madame Web and river.
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Summer movie season is upon us, so it is time to pick what movies with a confirmed release date we are most excited about seeing this year!
Dakota's picks are The Bikeriders, Kinds of Kindness, Wolf Man, Gladiator 2 and Nosferatu.
Rachel's picks are Twisters, Trap, Speak No Evil, Wolfs and Mufasa: The Lion King.
Rachel also announced that she is ending her run as permanent co-host. She will still come back as a guest, but won't be a full time contributor going forward. She listed her three favourite episodes, 161: Fantasia Fest Interviews, 171: The Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror and 185: 2022 Canadian Screen Awards Nominations.
I hope you join me in thanking Rachel for all her contributions to the podcast over the last few years!
Read Rachel's interview with Sam Taylor-Johnson director of Back to Black.
Read Dakota's review of Tim Travers and the Time Traveler’s Paradox and Hitchcock’s Pro-Nazi Film. Also Jeff Bulmer's reviews of Madame Web and River.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
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The 2024 Seattle International Film Festival just concluded and we wrap up some of the films we saw. Joining the show again is Thomas Stoneham-Judge, the owner od For Reel, who was last heard on episode 270: 2024 Oscar Draft.
We talk about Dìdi, The Missing (Iti mapukpukaw), Tiger Stripes, Terrestrial Verses, Hitchcock's Pro-Nazi Film and Bob Trevino Likes It.
Read Dakota's review of Hitchcock's Pro-Nazi Film and Red Rooms. Paulo Bautista's reviews of The Missing and Dìdi.
Watch For Reel's interviews with the director of The Missing with more coming.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Dark Places directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner. The film stars Charlize Theron as Libby Day a woman who witnessed her older brother murder her entire family in a satanic ritual as a child, only to now be forced to questioned if that's what really happened. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday Podcast.
Our double bill pairings include Satan Wants You (Dakota) and Gone Girl (Matthew). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Check out Dakota's interview with Steve J. Adams and Sean Horler, the directors of Satan Wants You.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 274: A24 Retrospective - The End of the Tour.
Read Contra Zoom's reviews from Hot Docs including Fire Tower, Secret Mall Apartment, The Click Trap and more.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
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For the fifth year in a row we are covering the Hot Docs Film Festival, which celebrates the best in documentary films. We discuss 6 films watched during this year's fest. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast.
The films covered are Secret Mall Apartment, American Cats, Red Fever, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, Agent of Happiness and Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself.
Read Jeff's reviews for Whatever It Takes and Agent of Happiness, with more to come!
Read Dakota's reviews for Red Fever and Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself with more to come!
To learn more about the state of Hot Docs read Pat Mullen's in depth reporting over at POV Magazine on the subject HERE, HERE and HERE.
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Back in 1954, Akira Kurosawa made the seminal samurai epic Seven Samurai starring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. The film tells the story of a group of ronin who band up together to save a farmers village from a group of bandits. The film came out 70 years ago, so to celebrate the anniversary we review it and talk about the film’s influence. Joining the show is Bryan Loomis host of the What a Picture Podcast.
Check out Matthew Simpson's Letterboxd list Movies that are just The Seven Samurai Again.
Listen to What a Picture 42. Seven Samurai (1954) - Akira Kurosawa (with Bill Graham).
Listen to 43: Make/Remake: Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's The End of the Tour, directed by James Ponsoldt. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as David Lipsky a Rolling Stone journalist who spends five days interviewing breakout author David Foster Wallace, played by Jason Segal. Joining the show for the first time is critic Nick Tiffany.
Our double bill pairings include Almost Famous (Dakota) and Birdman (Nick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 265: A24 Retrospective - Amy.
Read Dakota's review of Red Rooms and Jay Stryker's review of BlackBerry.
Follow Nick Tiffany on Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to his YouTube channel as well.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Now that the Oscars are behind us, it is time to put a cap on the movie year that was 2023. There were a ton of incredible films so buckle in as Dakota and Rachel name their ten favourite films from last year. Along the way they get plenty of help from friends of the show who sent in voicemails of their pick for their number one movie too!
Dakota's Top 10
- Monster
- The Teachers' Lounge
- How to Blow Up a Pipeline
- BlackBerry
- The Zone of Interest
- Oppenheimer
- The Iron Claw
- The Killer
- Evil Does Not Exist
- The Royal Hotel
Rachel's Top Ten
- All of Us Strangers
- Oppenheimer
- Past Lives
- Poor Things
- Dream Scenario
- American Fiction
- Fallen Leaves
- The Holdovers
- BlackBerry
- Creed III
Check out our blog post If We Were Oscar Voters as mentioned on the show.
Special thanks to all the friends of the show who sent in clips of their top film: Michael Clawson and Eric Zhu (May December), Jeff Bulmer (BlackBerry), Nick Tiffany (Godzilla Minus One), Ethan Simmie (Oppenheimer), Jericho Tadeo (Freemont), Rose Ho (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Darren Zakus (Oppenheimer) and Marta Djordjevic (Perfect Days).
Read Brodie Cotnam's reviews of Chuck Chuck Baby and Loch Ness: They Created a Monster from the International Film Festival of Ottawa.
Read Paulo Bautsita's review of The Peasants.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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The 96th Academy Awards are officially behind us! We look at the big winners, best dressed, best performances and hosting! Joining the show once again is Todd Pengelly, a writer from For Reel who was last heard on episode 271: 2024 Oscar Predictions.
Before we dive into the show we look at the crop of this year's Canadian Screen Awards nominees. Check out this helpful Letterboxd list made by Jeff Bulmer.
In response to the episode 270: 2024 Oscar Draft, Thomas Stoneham-Judge and Alex Watson both got 7 points, while Brodie Cotnam got 4 points and Dakota only got 1 point.
On the last episode both Dakota and Todd listed their predictions, with Dakota going 16/23 and Todd went 17/20.
Check out Daniel Joyaux solutions to fix the Oscars Ceremony on The Ringer.
Check out all the reviews for Oscar Nominated Films and read the blog post on if Dakota and Rachel were Oscar Voters on Contra Zoom.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We have come to the end of Oscar season, with our final episode before the Academy Awards on March 10th, 2024. We predict the winners for all 23 awards. Joining the show is Todd Pengelly, a writer from For Reel and a member of the Cascadian Film and Television Critics Association.
See below the picks for the Oscars:
- Supporting Actress - Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Dakota and Todd)
- Supporting Actor - Robert Downey Jr. (Dakota and Todd)
- Actress - Lily Gladstone (Dakota and Todd)
- Actor - Cillian Murphy (Dakota and Todd)
- Original Score - Oppenheimer (Dakota and Todd)
- Original Song - "How Was I Made" Barbie (Dakota and Todd)
- Original Screenplay - Anatomy of a Fall (Dakota and Todd)
- Adapted Screenplay - American Fiction (Dakota and Todd)
- Cinematography - Oppenheimer (Dakota and Todd)
- Sound - Oppenheimer (Dakota and Todd)
- Costumes - Barbie (Dakota) and Poor Things (Todd)
- Hair and Makeup - Maestro (Dakota) and Poor Things (Todd)
- Live Action Short - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Dakota)
- Animated Short - War Is Over! (Dakota)
- Documentary Short - The ABC's of Book Banning (Dakota)
- Animated Feature - The Boy and the Heron (Dakota and Todd)
- Documentary - 20 Days in Mariupol (Dakota and Todd)
- International Film - The Zone of Interest (Dakota and Todd)
- Visual Effects - The Creator (Dakota) and Godzilla Minus One (Todd)
- Production Design - Barbie (Dakota and Todd)
- Film Editing - Oppenheimer (Dakota and Todd)
- Director - Christopher Nolan (Dakota and Todd)
- Picture - Oppenheimer (Dakota and Todd)
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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For the second year in a row, we are doing an Oscar Draft! It is very simple, each person selects 5 movies that are nominated at this year's Oscars and whoever gets the most awards, wins! Joining Dakota once again is Alex Watson and Brodie Cotnam, and filling in for Rachel this year is Thomas Stoneham-Judge the owner of For Reel.
Check out last year's draft.
Dakota's Team
- Barbie
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Maestro
- The Creator
- The ABCs of Book Banning
Thomas' Team
- Oppenheimer
- Past Lives
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
- Nyad
Alex's Team
- Poor Things
- Anatomy of a Fall
- American Fiction
- The Boy and the Heron
- Napoleon
Brodie's Team
- The Holdovers
- The Zone of Interest
- 20 Days in Mariupol
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
- Letter To A Pig
Follow For Reel on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift that he wrote and follow him on Twitter.
Read Paulo Bautista's review of Dìdi.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the second episode of the series we talk about Poor Things, American Fiction, The Holdovers and Past Lives. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer and Pierre Frigon, the hosts of Classic Movies Live.
Listen to our last episode breaking down the Best Picture nominees, 268: Killers of the Barbie Maestro.
Want to track what nominated films you've seen? Use Death Race Tracking or Oscars Death Race, two excellent sites.
Listen to Classic Movies Live review Poor Things and The Holdovers.
Read Jeff's review of Hundreds of Beavers.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the second episode of the series we talk about Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Maestro. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Kyle Garzon who was last heard on 228: Oscars 2023 – The Way of WesTÁRn Sadness.
Listen to our last episode breaking down the Best Picture nominees, 267: Anatomy of an Oppenheimer Zone.
Want to track what nominated films you've seen? Use Death Race Tracking or Oscars Death Race, two excellent sites.
Check out season 2 of The Academy Museum Podcast which breaks down how casting works.
Read Kyle's review of the new Marvel show Echo.
Check out and subscribe to Once Upon a Time at the Oscars on Spotify and follow Kyle on Twitter and Instagram.
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the first episode of the series we talk about Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast and John Richards the owner of Red Carpet Rosters.
Read Paulo's reviews for Perfect Days and And So It Begins.
Want to track what nominated films you've seen? Use Death Race Tracking or Oscars Death Race, two excellent sites.
Check out and subscribe to Oscars Death Race Podcast and Box Office Watch and follow Paulo on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Follow John and Red Carpet Rosters on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
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Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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On this bonus episode, I am sharing my interview with Mike Donahue, director of the new film Troy for the Academy of Death Racers Festival. Troy is a short film about a couple in NYC who hear their neighbour having loud sex nonstop, the noise consumes their lives until one day it stops and they try to learn what happened. I was asked to film a Q&A with Mike to appear alongside the film's screening.
Watch Troy for free on the New York Times website (U.S. residents only).
To learn more about the Academy of Death Racers Festival, check out their official site and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Mike Donahue and Troy on Instagram.
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Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The 2024 Oscar nominations have now been announced with Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Maestro leading the pack. We go over the big categories and discuss what we think of the crop of nominees including who our pleasant surprises were and biggest snubs. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday podcast and co-founder of the Cascadian Film and Television Critics Association.
Check out the full list of nominees.
Listen to Dakota's appearance on the Oscars Death Race Podcast with Paulo Bautista as he attempted to predict who would be nominated.
Want to track what nominated films you've seen? Use Death Race Tracking or Oscars Death Race, two excellent sites.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
Read Kyle Garzon's review of the Disney+ show Echo and Brodie Cotnam's review of The Teachers' Lounge on Contra Zoom.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Amy directed by Asif Kapadia. The film chronicles the life and career of the singer Amy Winehouse who tragically died at the age of 27 in 2011. The film only uses archival footage and home movies an adding in narration from friends, family and colleagues. Joining the show is Alex Watson who was last heard on Bonus Episode: Oscars 2023 - Oscar Draft.
Our double bill pairings include Moonage Daydream (Dakota) and Whitney (Alex). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 262: A24 Retrospective - Barely Lethal.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Read Paulo Bautista's reviews of Godzilla Minus One, The Missing and Beyond Utopia and Dakota's review of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood over on Contra Zoom.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
To end 2023 we are having another game themed episode! Earlier this year we celebrated the birth of the James Bond film franchise on episode 236: Dr. No at 60 Years. After watching all 25 official Bond films in a calendar year, it was time to make our ultimate spy movie. 10 different categories were selected to create our own Fantasy Bond Film. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson and Simon Best, the hosts of the Awesome Friday Podcast.
Check out Dakota's Bond rankings on Letterboxd.
How to watch the Bond franchise in chronological time order.
Follow Awesome Friday on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out Matthew Simpson's personal website.
Check out Simon Best's personal website.
Follow our new critics group, the Cascadian Film and Television Critics Association on Instagram, Twitter and see our nominees for Best Cascadian Film.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1953 Henri-Georges Clouzot film The Wages of Fear and the 1977 William Friedkin film Sorcerer. Check out our past Make/Remake‘s for more great comparison episodes and see the Letterboxd list.
Listen to Drink In The Movies and visit their website to read Taylor's reviews. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Read Jay Stryker's review of Napoleon and Brodie Cotnam's review of Total Trust over on Contra Zoom.
Follow our new critics group, the Cascadian Film and Television Critics Association on Instagram, Twitter and see our nominees for Best Cascadian Film.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Barely Lethal directed by Kyle Newman. The film stars Hailee Steinfeld as a teenaged secret agent who runs away to be a regular high schooler but trouble pops up in the form of her rival in Sophie Turner. Joining the show is Jericho Tadeo, The Asian Cut's newest editor!
Our double bill pairings include Agent Cody Banks (Dakota), Harriet the Spy (Rachel) and The Edge of Seventeen (Jericho). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 250: A24 Retrospective - Slow West.
Follow Jericho on Twitter and Instagram. Read Jericho's profile on Alice Wu at The Asian Cut.
Read Jeff Bulmer's review of Gran Turismo and Paulo Bautista's DOCNYC recap over on Contra Zoom.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Follow Contra Zoom on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
It's Noir-vember, which means it's time for our 3rd annual noir themed episode! This year we are looking at McCarthyism in film noir with three films, On The Waterfront, Storm Center and Witch Hunt. Joining the show is Alisha Mughal, who was last heard on episode 216: Fox Film Noirs.
Watch Storm Center and Witch Hunt for free on YouTube.
Watch Orson Welles criticize Elia Kazan and read about Kazan receiving his honorary Oscar.
Read Jericho Tadeo's feature on Alice Wu.
Read Alisha's reviews from Reel Asian including Q and Moustache.
Read recent Contra Zoom reviews including Perfect Days, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Bad CGI Gator.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Alisha on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Use my special link (https://zen.ai/Tzmt1w7Ugwp2K_w8umo6Cw) to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan.
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Back in 1948, Powell and Pressburger made one of the definitive dance films with The Red Shoes starring Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring. The film tells the story of a young ballerina who gets caught up between dedicated herself completely to dance and falling in love. The film came out 75 years ago, so to celebrate the anniversary we review it and talk about the film's influence.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Use my special link (https://zen.ai/Tzmt1w7Ugwp2K_w8umo6Cw) to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
ImagineNATIVE is the world's biggest Indigenous film and arts festival. This year the fest ran from October 17-22nd in Toronto and from October 23-29th online. We discuss I'm Just Here For The Riot, Fancy Dance, Hey Viktor!, Tautuktavuk: What We See, Red, White and Brass and Inky Pinky Ponky.
Listen to our review of I'm Just Here For The Riot back on episode 235: Hot Docs 2023.
Read Dakota's reviews of I'm Just Here For The Riot and Tautuktavuk: What We See.
Read Jeff's reviews of Fancy Dance and Hey Viktor!. Also check out Jeff's review of Late Night With The Devil from the Toronto After Dark festival.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
To celebrate Halloween this year we have brought on Kyle Edward Ball, the writer and director behind the hit horror film Skinamarink. As both a Canadian and a horror filmmaker, who better to bring on! We asked Kyle about 3 classic films and he selected Black Christmas, Rituals and Scanners to discuss. We also chat about Skinamarink and how his life has changed since its release. Stay tuned to the end where Kyle talks about how his follow up project is going.
Read The Globe and Mail's 20 best Canadian horror movies ever made where Kyle helped contribute to the article.
Follow Kyle Edward Ball on Twitter and check out his YouTube page for more great horror!
Read Rachel's original review of Skinamarink, where she was one of the first critics to write about the film after its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival.
Also read Rachel's interview with Kyle Edward Ball from earlier this year.
Read Kyle Edward Ball's interview with Fangoria.
Listen to our review of Skinamarink on episode 204: Fantasia Festival 2022 Wrap Up.
Listen to episode 197: David Cronenberg and Body Horror where we review several Cronenberg films.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We've got a bonus episode this week, Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast attended the New York Film Festival, which ran from September 29th-October 15th this year. Paulo recorded his immediate reactions.
Evil Does Not Exist: 03:15-09:00
The Zone of Interest: 09:00-15:45
The Taste of Things: 15:45-20:10
The Boy and the Heron: 20:10-26:40
Read Paulo's reviews for Evil Does Not Exist, The Zone of Interest, The Taste of Things and The Boy and the Heron.
Follow Paulo on Twitter and Letterboxd and check out his podcasts Box Office Watch, Yet Another Anime Podcast and many more.
Check out Jeff Bulmer's review of Late Night With The Devil screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Back in 1978 John Carpenter made his third feature film, Halloween for only $300,000. It went on to be a massive box office hit and spanned a franchise that has released 13 films. The film came out 45 years ago October 17th, 1978 so we celebrate the enduring legacy of the film. Joining is our resident Halloween super-fan Brodie Cotnam.
Check out this handy guide to understand how the Halloween franchise works.
Listen to Scaretroducing's podcasts on Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends.
Check out this Criterion Shelf article on That Shelf featuring a contribution by Dakota on Dark Star, John Carpenter's first film.
Read Paulo Bautista's reviews from the New York Film Festival, including The Boy and the Heron, The Zone of Interest and more!
Read Dakota's Best of the Vancouver International Film Festival blog post.
Read Brodie's review of Joan Baez I Am Noise.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift that he wrote and follow him on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We wrap up our Vancouver International Film Festival coverage with two excellent interviews. First is Caitlyn Sponheimer, the writer, director and lead actor from Wild Goat Surf. We follow that up with Olga Petsa, an actor from I Used To Be Funny.
Check out our VIFF Wrap Up podcast.
Read our reviews of Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.
Read our reviews from the New York Film Festival by Paulo Bautista.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival just concluded and we wrap up some of the films we saw. Joining the show again is Todd Pengelly who was last heard just two shows ago on 253: 2023 VIFF Preview. We talk about Anatomy of a Fall, The Promised Land, The Royal Hotel, The Teachers’ Lounge and The Zone of Interest.
Check out the full list of Canadian award winners at VIFF.
Watch Thomas Stoneham-Judge's interview with the director of Asog.
Read Dakota's reviews for The Royal Hotel, Only The River Flows, Mr. Dress-Up The Magic of Make-Believe and Fitting In.
Stay tuned for VIFF interviews coming next week!
Read Todd's work at For Reel and follow him on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
October is Filipino American Heritage Month and to celebrate we are looking at the contributions that The Philippines have made to cinema. We specifically are looking at three films Manilla in the Claws of Light, Ma' Rosa and Islands along with namedropping plenty of other titles. Joining the show to lead the discussion is Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast.
Check out Paulo's Letterboxd list with every movie mentioned on the show along with plenty more to expand your Filipino cinematic experience!
Watch Four Favorites with Dolly de Leon.
Follow Paulo on Twitter and Letterboxd and check out his podcasts Box Office Watch, Yet Another Anime Podcast and many more.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The 2023 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival runs from September 28-October 8th. We preview our most anticipated films that are playing. Joining the show is Todd Pengelly a critic from For Reel.
Dakota's picks include: I Used to Be Funny, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, Monster, Only the River Flows and The Teachers' Lounge.
Todd's picks include: Anatomy of a Fall, Goodbye Julia, On the Adamant, Priscilla and The Royal Hotel.
Stay tuned for more great VIFF content including reviews and a wrap up podcast following the festival.
Read Todd's work at For Reel and follow him on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We wrap up this year's Toronto International Film Festival by talking about the big hits and misses, our favourite films and the award winners. Joining the show to help us break it all down is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies. Jeff also contributed some festival movie reviews to Contra Zoom.
The films we review include: The Holdovers, Woman of the Hour, Dream Scenario, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Hit Man and Motherland.
See the full list of award winning films.
Read Jeff's reviews for Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person and I Don't Know Who You Are.
Read Dakota's reviews for Working Class Goes To Hell, Tautuktavuk (What We See) and Seagrass.
Read Rachel's coverage for Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe, Aphasia, In Flames and much more!
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the ninth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Bil Antoniou, the host of the Bad Gay Movies Podcast and authoring of the monthly Criterion Shelf column (a column Dakota often contributes to as well). Dakota and Bil talk about the legacy of Yasujirō Ozu and Tokyo Story, whether or not to feel bad about having never seen Man With a Movie Camera and the greatness of Pedro Almodóvar.
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel, Pierre and Jeff to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Follow Bil on Twitter and Instagram and read his latest Criterion Shelf blog post covering movies dealing with AI (including Dakota's write ups on 2046 and Dark Star).
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival will run from September 7-17th and we are here to preview our picks for the movies we are most excited about.
Dakota's Picks: Evil Does Not Exist, Hit Man, Poolman, Woman of the Hour and Zone of Interest.
Rachel's Picks: The Boy and the Heron, The Critic, Dumb Money, Knox Goes Away and The Pigeon Tunnel.
It was announced a few weeks before the festival that Bell will not return as the title sponsor next year.
Stay tuned for a lot more TIFF coverage with reviews and more podcasts to come!
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Slow West directed by John Maclean. The film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jay a teenager from Scotland who comes to the wild west in search of the young girl he's in love with. Michael Fassbender plays Silas, a mysterious man who agrees to help guide Jay across the plains with questionable motivations. Joining the show is Jericho Tadeo, The Asian Cut's Critic at Large.
Our double bill pairings include The Sisters Brothers (Dakota), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Rachel) and Snowpiercer (Jericho). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 246: A24 Retrospective - Ex Machina.
Follow Jericho on Twitter and Instagram. Read Jericho's work at Movieweb and on The Asian Cut.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
On August 16th 1977 Elvis Presley died, marking the 46th anniversary of his untimely passing. Currently The Criterion Channel has a 6 movie collection available to stream. We discuss three of the films, King Creole, Wild in the Country and Viva Las Vegas. We talk about Elvis' acting abilities, how his music is incorporated and whether or not his movies deserve a reevaluation from the film community.
Read Rachel's interview with Steve Binder, the director of the famous 1968 comeback special on Exclaim!
Read Rachel's review Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback on POV Magazine.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
For the third year in a row we are covering Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival, which celebrates the best in horror and genre cinema with an emphasis on international movies. We review A Disturbance in the Force: How The Star Wars Holiday Special Happened, Talk To Me, river, With Love and a Major Organ and Sometimes I Think About Dying. We also have some honourable mentions including Where The Devil Roams,Baby Assassins 2 Babies and It Lives Inside.
Watch Dakota's interview with the filmmakers behind Satan Wants You and Where the Devil Roams.
Read Rachel's interview with Danny and Michael Philippou, the directors of Talk To Me.
Read Dakota's reviews of Satan Wants You from Hot Docs earlier this year, and Where The Devil Roams, river, A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened and Baby Assassins 2 Babies.
Read Rachel's reviews of A Disturbance in the Force: How The Star Wars Holiday Special Happened, With Love and a Major Organ and Satan Wants You.
Listen to Awesome Friday's recap of Fantasia Festival.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Fantasia Festival is still going on, but we had the chance to interview two sets of directors who had their films screening at this years fest! First up is Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor, the directors of Satan Wants You a documentary about the start of the Satanic Panic. Second is Toby Poser, John, Zelda and Lulu Adams the team behind Where the Devil Roams, about a murderous carnie family during the Depression Era. Read Dakota's review of Satan Wants You from Hot Docs earlier this year, and his review of Where The Devil Roams. Dakota has also reviewed river, A Disturbance in the Force: How the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened and Baby Assassins 2 Babies. For more information on Satan Wants You, follow Steve J Adams and Sean Horler on Twitter and Instagram. For more information on Where The Devil Roams, follow them on Twitter and Instagram. Stay tuned for more great Fantasia Fest content! Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf! Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more! Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers! Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo. Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip! Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland. The film follows Oscar Issac as a billionaire tech CEO who invites his employee, Domhnall Gleeson, to administer a Turing Test. The subject is Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, a robot that may or may not have human consciousness. We have Canadian writer and director Jeremy LaLonde, best known for films such as Ashgrove and James vs His Future Self come on to discuss the film. If you listen to the podcast on either Spotify or YouTube, we have included the video version of the show too!
Our double bill pairings include Ashgrove (Dakota), Minority Report (Rachel) and Her (Jeremy). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 239: A24 Retrospective - Cut Bank.
Follow Jeremy on Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to his podcast Black Hole Films, and his plant based cooking channel PB With J. Visit his personal website for more information on his work.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1951 film The Day The Earth Stood Still directed by Robert Wise and the 2008 remake also called The Day The Earth Stood Still directed by Scott Derickson. Check out our past Make/Remake's for more great comparison episodes and see the Letterboxd list.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift that he wrote and follow him on Twitter.
Read Rachel's Barbenheimer and Beyond: Hollywood's Greatest Box Office Showdowns on Exclaim! Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great content.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
A few weeks ago CBC released a poll conducted by them where industry professionals and critics voted to help make a list of The 50 Greatest Films Directed by Canadians. Both Dakota and Rachel voted on the list, with Rachel even writing in praise of the #6 movie Crash. Joining the show to talk about the list and who they also voted for is Matthew Simpson and Taylor Beaumont.
Listen to episode 45: Canadian Filmmakers where we discuss a similar subject.
Check out Taylor's massive list of great Canadian films on Letterboxd.
Read the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time as named by TIFF back in 2015.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account and his new website.
Read Taylor's work at For Reel and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Read Rachel's article Tom Cruise's 5 Best 'Mission: Impossible' Stunts on Exclaim! Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
It is Dakota's birthday week, and we continue the trend of picking a category and choosing our favourites from it. In 2020 there was 114: 30 Films in 30 Years, in 2021 it was 157: Best Films Through the Decades and in 2022 it was 199: Best Films by Genre. This year we are naming our 10 favourite films by language. We cover four specific languages, one country, two regions and three wildcards! We name both our picks and runners-up.
See our picks below (Dakota’s first, then Rachel’s)!
French: Incendies and Polytechnique
Spanish: Pan's Labyrinth
Italian: Bicycle Thieves and La Dolce Vita
Cantonese or Mandarin: In the Mood for Love and Septet: The Story of Hong Kong
Middle East Region: Capernaum and Subtraction
Nordic Region: The Worst Person in the World and Speak No Evil
African Wildcard: Timbuktu and Saloum
Asian Wildcard: Pather Panchali and Old Boy
European Wildcard: Nosferatu the Vampyre and M
Check out our Letterboxd list to see our full list including our runner up's.
Listen to episodes mentioned on the podcast 69: Make/Remake Terminal Station and Indiscretion of an American Wife, 214: A Trilogy of Nosferatu’s.
Watch Kogonada's video essay What Is Neorealism? to see his breakdown of the differences between Terminal Station and Indiscretion of and American Wife.
Why Iran creates some of the world’s best films.
Read Rachel's interview with Adele Lim the director of Joy Ride on The Asian Cut. Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
For the 3rd year in a row we cover the Toronto Japanese Film Festival and talk about movies we saw. They include Plan 75, BL Metamorphosis, Roleless, and Father of the Milky Way Railroad.
Read Jericho Tadeo's original review of Plan 75 when it was screened at TIFF last year on The Asian Cut.
Both Dakota and Rachel participated in CBC's The 50 Greatest Films Directed by Canadians and Rachel wrote in support of the #6 film, Crash.
Check out past episodes covering TJFF including 201: 2022 Toronto Japanese Film Festival and 155: Toronto Japanese Film Festival.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the eighth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Paulo Bautista, a man who wears many hats but some of the podcasts he hosts include the Oscars Death Race Podcast, Box Office Watch, Filmography in Focus, Yet Another Anime Podcast and Into the Aether Vortex. Dakota and Paulo talk about how Satoshi Kon is Paulo's favourite director, the mountain of "important" movies he hasn't seen yet, how Titanic and Forest Gump are his least favourite Best Picture winners and how The Tale of Princess Kaguya is not only an underrated movie but possible the best one produced by Studio Ghibli.
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel, Pierre, Jeff, Sammy and Stephanie to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Follow Paulo on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We're a little over halfway through 2023, so we decide to look at the best films of the year so far! Our titles are listed alphabetically, so they are not in order of our rankings. We also share our honourable mentions that just missed the cut!
Dakota's Top 5
- BlackBerry
- Renfield
- Satan Wants You
- Scream 6
- Showing Up
Rachel's Top 5
- BlackBerry
- John Wick: Chapter 4
- Past Lives
- Retrograde
- Riceboy Sleeps
Listen to Classic Movies Live review BlackBerry.
Listen to past episodes 238: Most Anticipated Movies of 2023 (previous discussion on Past Lives), 235: Hot Docs 2023 (with full review of Satan Wants You), 214: A Trilogy of Nosferatu’s and 49: History of the Dracul (previous shows reviewing iteration's of Dracula).
Check out Rachel's interview with Matt Johnson and Jay Baruchel from BlackBerry on Exclaim!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
It's June, which means it is Pride Month! Bad Gay Movies is one of my favourite podcasts and love hearing Bil Antoniou talk about gay themed movies, but I wanted to here his thoughts on movies that are actually good. We decided to focus on movies that were influential to Bil as he was coming of age. We discuss Madonna: Truth or Dare, Jeffrey and Clueless.
Listen to our last Pride themed episode 112: Celebrating Queer Cinema.
Read Examining the Politics of Madonna's 'Truth or Dare,' 30 Years Later.
Follow Bil on Twitter and Instagram and read his latest Criterion Shelf blog post covering movies directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Cut Bank directed by Matt Shakman. The film stars Liam Hemsworth and Teresa Palmer as a couple who accidentally film the murder of their small town mailman. Once John Malkovich, the towns sheriff, starts to investigate the crime, things suddenly start not appearing as they seem. Joining the show is Daniel Grant, one half of the Spoiled Rotten podcast a fellow That Shelf show.
Our double bill pairings include Office Space (Dakota), Zodiac (Rachel) and A Simple Plan (Daniel). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 237: A24 Retrospective - While We're Young.
Check out Rachel's recent appearance on Spoiled Rotten where she discusses Batman Forever. Stay tuned for Dakota's appearance to talk about The Punisher later this summer.
Follow Daniel on Twitter and Spoiled Rotten on Twitter. Check out Daniel's site for all his work.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Now that all the limited releases of 2022 have come out and we are past the winter studio dumping grounds, it is time to look at what movies are coming out the rest of this year. Both Dakota and Rachel pick 6 movies each that have confirmed release dates and discuss why they are so excited for them.
Dakota's picks: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Asteroid City, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie, Next Goal Wins and Kraven the Hunter.
Rachel's picks: Past Lives, Elemental, Joy Ride, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Dune: Part Two.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's While We're Young directed by Noah Baumbach. The film stars Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a couple who hit their mid-life crisis and meet young hipsters played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried who re-energize them. Joining the show is Bil Antoniou host of the Bad Gay Movies podcast.
Our double bill pairings include The Darjeeling Limited (Dakota) and Being Julia (Bil). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 232: A24 Retrospective - Son of a Gun.
Follow Bil on Twitter and Instagram and read his latest Criterion Shelf blog post covering erotic thrillers.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The first James Bond film Dr. No was first seen outside the United Kingdom in May of 1963. We celebrate the 60th anniversary of the film franchise by revisiting the seminal action movie directed by Terrence Yonge and starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman. After we discuss the movie we look back at the franchise as a whole including our favourite Bond actors, best theme songs and overall best movies. We then look ahead to who we want to play James Bond now that Daniel Craig is retired from the part. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday Podcast.
Read Matthew's Bond franchise recaps.
Check out the comprehensive list of potential Bond actors post Craig.
There would have been a link here for an old episode referenced about the Bond franchise, but that episode seems to be lost to the sands of time!
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account and his new website.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The 30th edition of the Hot Docs festival that celebrates the best new documentaries just concluded in Toronto. We discuss the films Satan Wants You, July Talk: Love Lives Here, I’m Just Here For The Riot, A Still Small Voice, Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun and The Mountains. Joining the show is Courtney Small a critic who runs the publication Cinema Axis and who's work can also be read at That Shelf and POV Magazine among others.
Read Dakota's reviews of Satan Wants You, July Talk: Love Lives Here, I’m Just Here For The Riot and Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun.
Read Courtney's reviews of The Mountains and July Talk: Love Lives Here.
Follow Courtney on Twitter and Spoutible and listen to his radio show Frameline wherever you listen to podcasts.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
It is Contra Zoom Pod's 8th anniversary! To celebrate we decided to do a best of the year episode, from before CZP started! Our first best of the year show was 2015 (20: Top 10 Films of 2015) so we are going back in time to 2014. This show was inspired by Dakota's blog post Best of 2014.
Listen to Better Know a Contributor - Dakota Arsenault to learn more about the history of the podcast.
Dakota's Top 10
-
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
-
Edge of Tomorrow
-
Wild
-
Whiplash
-
The Grand Budapest Hotel
-
Interstellar
-
Mr. Turner
-
Selma
-
Nightcrawler
-
Boyhood
Rachel's Top 10
-
The Imitation Game
-
The Grand Budapest Hotel
-
Whiplash
-
Edge of Tomorrow
-
Under the Skin
-
Locke
-
Coherence
-
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
-
Nightcrawler
-
Enemy
Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
The Canadian Screen Awards just handed out awards for the best in film, television and web content. We look at the big winners in the film portion which included Brother dominating with 12 wins, Crimes of the Future with 2 wins and Alice, Darling, Viking, I Like Movies, Riceboy Sleeps and Falcon Lake each winning 1 award. We also named our top five Canadian films from last year!
Dakota's Top 5
- Brother
- Ashgrove
- Crimes of the Future
- Viking
- Riceboy Sleeps
Rachel's Top 5
- Riceboy Sleeps
- Brother
- Skinamirink
- Slash/Back
- Alice, Darling
Listen to episodes 209: TIFF Interviews – Riceboy Sleeps and The Umbrella Men Directors and 197: David Cronenberg and Body Horror.
Read Rachel's Meet the Canadian Filmmakers Making Waves with Breakthrough Films on Exclaim!.
Read interviews with Asian-Canadian filmmakers on The Asian Cut with Michael Fukushima, Faran Moradi, Bilal Baig and more!
Do you want to watch these Canadian films? Matthew Simpson has you covered, he lists where you can find every CSA nominated movie.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2015's Son of a Gun directed by Julius Avery. The film stars Ewan McGregor as a bank robbery who takes a young man under his wing while in prison. Once on the outside the young man decides to join McGregor's crew as they attempt to rob a gold factory in Australia. Joining the show is Simon Best, one half of the Awesome Friday podcast.
Our double bill pairings include Heat (Dakota), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Rachel) and ambuLAnce (Simon). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 219: A24 Retrospective - The Captive.
Follow Simon on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
Now that the Oscars are gone, we can officially flip the calendar on the 2022 movie year. Dakota and Rachel each name their ten favourite films from last year and get some help with some voicemails from friends of the show!
Special thanks to Calum MacNab from Scaretroducing (Nope), Paulo Bautista from the Oscars Death Race Podcast (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Jeff Bulmer from Classic Movies Live (Babylon) and Bil Antoniou from Bad Gay Movies (TÁR) for sending in voicemails.
Dakota's Top 10
- Brother
- TÁR
- The Good Nurse
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Confess, Fletch
- Babylon
- The Wonder
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Batman
- Broker
Rachel's Top 10
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- After Yang
- Apples
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brother
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Close
- Apollo 10 1/2
- The Menu
- Entergalatic
Read the latest blog posts including Dakota naming his best films of 2013 and Dakota and Rachel teaming up to become Oscar voters.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/contrazoompod/message
After dedicating much of the last two+ months to the Academy Awards, we finally have reached our finish line. The 95th Oscars awarded Everything Everywhere All At Once Best Picture an 6 other awards. All Quiet on the Western Front was the other big winner of the night as well. Joining Dakota and Rachel to recap the winners, review Jimmy Kimmel and discuss everything that happened during the show is Todd Pengelly critic at For Reel and last heard on episode 224: A24 Retrospective – A Most Violent Year.
For an update on episode 229: Oscars 2023 - Oscar Predictions, Dakota went 18/23 and Rachel went 12/20, and our Bonus Episode: Oscars 2023 - Oscar Draft Brodie got 9 points, Alex got 5 points, Dakota got 4 points and Rachel got 2 points.
Follow Todd on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We have another fun bonus episode and if you are either a Spotify or YouTube subscriber you'll also get the video for this show. Brodie Cotnam and Alex Watson join Rachel and Dakota as they have an Oscar Draft. Now you're probably wondering what an Oscar draft is, an idea inspired by the now defunct excellent show First Round Flick, basically you pick a movie nominated at the Oscars and for every award it gets that gets the picker one point. Whoever has the most points, wins!
Dakota's Team
- Babylon
- The Whale
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- RRR
- All The Beauty and the Bloodshed
Rachel's Team
- Elvis
- Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
- TÁR
- Navalny
- Argentina, 1985
Brodie's Team
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Fire of Love
- Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Alex's Team
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- The Fabelmans
- Women Talking
- Triangle of Sadness
Tune in after the Oscars to see who won!
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift that he wrote and follow him on Twitter.
Follow Alex on Letterboxd and Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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We finished going through all the Best Picture nominees over the last month and it's time to put our money where our mouths are. Dakota and Rachel run through all the categories and pick who they want to win and who they think will win. This isn't all the great Oscar coverage as in a few days a bonus video podcast will go up where we do an Oscar draft, and there will also be another If We Were Oscar Voters blog post where we share our snubs.
Listen to 225: Oscars 2023 – Top Fabelmans of Inisherin, 227: Oscars 2023 – Everything Everywhere All Elvis Talking and 228: Oscars 2023 – The Way of WesTÁRn Sadness.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this show we discuss All Quiet on the Western Front, TÁR, Avatar: The Way of Water and Triangle of Sadness. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Kyle Garzon, hosts of the podcast Once Upon a Time at the Oscars a show where every week he review's a different Best Picture nominated film. Stay subscribed in order to see the rest of our Oscar content this season.
Listen to our last episode in the series where we talk about Everything Everywhere All At Once, Elvis and Women Talking.
Check out and subscribe to Once Upon a Time at the Oscars on Spotify and follow them on Twitter and Instagram. The podcast is currently on a hiatus, but we'll be sure to announce to everyone when it is back up and running.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this show we discuss Everything Everywhere All At Once, Elvis and Women Talking. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast and John Richards the owner of Red Carpet Rosters. Stay subscribed in order to see the rest of our Oscar content this season.
Listen to our last episode in the series where we talk about The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans and Top Gun: Maverick.
Check out and subscribe to Oscars Death Race Podcast and Box Office Watch and follow Paulo on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Sign up to join your own fantasy film league, read John's blog about this year's betting favourites.
If you want to learn more about Red Carpet Rosters, listen to Paulo interview John on the Oscars Death Race Podcast and follow Red Carpet Rosters on Twitter.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1952 Akira Kurosawa film Ikiru starring Takashi Shimura and the 2022 British remake Living directed by Oliver Hermanus and starring Bill Nighy. Check out our past Make/Remake's for more great comparison episodes and see the Letterboxd list.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read Rachel's review Somebody I Used To Know on Exclaim!.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the first episode of the series we talk about The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans and Top Gun: Maverick. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer and Pierre Frigon, the hosts of the Classic Movies Live podcast who were last heard on episodes Better Know a Contributor - Pierre Frigon and Better Know a Contributor - Jeff Bulmer. Stay subscribed in order to see the rest of our Oscar content this season.
Read The Banshees of Inisherin review from Slate.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's A Most Violent Year directed by J.C. Chandor. The film stars Oscar Isaac as a man in 1981 New Jersey who is on the precipice of controlling a building to expand his natural gas empire while the world around him is crumbling. His wife, Jessica Chastain, supports her husband, but has her own secrets too. Joining the show is Todd Pengelly critic at For Reel.
Our double bill pairings include The French Connection (Dakota), Casino (Rachel) and Killing Them Softly (Todd). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 219: A24 Retrospective - The Captive.
Follow Todd on Twitter. Read his Best of the year lists including Films, Documentaries and Animated Films.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read Rachel's reviews of Plane and Door Mouse on Exclaim!.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send a screenshot with your 5-star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you to Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-Fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook and visit out official website.
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With the Oscar nominations announced just yesterday, Rachel and Dakota react to who is up for the industries highest honours. We discuss the lack of surprises and domination of the same ten films in just about every category, early favourites and more. The Oscars will be handed out on March 12th 2023, but along the way we will have plenty of great Oscar content, including breaking down each Best Picture nominated film along with all their other nominations, predictions of who we think will win and a wrap up episode!
Go back in time and listen to Dakota predict 82/120 of the Oscar nominations with his appearance on the Oscars Death Race Podcast.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read The Asian Cut's Top 10 Movies & TV Shows of 2022 and Rachel's interview with Kyle Edward Ball the director of Skinamarink for Exclaim!.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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On this bonus episode, I am sharing my interview with Benjamin Belloir, director of the new film Beautiful Stranger for the Academy of Death Racers Festival. Beautiful Stranger is a queer short about a man who experiences a sudden break up and decides to try his luck on a dating app despite his hesitations. I was asked to film a Q&A with Benjamin to appear alongside the film's screening. Feel free to either watch the movie first or to listen to the interview here beforehand.
To watch Beautiful Stranger and everything else at the AODR Festival, you can purchase a run of engagement ticket for only $5. Watch the AODR Fest trailer HERE.
Follow Benjamin Belloir on Instagram.
Follow the Academy of Death Racers film festival on Twitter, Instagram and Discord.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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We are back from our holiday break and it's time to start looking back on the year 2022! We discuss some of the biggest news stories that dominated the film world. We look at how horror movies were dominating the box office (Scream 5, X, Pearl, Men) and some reinventing how word of mouth works (Terrifier 2), how RRR became a global phenomenon, the DC Films reshuffling and cancellation of projects, the Don't Worry Darling drama and much more!
Read a timeline of the DWD drama.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read Karen Tran's interview with Andrew Phung and Rakhee Morzaria from Run the Burbs and Rachel's coverage of the Whistler Film Festival.
Read Dakota's contributions to That Shelf's The Best Films of 2022 and to Bil Antoniou's The Criterion Shelf: A Tribute To Sony Pictures Classics.
Listen to Dakota doing some voice acting on Technically a Conversation's A Christmas Séance episode!
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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It's our last show of 2022! Last year we decided to have some fun by playing a fun little game, you can check out 177: This or That to see how Rachel tortured Dakota into Sophie's Choicing his movie opinions. Rachel is back with another fun game, but to face off against Dakota we have Matthew Simpson from the Awesome Friday podcast. Rachel "created" a game where she looked up popular actors and filmmakers on Letterboxd and asked the guys what the four Most Popular films were in their filmographies are.
If you listen to our podcast on Spotify or YouTube, you'll be able to see video of Dakota and Matthew trying not to embarrass themselves.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read Alisha Mughal's write up on the CBC show Sort Of.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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It's finally here! With the release of the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound Great Films of all Time poll came out on December 1st, and the discourse has been nonstop since then. Everyone has put out their thoughts and opinions and we decided to weigh in as well! Dakota and Rachel react to the official list. They also polled nearly 80 critics and industry professionals to submit their own list. We reveal our own ballots, the Contra Zoom Pod Top 10, and discuss some interesting stats and facts that arose!
Read the accompanying blog about our Greatest Films of all Time List and follow our Letterboxd List to see how many films you have seen.
We also are now a part of the That Shelf family of podcasts, bookmark their site and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
Huge thank you to Stephanie Prior for the special graphic for this episode. Want a sticker of it? Send a screenshot of you reviewing CZP to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Thanks to Jeff Bulmer for making marketing materials for this episode and for sending in a voicemail defending Freddy Got Fingered.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Read her review of Spoiler Alert on The Globe and Mail and her interview with Jeremy LaLonde, director of Ashgrove, on That Shelf.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
"The Curtain Rises" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's The Captive directed by Atom Egoyan. The film stars Ryan Reynolds who even eight years after his daughter was kidnapped he still maintains hope. Rosario Dawson and Scott Speedman play the detectives trying to track down the young girl. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, host of Awesome Friday and last heard on episode 212: 2022 VIFF Wrap Up.
Our double bill pairings include You Were Never Really Here (Dakota's pick) and The Sweet Hereafter (Matthew's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 217: A24 Retrospective - Revenge of the Green Dragons.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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Back on November 26th 1942 the movie world was changed with the release of the Michael Curtiz directed Casablanca. The film appears on lists such as the IMDb Top 250, the Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative Features, AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies and the 2012 Sight & Sound Critics Poll. The film won Best Picture, Director and Screenplay at the 1944 Oscars. It is beloved the world over with a stacked cast that includes Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet and more. Inspired by Emma Badame's Milestone Movie Anniversaries in 2022 over at That Shelf, we decided to see why this movie still resonates with movie lovers. Joining the show is Brodie Cotnam who was last on the show on episode 200: Movies That Made Us.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift that he wrote and follow him on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read the profile on Romeo Candido and his new series Topline written by Jericho Tadeo on The Asian Cut.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Revenge of the Green Dragons directed by Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo. The film stars Justin Chon and Kevin Wu as two young men in a Chinese gang, The Green Dragons, in the early 90's in New York. Joining the show is Rose Ho, one third of The Asian Cut (alongside Rachel and Alisha Mughal).
Our double bill pairings include Goodfellas (Dakota), Gook (Rachel) and Dragonball Evolution (Rose). Check out the ongoing Letterboxd list of all our pairings.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 215: A24 Retrospective - Laggies.
Follow Rose on Letterboxd and read her review of Riceboy Sleeps. Listen to our interview with Riceboy Sleeps director Anthony Shim.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read Rachel's review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
It's Noir-vember again and we are back with another great film noir themed show! This year The Criterion Channel has a collection of 20th Century Fox produced films and we look at three of the movies showing. Joining the show is critic Alisha Mughal, who was last heard on episode 197: David Cronenberg and Body Horror. We discuss Fallen Angel directed by Otto Preminger, Call Northside 777 directed by Henry Hathaway and Panic in the Streets directed by Elia Kazan.
Listen to last year's noir themed episode 173: Noir-vember to hear Rachel and Dakota share their favourites of the genre.
You can watch the three movies we covered either on The Criterion Channel with two of them for free on YouTube (Fallen Angel and Call Northside 777)
Read Bil Antoniou's Criterion Shelf articles on last year's Fox Noir collection and on journalism in film.
Read Alisha's review on Leonore Will Never Die at The Asian Cut and subscribe to the Film Daze Substack for their new movie club! Follow Alisha on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read Rachel's interview with Randall Park on Exclaim! for his new show Blockbuster.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
It's Noir-vember again and we are back with another great film noir themed show! This year The Criterion Channel has a collection of 20th Century Fox produced films and we look at three of the movies showing. Joining the show is critic Alisha Mughal, who was last heard on episode 197: David Cronenberg and Body Horror. We discuss Fallen Angel directed by Otto Preminger, Call Northside 777 directed by Henry Hathaway and Panic in the Streets directed by Elia Kazan.
Listen to last year's noir themed episode 173: Noir-vember to hear Rachel and Dakota share their favourites of the genre.
You can watch the three movies we covered either on The Criterion Channel with two of them for free on YouTube (Fallen Angel and Call Northside 777)
Read Bil Antoniou's Criterion Shelf articles on last year's Fox Noir collection and on journalism in film.
Read Alisha's review on Leonore Will Never Die at The Asian Cut and subscribe to the Film Daze Substack for their new movie club! Follow Alisha on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read Rachel's interview with Randall Park on Exclaim! for his new show Blockbuster.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Laggies directed by Lynn Shelton. The film stars Kiera Knightly as a woman who faces a quarter century crisis and runs away from her life to stay with a high schooler played by Chloë Grace Moretz. Joining the show is Kattie Laur and Mark Allin, Kattie is a writer for Pod the North and producer on Alpaca My Bags while Mark is a musician and host of former movie podcast Videophilia.
Our double bill pairings include Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Dakota), Hook (Rachel), Booksmart (Kattie) and Your Sister's Sister (Mark). Check out the ongoing Letterboxd list of all our pairings.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 213: A24 Retrospective - Tusk.
Follow Kattie on Twitter and read the Pod the North Substack. Follow Mark on Twitter and listen to his band Beat Noir. Follow their dog Joe on Instagram!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read Rachel's interview with Decision to Leave director Park Chan-wook on The Asian Cut.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Laggies directed by Lynn Shelton. The film stars Kiera Knightly as a woman who faces a quarter century crisis and runs away from her life to stay with a high schooler played by Chloë Grace Moretz. Joining the show is Kattie Laur and Mark Allin, Kattie is a writer for Pod the North and producer on Alpaca My Bags while Mark is a musician and host of former movie podcast Videophilia.
Our double bill pairings include Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Dakota), Hook (Rachel), Booksmart (Kattie) and Your Sister's Sister (Mark). Check out the ongoing Letterboxd list of all our pairings.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 213: A24 Retrospective - Tusk.
Follow Kattie on Twitter and read the Pod the North Substack. Follow Mark on Twitter and listen to his band Beat Noir. Follow their dog Joe on Instagram!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews. Make sure to read Rachel's interview with Decision to Leave director Park Chan-wook on The Asian Cut.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
It's our annual Halloween special! This year we are looking at three versions of the Nosferatu story in preparation of Robert Eggers version coming next year. When the Bram Stoker estate wouldn't grant F.W. Murnau the rights to film Dracula in 1922, he made his own version and changed the names making Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens (A Symphony of Horror) starring Max Schreck. In 1979 Werner Herzog remade the film with Nosferatu the Vampyre starring Klaus Kinski. Then in 2000 E. Elias Merhige made a film about the original film, Shadow of the Vampire with Willem Dafoe playing Max Schreck. This isn't a traditional Make/Remake episode as we just have a free flowing discussion of the three films.
Check out the previous Halloween special episode 49: History of the Dracul, which looks at three different versions of the official Dracula character.
Rachel just launched a new movie criticism website with friends of the show Alisha Mughal and Rose Ho called The Asian Cut that looks the Asian diaspora through the lens of film. Bookmark this site as there will be plenty of great content coming! Follow the site on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
It's our annual Halloween special! This year we are looking at three versions of the Nosferatu story in preparation of Robert Eggers version coming next year. When the Bram Stoker estate wouldn't grant F.W. Murnau the rights to film Dracula in 1922, he made his own version and changed the names making Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens (A Symphony of Horror) starring Max Schreck. In 1979 Werner Herzog remade the film with Nosferatu the Vampyre starring Klaus Kinski. Then in 2000 E. Elias Merhige made a film about the original film, Shadow of the Vampire with Willem Dafoe playing Max Schreck. This isn't a traditional Make/Remake episode as we just have a free flowing discussion of the three films.
Check out the previous Halloween special episode 49: History of the Dracul, which looks at three different versions of the official Dracula character.
Rachel just launched a new movie criticism website with friends of the show Alisha Mughal and Rose Ho called The Asian Cut that looks the Asian diaspora through the lens of film. Bookmark this site as there will be plenty of great content coming! Follow the site on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Tusk directed by Kevin Smith. The film stars Justin Long as a podcaster who travels to Winnipeg, Manitoba and decides to interview a former sailor, Michael Parks, who had lured Wallace in hopes of performing a grotesque surgery on him. Joining the show is Nathan Sizemore, one third of the I Hope You Suffer podcast who was last heard on episode 128: Fright Flicks.
Our double bill pairings include Freaks (Dakota) and Freaked with an honourable mention for The Oily Maniac (Nathan). Check out the ongoing Letterboxd list of all our pairings.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 211: A24 Retrospective - The Rover.
Listen to I Hope You Suffer and follow the show on Instagram. Also check out the Nate and Cait Movie Club podcast as well.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Tusk directed by Kevin Smith. The film stars Justin Long as a podcaster who travels to Winnipeg, Manitoba and decides to interview a former sailor, Michael Parks, who had lured Wallace in hopes of performing a grotesque surgery on him. Joining the show is Nathan Sizemore, one third of the I Hope You Suffer podcast who was last heard on episode 128: Fright Flicks.
Our double bill pairings include Freaks (Dakota) and Freaked with an honourable mention for The Oily Maniac (Nathan). Check out the ongoing Letterboxd list of all our pairings.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 211: A24 Retrospective - The Rover.
Listen to I Hope You Suffer and follow the show on Instagram. Also check out the Nate and Cait Movie Club podcast as well.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
While Rachel got to have her fun covering TIFF, those of us on the west coast got to enjoy the Vancouver International Film Festival. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday Podcast, who was last heard on episode 211: A24 Retrospective - The Rover. We're trying something new, both Contra Zoom and Awesome Friday are releasing the same episode, so you can listen to the show either on this feed or theirs! We each rank our top five films seen during the VIFF.
Matthew's Top 5: Until Branches Bend, Triangle of Sadness, Riceboy Sleeps, The Grizzlie Truth, I Like Movies
Dakota's Top 5: Bones of Crows, Triangle of Sadness, Broker, Viking and Brother
Read Dakota's reviews for Bones of Crows, Viking, Brother, The Grizzlie Truth, Black Ice and ROSIE.
Listen to Rachel's interview with Anthony Shim the director of Riceboy Sleeps.
Listen to Awesome Friday review Triangle of Sadness and Viking.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
While Rachel got to have her fun covering TIFF, those of us on the west coast got to enjoy the Vancouver International Film Festival. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, one half of the Awesome Friday Podcast, who was last heard on episode 211: A24 Retrospective - The Rover. We're trying something new, both Contra Zoom and Awesome Friday are releasing the same episode, so you can listen to the show either on this feed or theirs! We each rank our top five films seen during the VIFF.
Matthew's Top 5: Until Branches Bend, Triangle of Sadness, Riceboy Sleeps, The Grizzlie Truth, I Like Movies
Dakota's Top 5: Bones of Crows, Triangle of Sadness, Broker, Viking and Brother
Read Dakota's reviews for Bones of Crows, Viking, Brother, The Grizzlie Truth, Black Ice and ROSIE.
Listen to Rachel's interview with Anthony Shim the director of Riceboy Sleeps.
Listen to Awesome Friday review Triangle of Sadness and Viking.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the sixth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Pierre Frigon, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast. Rachel and Pierre talk about how originally he and his CML co-host Jeff Bulmer were rivals, how he's never seen Jaws (the same answer Jeff gave on his episode), why he struggles coming to terms with Christopher Nolan being his favourite director and why both Rachel and Pierre have wrong opinions on Nomadland.
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel, Jeff, Sammy, Stephanie and Calum to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the sixth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Pierre Frigon, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast. Rachel and Pierre talk about how originally he and his CML co-host Jeff Bulmer were rivals, how he's never seen Jaws (the same answer Jeff gave on his episode), why he struggles coming to terms with Christopher Nolan being his favourite director and why both Rachel and Pierre have wrong opinions on Nomadland.
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel, Jeff, Sammy, Stephanie and Calum to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's The Rover directed by David Michôd. The film stars Guy Pearce as a man tracking down a group of thieves that stole his car in post apocalyptic Australia. He finds Robert Pattinson, the brother of one of the thieves left for dead and uses him to find the group. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, the host of the Awesome Friday podcast who was last heard on the show back on episode 200: Movies That Made Us.
Our double bill pairings include Personal Shopper (Dakota), Life (Rachel) and The Proposition (Matthew).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 205: A24 Retrospective – Obvious Child.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Listen to Rachel, who joined a round table discussion on The Movie Podcast, to interview Brendan Fraser about his latest film The Whale.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's The Rover directed by David Michôd. The film stars Guy Pearce as a man tracking down a group of thieves that stole his car in post apocalyptic Australia. He finds Robert Pattinson, the brother of one of the thieves left for dead and uses him to find the group. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, the host of the Awesome Friday podcast who was last heard on the show back on episode 200: Movies That Made Us.
Our double bill pairings include Personal Shopper (Dakota), Life (Rachel) and The Proposition (Matthew).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series episode 205: A24 Retrospective – Obvious Child.
Listen to Awesome Friday and follow them on Twitter and Instagram as well as Matthew's personal Twitter account.
Listen to Rachel, who joined a round table discussion on The Movie Podcast, to interview Brendan Fraser about his latest film The Whale.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Rachel Ho continues to captain the CZP ship as she recaps the Toronto International Film Festival. Joining her is Prabhjot Bains, a writer for Tilt and Exclaim! as they talk about the highs, lows and complexities of the fest. They talk about The Whale, My Policeman, The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Brother and The Fabelmans. They also give brief mentions to Aftersun, Triangle of Sadness, Empire of Light, All Quiet on the Western Front and Causeway.
Read Rachel's reviews for The Whale and Brother.
Read Prabhjot's reviews for The Whale, My Policeman, The Menu, Aftersun, Triangle of Sadness and Prisoner's Daughter.
Listen to Rachel's interviews with Anthony Shim the director of Riceboy Sleeps and John Barker the director of The Umbrella Men.
Follow Prabhjot on Instagram and Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Rachel Ho continues to captain the CZP ship as she recaps the Toronto International Film Festival. Joining her is Prabhjot Bains, a writer for Tilt and Exclaim! as they talk about the highs, lows and complexities of the fest. They talk about The Whale, My Policeman, The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin, Brother and The Fabelmans. They also give brief mentions to Aftersun, Triangle of Sadness, Empire of Light, All Quiet on the Western Front and Causeway.
Read Rachel's reviews for The Whale and Brother.
Read Prabhjot's reviews for The Whale, My Policeman, The Menu, Aftersun, Triangle of Sadness and Prisoner's Daughter.
Listen to Rachel's interviews with Anthony Shim the director of Riceboy Sleeps and John Barker the director of The Umbrella Men.
Follow Prabhjot on Instagram and Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Rachel Ho flies solo for the first time as she interviews two directors whose films were playing at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
First up is the Anthony Shim, who made the Canadian-Korean drama Riceboy Sleeps about a single mother who is struggling to raise her son as new immigrants to Canada. They talk about struggling to find the right actors for the roles, why music was the key to writing the film and having the nicest press kit ever.
The second interview was with John Barker, the South African filmmaker who directed The Umbrella Men about a group a musicians who decide to rob a bank in order to save a local club. They talk about John's return to TIFF after 16 years when the fest screened an earlier film of his, Trevor Noah's connection to the film and how to balance making films from an outsiders perspective.
Read the profile that Rachel contributed on about Brendan Fraser on That Shelf.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Rachel Ho flies solo for the first time as she interviews two directors whose films were playing at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.
First up is the Anthony Shim, who made the Canadian-Korean drama Riceboy Sleeps about a single mother who is struggling to raise her son as new immigrants to Canada. They talk about struggling to find the right actors for the roles, why music was the key to writing the film and having the nicest press kit ever.
The second interview was with John Barker, the South African filmmaker who directed The Umbrella Men about a group a musicians who decide to rob a bank in order to save a local club. They talk about John's return to TIFF after 16 years when the fest screened an earlier film of his, Trevor Noah's connection to the film and how to balance making films from an outsiders perspective.
Read the profile that Rachel contributed on about Brendan Fraser on That Shelf.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Back on episode 151: Hot Docs 2021, Rachel and Dakota reviewed a ramen documentary called Come Back Anytime. They both fell in love with the gentle and warm doc about Master Masamoto Ueda who is not only a great ramen chef, but also a community leader in his neighbourhood in Tokyo. Director John Daschbach is an American that lives in Japan and became a regular at the shop and decided to make a documentary about the noodle king. We get in depth on how to best capture food on film, how Abbas Kiarostami and Krzysztof Kieślowski influence him and how the shop is now getting international visitors.
Read Dakota and Rachel's original reviews for Come Back Anytime.
Read Rachel's interview with John Daschbach for POV Magazine.
Catch Come Back Anytime coming to VOD down the line and a November screening of the film on TVO for Ontario residents.
Follow Come Back Anytime on Instagram and Twitter and John Daschbach on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With the Toronto International Film Festival just around the corner, running from September 8-18th, we decided to preview what movies we are most excited about. Dakota's picks include Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story, The Good Nurse, Triangle of Sadness and Wendell and Wild. Rachel's picks include Stellar, Viking, Brother and The Banshees Of Inisherin. They both are very excited for Decision to Leave so that made their lists. They also share a few honourable mentions. Look for more great TIFF coverage coming throughout the festival.
Check out their picks in blog form as well.
Read the Brother cover story from Now Magazine.
Listen to Rachel's appearance on the Awesome Friday Podcast reviewing Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul and Three Thousand Years of Longing.
Read Rachel's review of Beast.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Support the show on Ko-fi by sending us a tip!
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Two years ago on episode 85: All Things MCU, we talked about all the big announcements for Marvel post Infinity Saga. Now that most of the movies and TV shows talked about then have come out, it's time to look ahead again. During this year's Comic Con, Marvel announced the slate for Phases 5 and 6, now being called the Multiverse Saga. Joining the show to talk about upcoming films Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars along with the TV shows Secret Invasion, Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Daredevil: Born Again is Sammy Feilchenfeld.
A huge congratulations to friends of the show Scaretroducing for celebrating 100 episodes!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Obvious Child directed by Gillian Robespierre. The film stars Jenny Slate as an aspiring stand up comedian who gets dumped and in her grief has a one night stand that ends up with her getting pregnant while the rest of her life is collapsing around her. Joining the show is Stephanie Prior, CZP's fantastic graphic designer, who was last heard on episode 188: 2022 Oscar Predictions.
Our double bill pairings include Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Dakota's pick) and How To Be Single (Stephanie's pick).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 194: A24 Retrospective - Under the Skin.
Don't listen to the blasphemous podcast Classic Movies Live and their episode Best Animated Films by Genre, a response to CZP's episode 199: Best Films by Genre. Rachel Ho decided to betray Dakota's trust by appearing on the show.
A huge shout out to our friends at I Hope You Suffer, who have spent every episode since Roe v Wade was overturned donating their own Patreon funds and encouraging others to donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds. Contra Zoom Pod has donated to the same charity since this episode deals with abortion and we encourage listeners to do the same!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With Montreal's Fantasia Festival wrapping up, we look back at one of the premiere genre film festivals. We discuss several films we saw including the opening night selection Polaris, Skinamarink, Baby Assassins, My Small Land and Topology of Sirens.
Listen to our interviews with KC Carthew, director of Polaris and Berkley Brady, director of Dark Nature on episode 203: Fantasia Fest Interviews - Polaris and Dark Nature Directors.
Read Dakota's reviews for Polaris, Baby Assassins and Topology of Sirens.
Read Rachel's reviews for Polaris, Out of the Ring and Skinamarink.
Listen to episode 201: 2022 Toronto Japanese Film Festival.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Fantasia Festival is still going on, but we had the chance to interview two directors who had their films screening at this years fest!
First up both Dakota and Rachel chat with KC Carthew, the director of Fantasia's opening night film Polaris, afterwards Rachel goes solo as she talks to Berkley Brady the director of Dark Nature.
Read Dakota and Rachel's reviews of Polaris and Sara Clements review of Dark Nature.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Dakota and Rachel share their picks for their top five movies of the year so far and a few honourable mentions!
Dakota's picks were After Yang, The Batman, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Top Gun: Maverick and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Rachel's picks were Ambulance, Apples, Ashgrove, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Fire of Love.
Read Rachel's contributions to That Shelf's best movies of the year list.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We return with coverage of this year's Toronto Japanese Film Festival which showcases the finest Japanese films that are often getting either Canadian or International premiere's, giving audiences a chance to finally see the best movies coming out of Japan. We covered the festival last year on 155: Toronto Japanese Film Festival. On this show we talk about Midnight Swan (which won Best Film at the 2021 Japanese Academy Awards), The Pursuit of Perfection, It's a Flickering Life (2022 Best Film nominee), Ribbon and The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai.
Read Rachel's reviews of Midnight Swan, The Pursuit of Perfection, Ribbon and Junk Head.
Follow the TJFF on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
For our special 200th episode Dakota and Rachel decided to look back at films that made them the movie watchers they are today. From fond early moviegoing memories to the first time they were challenged to what made them want to be a critic. They picked five films each and got some voicemails from friends of the show who wanted to share their picks!
Dakota's picks: The Birds/North By Northwest, The Shawshank Redemption, 12 Angry Men, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Great Beauty.
Rachel's picks: The Lion King, The Skulls, Superbad, Soul and The Sound of Music.
How many picks have you seen? Check out our Letterboxd list!
To learn the full history of Contra Zoom, listen to Better Know a Contributor - Dakota Arsenault.
Read Dakota's inspiring review of The Great Beauty.
Watch The Inevitable Downfall of the Judd Apatow Comedy.
Special thanks to Brodie Cotnam (Halloween), Matthew Simpson from Awesome Friday (Jurassic Park), Alex Watson (Black Narcissus), Calum MacNab from Scaretroducing (Flight of the Navigator) and Thomas Stoneham-Judge from For Reel (Cloverfield) for sending in voicemail clips of movies that made them!
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
For the last two year's for my birthday I've dedicated the podcast to celebrating some of my all time favourite movies! In 2020 there was 114: 30 Films in 30 Years and in 2021 it was 157: Best Films Through the Decades. Returning after being on last year's birthday special is Bil Antoniou, last heard on episode 189: 2022 Oscar Recap. We go through ten different film genres and name our favourite films from each of them! See our picks below (Dakota's first, then Bil's)!
Comedy: What We Do in the Shadows and Auntie Mame
Crime: Hell or High Water and L.A. Confidential
Musical: Amadeus and Topsy-Turvy
Documentary: O.J.: Made in America and Hearts and Minds
Animated: Fantastic Mr. Fox and Fantasia
SciFi: Ex Machina and 2001: A Space Odyssey
Horror: Rosemary's Baby and Halloween
Romance: Portrait of a Lady on Fire and All The Heaven Allows
Action: Seven Samurai and Goldfinger
Biopic: Love & Mercy and Out of Africa
How many of our picks have you seen? Compare on our Letterboxd list.
Read Bil's That Criterion Shelf article about Judy Garland and The 25 Best Biopics of All Time, that Bil contributed to. Visit My Old Addiction and follow Bil on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Check out Bad Gay Movies on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In our third "A History Of..." series after the success charting the rise of NEON, A24 Films and The Criterion Collection we are looking at Laika Studios, a film studio that has revitalized the art of stop motion animation. The studio put out its first film in 2009 with Coraline and since then have released five Oscar nominated movies including Kubo & the Two Strings and ParaNorman. We trace their roots of the studio and how they grow out of another groundbreaking studio.
Watch the Will Vinton Oscar winning short Closed Mondays, Laika's first short film Moongirl and the original animatic for Kubo & The Two Strings.
Check out episode 171: The Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror as mentioned during the show.
What "A History Of..." would you like us to cover next?
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the sixth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast. We talk what made how Spanglish kept Jeff in check, his favourite movies (Requiem for a Dream, Spider-Man 2 and Redline), last movie turned off (Deep Water) and more!
Listen to Jeff's infamous Best Original Song rant from episode 147: Judas and the Mank.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter. Read Jeff's movie reviews on his personal site.
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Dakota, Rachel, Sammy, Stephanie and Calum to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With the recent release of Crimes of the Future, the newest film directed by David Cronenberg and his first in almost a decade, we are celebrating the auteur's proper return to the body horror in quite a long time. We look at how body horror helps move the story along and what it has to offer in helping to better understand his films themes. We are focusing on The Fly, Videodrome and Naked Lunch and how they influenced Crimes of the Future. Joining the show for the first film is film critic Alisha Mughal.
Read Alisha's review of Crimes of the Future and Rachel's David Cronenberg's 10 Greatest Body Horror Moments Ranked.
Follow Alisha on Twitter.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Locke directed by Steven Knight. The film stars Tom Hardy as a man driving to a hospital as a woman prepares to give birth to his child. On this drive he has to fight potential consequences for making this decision, including telling his wife he cheated on her and his work that on the eve of a massive project he can not be there to oversee it. Joining the show is Thomas Stoneham-Judge is a film critic for the site For Reel.
Our double bill pairings include All is Lost (Dakota), Tape (Rachel) and Phone Booth (Thomas).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 194: A24 Retrospective - Under the Skin. Check out all previous Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Follow Thomas on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1962 J. Lee Thompson version of Cape Fear (a film celebrating its 60th anniversary this year) and the 1991 Martin Scorsese remake also called Cape Fear. Check out our past Make/Remake's for more great comparison episodes and see the Letterboxd list.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Under the Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer. The film stars Scarlett Johnasson as a nameless woman who picks up lonely men in Scotland before bringing them back to a black void where their bodies are harvested as it turns out this woman isn’t human. Joining the show to talk about one of his favourite films and give extra context to the setting of the movie, which features his hometown of Glasgow, is Calum Macnab one half of the Scaretroducing podcast. He last appeared on the show on Better Know a Contributor - Calum Macnab.
Our double bill pairings include Alien (Dakota), Titane (Rachel) and The Fly (Calum). Check out all previous Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 181: A24 Retrospective - Life After Beth.
Follow Calum and his show Scaretroducing on Twitter and Instagram.
Read Rachel's review of Men. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Technically a Conversation and follow them on Instagram!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
For the third year in a row, we cover the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which celebrates the best documentaries in the world. This year it ran from April 28th to May 8th and 225 movies from 63 countries were screened in-person in Toronto and online. We review and discuss Blue Island, Eternal Spring, The Thief Collector, Shooting War and Eskape. We each also recommend The Art of Silence and The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks.
Read Rachel's reviews for Blue Island, The Thief Collector and The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Technically a Conversation and follow them on Instagram!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With 2021 fully behind us, we begin to look forward to what new releases excite us the most for the rest of 2022. Rachel's picks include Men, The Phantom of the Open, Bullet Train, Nope and DC League of Super Pets. Dakota's picks include Thor: Love and Thunder, Don’t Worry Darling, Babylon, Blonde and Disappointment Blvd.
Check out episode 190: Top Ten Films of 2021.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Technically a Conversation and follow them on Instagram!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With the recent release of Pixar's latest film Turning Red, Toronto has hit the international stage. The city is home to one of the busiest filming hubs in the world, but very rarely gets to play itself. We look at the Toronto-ness of the giant red panda bounding across the city, Scott Pilgrim vs The World having a bass off in Lee's Palace, The F Word going skinny dipping at the Scarborough Bluffs, The Stairs highlighting ignored and forgotten people struggling in Regent Park, Enemy criss-crossing the Greater Toronto Area and more! We also look at the winners of this year's Canadian Screen Awards where Scarborough and Night Raiders took home the bulk of the prizes.
Watch The Stairs for free on TVO.
Read The Globe and Mail's 20 Best Toronto Movies Ever Made.
Read The Toronto Star's breakdown of filming locations.
Learn more about the winners of this year's Canadian Screen Awards.
Read Awesome Friday's Matthew Simpsonguide to National Canadian Film Day.
Listen to episode 180: A24 Retrospective - Enemy for more Toronto talk.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Technically a Conversation and follow them on Instagram!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for the original theme songs, Jimere for the interlude music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We are celebrating our 7th anniversary here at Contra Zoom, so we decided to continue our Better Know a Contributor series by getting the whole backstory of the pod from the creator himself. From the early days at Live in Limbo where finding a name was the most difficult thing in the world to the current highs of always striving for the heat possible show. We learn about Dakota's introduction to loving film (12 Angry Men) to what he thinks are the best shows produced are (93: Best Films of the Decade Part 1 and 94: Best Films of the Decade Part 2).
Check out previous Better Know a Contributor shows focusing on Rachel, Sammy, Stephanie and Calum to learn more about the extended CZP family.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We're finally at the point to reveal out top ten films from last year! Yes it is now April but we have our reasons that you'll have to listen to to find out what they are!
Dakota's List:
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The Worst Person in the World
-
Pig
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Nightmare Alley
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
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Official Competition
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Red Rocket
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Drive My Car
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The Righteous
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Belfast
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The Last Duel
Rachel's List:
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Flee
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Aloners
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Pig
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Saloum
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Dune
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Drive My Car
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Nobody
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Malcolm and Marie
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The Worst Person in the World
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Nine Days
Thanks to friends of the show for sending in messages of their favourite films of 2021 including Thomas Stoneham-Judge from For Reel (Flee), Calum Macnab from Scaretroducing (Malignant), Sammy Feilchenfeld (Dune), Bil Antoniou from Bad Gay Movies (Drive My Car) and Stephanie Prior (Zola).
Check out podcast episodes about films mentioned including 183: Make/Remake Throne of Blood and The Tragedy of Macbeth, 174: Make/Remake Dune, 178: A24 Retrospective - Red Rocket and 165: Fantasia Fest Interviews - The Righteous and Indemnity Directors.
Read If We Were Oscar Winners to see more of our thoughts on films we talk about on this show.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
What a boring uneventful Oscar night. I'm sure there will be nothing to talk about as Bil Antoniou returns to the show after last appearing on episode 157: Best Films Through the Decades. We recap the 94th Academy Awards where CODA won Best Picture, Jane Campion won Best Director, Drive My Car won Best International Film and oh yeah Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock on live television. We discuss the what was supposed to be truncated broadcast that instead was longer than last years, how the trio of hosts did, the odd retrospectives and of course the actual winners.
Read Bil's That Criterion Shelf article about Pre-Code Cinema (co-written by Rachel!). Visit My Old Addiction and follow Bil on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Check out Bad Gay Movies on Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts.
Check out Rachel's review of Wildhood. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
After spending the last few episodes looking at the Best Picture contenders and their odds to win, we finally make our big bold predictions for the big ceremony happening March 27th. We go over 21 of the categories (the shorts were omitted) and we stated who we think will win and who we want to win. Joining Rachel and Dakota is Stephanie Prior, who was last heard on episode 162: Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2021. Stay tuned for our next episode wrapping up the show with all our thoughts on the actual winners!
Check out Rachel's interview with Domee Shi, director of Turning Red and her review of the film. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the second episode of the series we talked about Belfast, West Side Story, CODA and Licorice Pizza. On this show we break down The Power of the Dog, Don't Look Up and Drive My Car. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Kyle and Marilee, hosts of the podcast Once Upon a Time at the Oscars a show where every week they review a different Best Picture nominated film.
Check out and subscribe to Once Upon a Time at the Oscars on Spotify and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On the first episode of the series we talked about Dune, King Richard and Nightmare Alley. On this show we break down Belfast, West Side Story, CODA and Licorice Pizza. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast who was last heard on episode 181: A24 Retrospective - Life After Beth.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter. Read Jeff's movie reviews on his personal site.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free stickers!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook and visit our official website.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We are taking a brief sojourn from Oscar talk, to instead look back into our own country of Canada and discuss the best movies from north of the border. We react to the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, which celebrates the best in film, TV and screen work. On this show we discuss the movie portion of the nominees. Some of the films we go over include Scarborough, Night Raiders, All My Puny Sorrows, Wildhood, The Righteous, Islands, Learn to Swim, Night of the Kings, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy and more! The awards for film will be handed out on April 8th.
Listen to our interview with Mark O'Brien director and star of The Righteous and our interview with director Virginia Abramovich and writer Katherine Andrews Between Waves.
Read Dakota's article of his top Canadian Films of 2021.
Read our Rachel's reviews on Scarborough, The Righteous, Night Raiders, Night of the Kings, Learn to Swim, Islands and Between Waves.
Read Dakota's reviews on All My Puny Sorrows, Wildhood and Kicking Blood.
For a full list of nominees check out the Canadian Screen Awards website.
Read Rachel's review of LOL: Last One Laughing Canada, her interview with Kaia Kater from The Porter, and her contributions to the article The Criterion Shelf: Starring Harry Belafonte.
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We begin our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this show we talk about Dune, King Richard and Nightmare Alley. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista, host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast.
Check out Scaretroducing's review of Nightmare Alley.
Check out and subscribe to Oscars Death Race Podcast and Box Office Watch and follow Paulo on Letterboxd.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Normally Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1957 Akira Kurosawa movie Throne of Blood and the 2021 Joel Coen movie The Tragedy of Macbeth both based on the William Shakespeare play Macbeth. Check out past Make/Remake films for more great entries into the series.
Read Rachel's review of The Tragedy of Macbeth and Cosmic Dawn. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We react to the just announced 94th Academy Award nominations. We talk about the big (early) winners in The Power of the Dog, Dune, Belfast, West Side Story, CODA, Being the Ricardos, Flee and more. We look at the big categories and what stuck out as a surprise or a snub. Stay tuned for the rest of Oscar season as there will be plenty more shows devoted to the Academy Awards including episodes breaking down the Best Picture contenders, predictions and after the ceremony reactions. We will also have another edition of Dakota and Rachel pick who they would nominate.
Check out Rachel's top 10 movies from 2021. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2014's Life After Beth directed by Jeff Baena. The film is a story about a young man given a second chance at love when his recently deceased girlfriend comes back to life as a zombie. The film stars Aubrey Plaza, Dane De Haan, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon and Anna Kendrick. This is a special episode as it is a cross over show with Jeff and Pierre from Classic Movies Live coming on to guest, while Rachel and Dakota joined their show to talk about The Voices. The reason for this super special cross over is Classic Movies Live has been doing a series called Kickin' It With Kendrick, a deep dive into the filmography of Anna Kendrick who stars in both Life After Beth and The Voices.
Our double bill pairings include Young Frankenstein (Dakota), Pet Sematary (Rachel) The Voices (Jeff) and Ingrid Goes West (Pierre). Check out all previous Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 180: A24 Retrospective - Enemy.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2013's Enemy directed by Denis Villeneuve. The film is about a history professor played by Jake Gyllenhaal who watches a movie and notices his exact doppelgänger in it. As he investigates who this other man is, they get wrapped up in a mystery of who is really who and how they might be connected. Joining the show is Alex Watson, a film reviewer who used to run the blog Closer to the Edge but who's work can now be found on Letterboxd.
Our double bill pairings include Persona (Dakota), American Psycho (Rachael) and Nightcrawler (Alex). Check out all previous Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 178: A24 Retrospective - Red Rocket.
Follow Alex on Letterboxd and Twitter.
Read Rachel's contributions to Exclaim!'s 16 Most Anticipated Films of 2022 and her review of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Thank you to Cinessance for partnering with us. Check out the best films from France that rarely get distribution in North America. Subscriptions cost as little as $8/month.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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With 2021 now behind us, it's time for Dakota and Rachel to look back at the news stories that dominated the film industry. We talk about Scarlett Johansson suing Disney over the studio pulling Black Widow from theatres, Bob Odenkirk having a scary health moment where for a brief moment the world thought he had died, Jussie Smollet gets sentenced for orchestrating a hate crime against himself, how Spider-Man: No Way Home managed to earn over $600 million in just two weeks and much more.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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On this bonus episode, I am sharing my interview with Louis Lathey, director of the new film Who Am I Now? for the Academy of Death Racers Festival. Who Am I Now? is a queer coming out story for two women who are grappling with their self identities as they fall for each other. I was asked to film a Q&A with the Louise to appear after the films screening. Feel free to either watch the movie first or to listen to the interview here before hand.
To watch Who Am I Now? and everything else at the AODR Festival, you can purchase a run of engagement ticket for only $15.
Watch the AODR Fest trailer HERE.
Watch the Who Am I Now? trailer HERE.
To learn more about Jack Dog Films and Louise Lathey click HERE.
Follow Jack Dog Films on Instagram.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2021's Red Rocket, directed by Sean Baker. The film is about a washed up former porn star Mikey, played by Simon Rex, who returns to his hometown in Texas as he tries to get his life back on track. He moves back in with his estranged wife and mother-in-law and gets back to his scheming ways. He eventually meets 17 year old Strawberry, played by Suzanna Son, as Mikey sees visions of grandeur for the underaged girl in the porn industry.
Our double bill pairings include A Star is Born (Dakota) and Don Jon (Rachel).
Read Dakota's review of Red Rocket from VIFF.
Read Rachel's contributions to Exclaim!'s Most Underrated and Underseen Movies of 2021 and Most Disappointing Films of 2021. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Classic Movies Live on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We are approaching the holiday season, so we thought we'd have a bit of fun! Rachel put together a bunch of questions to test Dakota's ability to make movie recommendations. Jaws or Saving Private Ryan? Marie Antionette or The Bling Ring? Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums?
Check out some of Rachel's recent work on Exclaim's best of series, Exclaim!'s 17 Best Films of 2021 and Exclaim!'s 12 Best TV Shows of 2021. Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2013's The Spectacular Now, directed by James Ponsoldt. The film is a coming of age romantic drama about Sutter, played by Miles Teller, who despite being popular has no direction in his life and showing signs of being a burgeoning alcoholic. He meets Aimee, played by Shailene Woodley, who seems to have her life together but isn't quite out going enough as she falls for Sutter. Joining Dakota and Rachel is Brodie Cotnam, a screenwriter and author. He wrote the book Reality TV and Crack: A User's Guide to an Utterly Useless Existence... and can be heard on The 4th Line Podcast.
Our double bill pairings include Edge of Seventeen (Dakota), 500 Days of Summer (Rachel) and The Way Way Back (Brodie).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 172: A24 Retrospective - The Bling Ring.
Follow Rachel on Twitter and check out her website for more great reviews.
Follow Brodie on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Our first director ranked episode since episode 134: David Fincher Ranked, we look at the films by Wes Anderson as we celebrate his tenth feature film release, The French Dispatch. Joining the show is Stephanie Prior, who was last heard on episode 162: Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2021.
For more information on the rise of Wes Anderson and how he got his first film made, check out the You Must Remember This season of Polly Platt the Invisible Woman.
Listen to Dakota guesting on Please Watch This as he talked about The Life Aquatic.
Here are our rankings for Wes Anderson:
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The French Dispatch
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Bottle Rocket
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The Grand Budapest Hotel
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Isle of Dogs
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Rushmore
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The Royal Tenenbaums
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Moonrise Kingdom
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Fantastic Mr. Fox
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The Life Aquatic
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The Darjeeling Limited
We also gave out our own awards
Best Picture: The Life Aquatic (D), The Darjeeling Limited (S)
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe - The Life Aquatic (D), Edward Norton - Moonrise Kingdom (S)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett - The Life Aquatic (D), Tilda Swinton - The French Dispatch (S)
Best Actor: Adrian Brody - The Darjeeling Limited (D), Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel (S)
Best Actress: Olivia Williams - Rushmore (D+S)
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Normally Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1984 David Lynch version of Dune and the 2021 Dune directed by Denis Villeneuve. Check out our past Make/Remake's for more great comparison episodes. Sammy Feilchenfeld, last heard on Better Know a Contributor - Sammy Feilchenfeld, joins the show providing insight into how the two movies deal with the original source novel that he is a big fan of.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the fourth in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Calum Macnab, one half of the Scaretroducing Podcast. We talk favourite movies (The Shining and Mulholland Drive), favourite guest appearances (104: Make/Remake The Invisible Man and 93: Best Films of the Decade Part 1), last movie turned off (Spiral, but not the one you're thinking of) and more!
Follow Calum and his show Scaretroducing on Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Now that Spooktober is over, it's time to get dark and gritty with Noir-vember! Starting back in 2010 and coined by critic Myra E. Gates, every November movie lovers delve into the crime subgenre Film Noir. We make a top five list of our favourite noir films, but do so based on certain criteria.
Classic Era Noir - The Maltese Falcon (Dakota's pick), Night and the City (Rachel's pick)
New Hollywood Noir - Chinatown (Dakota's pick), A Better Tomorrow (Rachel's pick)
New Neo Noir - Devil in a Blue Dress (Dakota's pick), Who Killed Cock Robin? (Rachel's pick)
Comedy Noir - The Big Lebowski (Dakota's pick), The Kid Detective (Rachel's pick)
A Different Kind of Noir - Blade Runner (Dakota's pick), Breathless (Rachel's pick)
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode we are looking at 2013's The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola. The movie is a rich kids gone bad, as bored Hollywood teens decide to start robbing celebrities they see on TV all the time. We talk about whether the film is style over substance and how well Emma Watson plays bad. Joining Dakota and Rachel is Naomi Wada Platt, a YouTuber who often covers Japanese culture and politics in both English and Japanese language videos, who was last heard on episode 155: Toronto Japanese Film Festival.
Our double bill pairings include Rififi (Dakota), Set It Off (Rachel) and Ocean's 8 (Naomi).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 169: A24 Retrospective - Spring Breakers.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews.
Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Our yearly Halloween special is back! Back in 2010 Mark Gatiss coined the term "Unholy Trinity" in his BBC documentary series A History of Horror, in regards to three seminal British folk horror movies, a subgenre that gained popularity in the late 1960's and beyond. The three films were 1968’s Witchfinder General, 1971’s The Blood on Satan’s Claw and 1973’s The Wicker Man. We first heard the term "Unholy Trinity" back when we watched Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, a documentary about the history of folk horror that we covered on episode 145: SXSW Film Festival 2021.
Witchfinder General 14:00-28:30
The Blood on Satan's Claw 31:00-42:30
The Wicker Man 43:00-1:03:00
For more information on the Unholy Trinity, check out this article from Film School Rejects.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter. Read Rachel's interview for The Last of The Right Whales.
Check out and subscribe to Box Office Watch on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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On this episode we wrap up the 2021 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival. Joining the show to talk about movies watched is Thomas Stoneham-Judge, the Editor-in-Chief of ForReel Movie News and Reviews.
Belfast 11:00-19:00 Read Dakota's review.
Red Rocket 19:30-30:00 Read Dakota's review.
Official Competition 30:00-39:00
Benediction 39:00-47:30 Read Dakota's review.
Drive My Car 49:00-52:30
Memoria 52:30-1:04:30 Read Thomas' review.
All My Puny Sorrows 1:04:30-1:10:00 Read Dakota's review.
Check out our preview episode 167: Vancouver International Film Festival Preview 2021.
Watch Thomas' own festival wrap up!
Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram and ForReel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Check out and subscribe to Box Office Watch on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode, 2012's Spring Breakers, directed by Harmony Korine is on the docket. The film had some stunt casting bringing in teen starlets Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson putting them in bikinis and watching them act like bad girls opposite James Franco doing a riff on the rapper Riff Raff and the directors wife Rachel Korine who rounds out the quartet of young women.
Our double bill pairings include Taxi Driver (Dakota's pick) and Wild Things (Rachel's pick).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 159: A24 Retrospective - The Green Knight.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews.
Check out and subscribe to Box Office Watch on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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After having such a great time covering last year's Cinefest Sudbury, it was a must to return to this Norther Ontario film festival. Last year it was digital only, this year they went to a hybrid model like so many other film festivals. We look at a few films we both saw and some short films seen too.
Wildhood 6:30-15:30 Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review.
Drunk Bus 15:30-27:30 Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review.
Shadowtown 29:00-41:30 Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review.
Shorts 41:30-48:30 Read Rachel's reviews.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews (including Learn to Swim as seen at Cinefest) and follow her on Twitter.
Check out and subscribe to Box Office Watch on Spotify and follow them on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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On this show we are previewing the 40th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival. It is the largest film festival in Western Canada and gets plenty of prestige films from around the world. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson, who is one half of the Awesome Friday Movie Podcast. We each picked five films (and a few honourable mentions) to talk about.
Dakota's picks - Red Rocket, Petit Maman, Benediction, Ste. Anne and Wife of a Spy.
Matthew's picks - The Power of the Dog, The Worst Person in the World, Paris, 13th District, Official Competition and Belfast.
Check out the official Letterboxd list for every film playing at the festival.
Follow Matthew and Awesome Friday on Twitter and check out his work on the Awesome Friday website.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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The Toronto International Film Festival just concluded, this year the fest did a hybrid model offering both in person and digital screenings. We talk about the biggest news stories, who won the awards and review films we watched.
Read Rachel's review of Belfast.
Some digital screeners were leaked online, causing the festival scene to reevaluate the hybrid model.
No movies were sold during this year's TIFF.
Steven Soderbergh re-edited and re-released his 1991 Kafka, now called Mr. Kneff.
Alanis Morissette disowns the documentary Jagged that is about her.
Complete list of TIFF award winners.
Check out Dakota's reviews during the fest.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We're back with even more great Fantasia Festival coverage. Both Rachel and Dakota did solo interviews with directors who had their films screened at the best genre film festival in Canada. Dakota talked with Mark O'Brien, the director, writer and star of the Canadian horror film The Righteous. They talked about what horror films influenced Mark, finding the right cast members in two Canadian icons and getting to talk with Justin Chon about being a triple threat while he acted in Blue Bayou. Rachel talked with Travis Taute, the director of the South African action thriller Indemnity. They talked about the stigma of mental health, especially in men of colour, the grizzly side of firefighting that isn't talked about and struggling to figure out how to shoot an action film when you can't have actors too physically close to one another.
The Righteous 02:30-25:00
Indemnity 26:00-54:30
If you haven't already, listen to episode 161: Fantasia Fest Interviews - Glasshouse and Alien on Stage Directors.
Listen to episode 163: Fantasia Festival 2021.
Read Rachel's interviews with Riz Ahmed and Simu Liu.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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With this year's Toronto International Film Festival just around the corner, we are here to share our most anticipated films that are playing during this year's iteration. We both had five films we've named and included a few honourable mentions.
Dakota's Picks - Spencer, All My Puny Sorrows, Official Competition, A Hero and The Middle Man
Rachel's Picks - Flee, Night Raiders, Scarborough, Aloners and Belfast
Honourable mentions include Memoira, The Forgiven, Encounter, DASHCAM, Snakehead and Titane
Check out Rachel's helpful TIFF planning website.
Read Dakota's article detailing his most anticipated movies still to come out in 2021.
Read Rachel's interviews with Riz Ahmed and Simu Liu.
Check out That Shelf's best films of 2021 so far.
Listen to The Troubles podcast to learn more about the background information of Kenneth Branagh's Belfast.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We review the films that we watched during the 2021 edition of Fantasia, the yearly Montreal film festival that specializes in genre movies (horror, SciFi, thriller, action etc). We talk about movies we both saw, ones we had previously covered, ones only one of us saw and awards that were given out!
9:45-13:30 Glasshouse (Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review)
13:30-18:50 Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (Read Rachel's review)
18:50-25:00 Art Kabuki (Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review)
25:00-30:45 Last Night in the Strip Club (Watch this doc short for free on YouTube)
30:45-33:45 Alien on Stage (Read Dakota's review and Rachel's Review)
33:45-38:00 Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (Read Dakota's review and Rachel's review)
38:00-39:45 Under the Open Sky (Listen to my review on episode 155: Toronto Japanese Film Festival)
39:45-45:45 Tombs of the Blind Dead (Read Dakota's review)
45:45-51:00 Indemnity (Read Rachel's review)
Trigger Warning - suicide and self harm 51:00-59:15 #Blue_Whale (Read Rachel's review)
Listen to our interviews with Kelsey Egan the director of Glasshouse and Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer the directors of Alien on Stage.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Vancouver's second largest film festival and the largest queer arts festival in Western Canada had their 33rd annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival, celebrating the best films from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Joining the show is Stephanie Prior as we review three films that were screened during the festival.
Raw! Uncut! Video! 02:30-13:00
Workhorse Queen 13:30-27:00
The Fandom 27:30-41:00
Check out our previous episode talking about LGBTQ+ movies, 112: Celebrating Queer Cinema.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Montreal's Fantasia Festival is going on until August 25th. We had the chance to talk to the directors of two films being screened. Glasshouse, directed by Kelsey Egan, is a South African film about a family living in a green house during a pandemic that causes people to lose their memories and a mysterious stranger appears that upends the families tight bond.
We also chatted with Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey, the directors of the documentary Alien on Stage. The doc follows a group of bus drivers in Dorset, England as they are mounting a stage production of the classic horror film Alien and how it became an unlikely hit.
Follow Kelsey Egan to get updates on Glasshouse.
Visit Alien on Stage's official website to learn more about the film.
Fantasia Reviews: Art Kabuki by Dakota and Rachel, Tombs of the Blind Dead by Dakota.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We're just past the halfway mark of the year so we decided to name our five favourite and least favourite films of the year, so far. We added a caveat of removing any films that were in awards contention, so you won't hear us talking about Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Father and others that technically came out in 2021.
Dakota's Top 5
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The Green Knight
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Under The Open Sky
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Zola
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Luca
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The Dig
Rachel's Top 5
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Nine Days
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Pig
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Riders of Justice
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Nobody
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The Mitchells vs the Machines
Dakota's Bottom 5
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The World to Come
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With Drawn Arms
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School Meals Time Final Battle
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I Care A Lot
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In the Earth
Rachel's Bottom 5
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Space Jam: A New Legacy
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Mortal Kombat
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Cherry
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The Last Letter From Your Lover
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Coming 2 America
Read the Luca review from Victor Stiff at That Shelf.
Rachel and Dakota both wrote an article about our most anticipated films still to come in 2021. Read her's HERE and Dakota's HERE.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With the release of one of the most anticipated films from the last two years, we decide to turn our A24 Retrospective forward to review The Green Knight. The film directed by David Lowrey tells the tale of Sir Gawain, who is challenged to a game by the Green Knight and how his loyalty and desire to become a legend is then tested. This episode does include some spoilers, so if you have not watched it yet, be warned. The film stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Barry Keoghan and Erin Kellyman.
Read Rachel's review of The Green Knight on Exclaim!, along with David Ehrlich's from IndieWire and Simon Abrams from The Wrap.
Our double bill pairings include Eyes Wide Shut (Dakota's pick) and Nine Days (Rachel's Pick), with an honourable mention of The Sword in the Stone.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our last episode in this series 158: A24 Retrospective - Ginger & Rosa.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and her Most Anticipated Movies For The Rest Of 2021 and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the third in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. We talk favourite movies (Speed, Casablanca), favourite guest appearances (155: Toronto Japanese Film Festival), last movie turned off (The Matrix Reloaded) and more!
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter. Read her recent review of For Madmen Only: The Story of Del Close on POV Magazine.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTubeand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We are continuing a new series here at Contra Zoom. A24 is putting out some of our favourite films and we want to revisit them and fill in the gaps for movies we have missed. We plan on going through every A24 episode, in order (except for some select new releases along the way). On this second episode, we look at the 2012 Sally Potter film Ginger & Rosa. The film stars Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Alessandro Nivola, Oliver Platt, Timothy Spall and Anette Bening. The film is a coming of age tale of two teenage girls in 1960's England as they navigate becoming young women will dealing with threats of atomic war.
Our double bill pairings are An Education (Dakota's pick) and I May Destroy You (Rachel's pick).
If you want to learn more about Split Diopter shots, watch this video from The Movie Textbook.
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our first episode in this series 156: A24 Retrospective - A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Last year for my birthday, I made an episode picking my favourite movie from every year that I have been alive for (114: 30 Films in 30 Years). This year Bil Antoniou joins, host of the podcast Bad Gay Movies, as we pick our favourite movie (and runner up) for every decade from the 1920's through the 2010's.
Dakota's picks are first then Bil's.
1920's - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Passion of Joan of Arc
1930's - M, L'Atalante
1940's - The Great Dictator, Black Narcissus
1950's - Rififi, Tokyo Story
1960's - The Apartment, La Dolce Vita
1970's - All The President's Men, Nashville
1980's - Do The Right Thing, Missing
1990's - Devil in a Blue Dress, Howard's End
2000's - Inglorious Basterds, Talk To Her
2010's - The Master, A Separation
Read Bil's article on German Expressionism. Follow Bil on Instagram and YouTube.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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We are starting a new series here at Contra Zoom. A24 is putting out some of our favourite films and we want to revisit them and fill in the gaps for movies we have missed. We plan on going through every A24 episode, in order (except for some select new releases along the way). We start with the very first film A24 ever distributed, the Roman Coppola directed A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III starring Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Katheryn Winnick, Patricia Arquette and Aubrey Plaza. We also take the A24 four question quiz, make a double billing pairing and play "Would You Rather".
Our double bill pairings are The Royal Tenenbaums (Dakota's pick) and Lost in Translation (Rachel's pick).
If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and episode 109: Top Ten A24 Films.
Check out Rachel's interview with A'ziah King, the real life Zola from the new movie of the same name.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode, Dakota and Rachel review the films they saw during the 10th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival. Joining them is Naomi Wada Platt, a YouTuber who often covers Japanese culture and politics in both English and Japanese language videos.
The films talked about include:
School Meals Time Final Battle 9:30-26:00
A Family 26:00-39:30
Hope 39:30-50:30
Under The Open Sky 50:30-1:00:00
The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese 1:00:00-
Read Rachel's reviews for Hope, A Family and School Meals Time Final Battle on Exclaim.ca.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.
Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.
To hear more on about our coverage on Japanese cinema, check out episode 139: Celebrating Asian American Cinema, 141: Celebrating Japanese Cinema - Live Action, 143: Celebrating Japanese Cinema - Animation and 153: Make/Remake Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
It's been over a year since the world was ravaged by Covid-19, almost everything was shut down including film sets. Slowly productions started to be granted approval to restart, with the condition that they follow strict medical protocols. It was only time before movies used the pandemic as a plot device or narrative structure.
Rachel and Dakota look at five films in particular that are set against our current Covid times. They are Host, In the Earth, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Songbird and Locked Down.
Read Rachel's review of In The Earth and interview with the director Ben Wheatley on Exclaim!
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Normally Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. This time we are looking at the 1961 Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo and the 1964 Sergio Leone remake A Fistful of Dollars.
Stay tuned for more great Japanese cinema coverage, as we will be doing a show on the Toronto Japanese Film Festival later this month.
Check out our two part series celebrating Japanese cinema, Live Action and Animated.
Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Who doesn't love a good cultural exchange program? On this episode we share sports films from different cultures. Me being a good Canadian hockey fan, brought the movie Goon to the table. It is about a dim witted bouncer who gets brought in to be a fighter for his local hockey team and ends up becoming a sensation. Joining the show is Hugh Dempsey and Sam Blakeley, hosts of Please Watch This, who are two football loving Brits as they share the movie The Damned United. The film is about the tenure of legendary manager Brian Clough as he only lasted 44 days running Leeds United.
Follow Please Watch This of Twitter and Instagram.
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the second in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. We talk favourite movies (Arrival, both Blade Runners), favourite guest appearances (81: Video Game Films - Past, Present and Future), last movie turned off (Wonder Woman 1984) and more!
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this show we talk about all the films we watched during the 2021 iteration of Hot Docs, the worlds premiere documentary film festival. Joining the show is Rachel Ho. In exciting news Rachel now joins the show as a regular contributor. She won't be on every episode, but she will be on very frequently and will help shape the show going forward.
Movies we both saw discussed:
- Set! - reviews by Dakota and Rachel
- Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm - reviews by Dakota and Rachel
- Come Back Anytime - reviews by Dakota and Rachel
- Hysterical - reviews by Dakota and Rachel
- The Most Beautiful Boy in the World - review by Rachel
Check out Rachel's interview with Scott Gawlik director of Set!
Films that Rachel saw:
- The Sparks Brothers - review by Rachel
- Writing With Fire - review by Rachel
- A.rtificial I.mmortality - review by Rachel
- WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn - review by Rachel
Films that Dakota saw:
- The Caviar Connection
- We Are The Thousand - review by Dakota
- With Drawn Arms - review by Dakota
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Just like last year, film critic Thom Ernst joined the show to recap the Oscars. Thom is the host of the Rewind Fast Forward Podcast, a film podcast where he interviews Canadian directors, it was made in participation with the Kingston Canadian Film Festival. Thom previously hosted TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies and the podcast This Movies About You and you can find his written reviews at Original Cin. We talked about the nights big winners and losers, our thoughts on the new format of the show and who had the best and worst speeches.
Thom Ernst has recently launched Outside Voice, a new website for survivors of sexual abuse. Please visit the site and show your support.
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
After spending the last three weeks breaking down the odds that each of the Best Picture nominees and their odds to win each of their awards (Sound of Minari Nomadland, Judas and the Mank, The Trial of the Promising Young Father). Stephanie Prior joins the show as we list off who we think will win, who we want to win and who was snubbed at this year's Oscars. How will they fare? Below are their predictions and check back next week when critic Thom Ernst joins the show and the results are revealed.
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung - Minari (D+S)
Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah (D+S)
Best Actress: Viola Davis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (D), Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman (S)
Best Actor: Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (D+S)
Best Original Score: Soul (D+S)
Best Original Song: Judas and the Black Messiah (D), One Night in Miami... and (S)
Best Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman (D+S)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Nomadland (D+S)
Best Cinematography: Nomadland (D+S)
Best Sound: Sound of Metal (D+S)
Best Costumes: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (D+S)
Best Hair and Makeup: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (D+S)
Best Animated Feature: Soul (D+S)
Best Animated Short: If Anything Happens I Love You (D+S)
Best Documentary: Collective (D), My Octopus Teacher (S)
Best Documentary Short: A Love Song for Latasha (D+S)
Best International Film: Another Round (D+S)
Best Live Action Short: Two Distant Strangers (D+S)
Best Visual Effects: Tenet (D+S)
Best Production Design: The Father (D), Mank (S)
Best Film Editing: Nomadland (D), Sound of Metal (S)
Best Director: Chloe Zhao - Nomadland (D+S)
Best Picture: Nomadland (D+S)
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Every year we break down all the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars and go over their chances to win each of their nominations. We rank them as Front Runners, Dark Horses, Long Shots and Just Happy to Be There. Joining the show is Joe Aragon host of House of Cinema, who previously was heard on episode 134: David Fincher Ranked. On today's show we are discussing Promising Young Woman, The Father and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Tune in next week for our annual Oscar predictions episode.
Timestamps
Promising Young Woman 5:30-22:00
Best Picture
Best Actress - Carey Mulligan
Best Director - Emerald Fennell
Best Original Screenplay
Best Film Editing
The Father 22:00-42:00
Best Picture
Best Actor - Anthony Hopkins
Best Supporting Actress - Olivia Colman
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing
Best Production Design
The Trial of the Chicago 7 42:00-1:07:00
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor - Sacha Baron Cohen
Best Original Screenplay
Best Film Editing
Best Cinematography
Best Original Song
Follow House of Cinema on Twitter and Instagram.
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For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Every year we break down all the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars and go over their chances to win each of their nominations. We rank them as Front Runners, Dark Horses, Long Shots and Just Happy to Be There. Joining the show is Jeff and Pierre, hosts of Classic Movies Live who are appearing for their first time. On today's show we are discussing Mank and Judas and the Black Messiah. This series will continue the next week as we finish covering the other three BP nominees.
Timestamps
Mank 7:00-1:00:00
Best Picture
Best Actor - Gary Oldman
Best Supporting Actress - Amanda Seyfried
Best Director - David Fincher
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Original Score
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Judas and the Black Messiah 1:00:00-1:29:45
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor - Daniel Kaluuya
Best Supporting Actor - LaKeith Stanfield
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Original Song
Listen to the Classic Movies Live on Spotify and Soundcloud.
Please join Contra Zoom Pod in donating to the AAPI Community Fund and the #StopAsianHate campaign.
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Every year we break down all the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars and go over their chances to win each of their nominations. We rank them as Front Runners, Dark Horses, Long Shots and Just Happy to Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista the host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast, who was heard on episode 142: Most Anticipated Films of 2021. On today's show we are discussing Sound of Metal, Minari and Nomadland. This series will continue the next two weeks as we finish covering the other five BP nominees.
Timestamps
Sound of Metal 3:30-21:30
Best Picture
Best Actor - Riz Ahmed
Best Supporting Actor - Paul Raci
Best Film Editing
Best Original Screenplay
Best Sound
Minari 21:30-41:00
Best Picture
Best Actor - Steven Yeun
Best Supporting Actress - Youn Yuh-jung
Best Director - Lee Isaac Chung
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
Nomadland 41:00-1:01:00
Best Picture
Best Actress - Frances McDormand
Best Director - Chloe Zhao
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing
Best Cinematography
Follow Paulo on Twitter @ninjaboimedia. Listen to the Oscars Death Race Podcast episode about the same three movies featuring Ray Luu.
Please join Contra Zoom Pod in donating to the AAPI Community Fund and the #StopAsianHate campaign.
For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we review movies watching during the 2021 edition of the film festival portion of South by South West (SXSW). Rachel Ho returns to the show, previously heard on episode 139: Celebrating Asian American Cinema. We discuss the pros and cons of the digital festival, six different films and some of the awards that were handed out.
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00-11:30
Islands 11:30-20:00
Alien on Stage 20:00-33:45
Our Father 33:45-42:00
Disintegration Loops 42:00-52:30
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror 52:30-1:07:45
Potato Dreams of America 1:07:45-1:14:30
Awards/Outro 1:14:30-1:20:00
Please join Contra Zoom Pod in donating to the AAPI Community Fund and the #StopAsianHate campaign.
Check out all of our written reviews for films seen at contrazoompod.com.
Check out Rachel's film review site, including her own reactions to the Oscar nominations.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The 93rd Academy Awards just announced the nominees for the biggest awards in film. Mank leads the pack with 10, but other big players include Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal, The Trail and the Chicago 7 and more! Sammy Feilchenfeld joins the show to discuss what the early nominations mean and some of our surprises and snubs amongst the pack. Stay tuned for plenty of Oscar coverage leading up to the ceremony on April 25th.
I was recently on the Oscars Death Race podcast to predict who would be nominated and some general talk on First Cow, The Father and News of the World.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing our series celebrating cinema from around the world. On part two we look at animated Japanese films. We look at the history of Studio Ghibli and the impact the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. We discuss the influence of such seminal films like Ghost in the Shell, Paprika and Akira and the debate of dubs vs subs. Joining me on the show is Naomi Wada Platt, who guested on episode 130: imagineNATIVE, a YouTuber who often covers Japanese culture and politics in both English and Japanese language videos. Make sure you check out Part One where we discuss Live Action Japanese films!
Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We are officially into 2021's movie season, while some release dates are still unconfirmed or destined to change, we look at the movies we are most excited about. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race and Box Office Watch podcasts, who previously was on the show for episode 100: Oscars Death Race Interview. Movies we talk about include Shang-Chi, After Yang, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Northman, The Green Knight, In the Heights and more!
We separated our picks into categories.
Paulo's categories: Superhero Flicks, Musicals, Animation and Artsy.
Dakota's categories: Coming to Netflix, A24 Releases, Directing Legends and Indie Darlings.
We both also looked at films that were pushed back from last year.
Follow Paulo on Twitter @ninjaboimedia.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing our series celebrating cinema from around the world. On this episode we look at live action Japanese films, from Seven Samurai and Godzilla, to Ringu and House up to Shoplifters. We gush about Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Hirokazu Koreeda and others. Joining me on the show is Naomi Wada Platt, who guested on episode 130: imagineNATIVE, a YouTuber who often covers Japanese culture and politics in both English and Japanese language videos. Look forward to part two coming in a few weeks!
Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The annual SXSW festival is gearing up to happen from March 16-20th online and we have a list of the ten most anticipated films we are looking forward too. Visit sxsw.com for the full festival lineup.
The ten films we are looking forward to include: Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, Alone Together, Under the Volcano, Hysterical, Lily Topples The World, The Fabulous Filipino Brothers, Swan Song, Violet, How It Ends and The Spine of Night.
Dakota was also recently a guest on Please Watch This as they discussed The Master. Sam and Hugh were also recent guests on episode 135: Make/Remake Citizen Kane and Mank and provided voicemails for 138: Best Films of 2020.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Rachel Ho, who previously appeared on episode 129: Make/Remake Rebecca, comes on to celebrate Asian American cinema. We talk about some of the bigger classic films like The Joy Luck Club and Better Luck Tomorrow up to more recent films like The Farewell and Crazy Rich Asians. We even spend some time discussing film tourism with the idea that studios will only make English language films with Asian casts (like Mulan or Memoirs of a Geisha) if they are set in Asia.
Check out Rachel's film review site, including her terrific top ten films list of 2020.
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Normally we share our top films of the year after the Oscars, but with this year's ceremony being pushed back to April that doesn't make sense. Joining the show is Royce Benson as he and Dakota each share their top 10 films of 2020. A host of friends of the show also share their picks.
Dakota's Top 10
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Promising Young Woman
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The Assistant
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I’m Thinking of Ending Things
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Palm Springs
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Another Round
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Emma.
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Nomadland
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The Vast of Night
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Never Rarely Sometimes Always
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The Trial of the Chicago 7
Royce's Top 10
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Possessor
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Boys State
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Palm Springs
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I’m Thinking of Ending Things
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Lovers Rock
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Mangrove
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire
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Sound of Metal
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Soul
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A Hidden Life
The following friends of the show also shared their favourite films of the past year.
Stephanie Prior - The Vast of Night
Sam Blakeley and Hugh Dempsey of Please Watch This - Soul and Tenet
Calum McNabb of Scaretroducing - Saint Maud
Rachel Ho - Sound of Metal
Naomi Wada Platt - Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Maria Escribano - The Father
John Brody - Wolfwalkers
Visit contrazoompod.com for even more great CZP content!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode, Stephanie Prior joins the show as we talk about some classic New Year's movies including The Poseidon Adventure, When Harry Met Sally..., Four Rooms, Bridget Jones Diary and New Year's Eve. After we play some fun what if games with the situations that arose during the movies including what party we most want to be at and who we would want to be our midnight kiss.
Contra Zoom Pod is taking a brief hiatus and will be back in a few weeks.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Sammy Feilchenfeld returns to discuss all the news from the December 10th Disney Investor Day announcements. We go over topics like Star being bundled with Disney+ (and the incoming price hike), the new movies and TV shows from Disney Animation, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, FX and much more.
Listen to Sammy on episode 90: Disney+ as we go more in depth for a lot of the projects that are recapped on this show.
List of full announcements and article about the price hikes and addition of Star.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Normally Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. Not to say what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. But this time we are looking at the 1941 classic Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles, and the recent David Fincher release Mank, that looks at the writing of the movie. Joining the show is Sam Blakeley and Hugh Dempsey, hosts of Please Watch This.
No Film School chronicles the controversy of Pauline Kael's original Raising Kane essay and tries to find the truth about who wrote Citizen Kane.
Follow Please Watch This on Twitter and Instagram.
If you haven't checked out the last episode, listen to us ranking David Fincher's filmography!
Dakota also recently appeared episode 70 of Please Watch This as he joined hosts Sam and Hugh to talk about Before Sunrise.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we rank the ten theatrically released films directed by David Fincher in preparation of the just released Mank. Joe Aragon of House of Cinema joins the show as we talk all things Fincher and give out our own awards afterwards.
Rankings
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Alien 3
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Panic Room
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The Game
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
T-4. Zodiac
T-4. Se7en
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Gone Girl
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Fight Club
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The Social Network
Best Picture- The Social Network (both D+J)
Best Actor- Jake Gyllenhaal for Zodiac (D), Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (J)
Best Actress- Rooney Mara for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (D), Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl (J)
Best Supporting Actor- Armie Hammer (D) and Andrew Garfield (J) for The Social Network
Best Supporting Actress- Deborah Kara Unger for The Game (D), Helena Bonham Carter for Fight Club (J)
Follow House of Cinema on Instagram and Twitter.
If you haven't listened to our Christopher Nolan Ranked episode, do so!
Dakota also recently appeared episode 70 of Please Watch This as he joined hosts Sam and Hugh to talk about Before Sunrise.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we continue our look into NEON as we rank our ten favourite films released by them. Joining the show is Royce Benson, who previously appeared on our Top Ten A24 Films and Life During Quarantine. We also reveal the poll results of listeners favourite NEON films. If you haven't checked out part one where the history of NEON is chronicled make sure you listen to that first.
Dakota's Top 5
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Three Identical Strangers
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Wild Rose
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I, Tonya
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire
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Apollo 11
Royce's Top 5
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Assassination Nation
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Monos
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Palm Springs
-
Possessor
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Parasite
Dakota also recently appeared episode 70 of Please Watch This as he joined hosts Sam and Hugh to talk about Before Sunrise.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In our third "A History Of..." series after the success charting the rise of A24 Films and The Criterion Collection we are looking at NEON, a distributor who in just three short years managed to win a Best Picture Oscar for Parasite. They got their start in 2017 and have put out films like I, Tonya, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Palm Springs, Apollo 11 and Honeyland. We trace their roots of the two founders and how they managed to be so successful.
What "A History Of..." would you like us to cover next? Email us at contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Check out Hawkeyes episode 51 to hear me talk about Cymbeline as mentioned on this episode.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the first in our series of bonus episodes, Better Know a Contributor, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. We talk favourite movies, favourite guest appearances (115: Christopher Nolan Ranked), last movie turned off and more!
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter,Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Jesse Harley, co-host of Canadian Politics is Boring and filmmaker joins the show to discuss two Canadian movies that cover our countries involvement in foreign conflicts. We look at Passchendaele and Hyena Road with World War One and Afghanistan conflicts.
Follow Canadian Politics is Boring on Twitter and Instagram.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter,Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we cover the 2020 imagineNATIVE film festival, which celebrates the best Indigenous filmmaking from around the world! We are joined by Naomi Wada Platt, a YouTube film reviewer who covers film in both English and Japanese. We talk about Inconvenient Indian, Monkey Beach, Brother, I Cry, The Legend of Baron To'a and Love and Fury.
Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. It isn't about what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. In this episode we look at Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 Best Picture winning film Rebecca and this year remake directed by Ben Wheatley. Both films tell the story of a young woman who marries a widower and when they return to his seaside estate we learn that his first wife's mysterious death is still haunting everyone that lives there. Joining Dakota is Rachel Ho an online film reviewer.
Time Stamps
Similarities 12:00-42:00
Differences 42:00-1:27:00
Follow Rachel on Twitter @_rachelkh.
For more Rebecca content, listen to 7: From Wings to Birdman 1938-1947 Part 2, 8: Guillermo del Toro, Rebecca and Alfred Hitchcock and 66: Contra Zoom Presents… Hitchcock.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Nathan Sizemore and Katey Cottrill return to the show as we share some Halloween movie recommendations. The I Hope you Suffer podcast hosts and Dakota share some classic horror, modern horror and comedy horror picks along with Nathan and Katey talking about a movie they have covered on their show.
Classic Horror: Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby and The Uninvited
Modern Horror: Impetigor, Let The Right One In and Cronos
Comedy Horror: Tusk, Serial Mom and Corpse Bride
IHYS Pick: Manborg
Follow IHYS on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to their Pateron for great bonus content. Follow Nathan and Katey for even more excellent stuff.
Check out episode 110: Hot Docs at Home to hear the last episode that Nathan and Katey guested on.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode I chat with Joshua Demers, the writer and director of the new Canadian political satire Québexit. The film was originally reviewed on episode 125: Cinefest Sudbury 2020. Here Joshua discusses how important language is to the Canadian identity, getting support from his two co-writers to help craft a better story the reflects more realities of living in Canada and much more. Québexit currently is making the festival rounds and hopes to have a distribution deal in the near future so more people can watch it.
Check out the trailer for Québexit.
Joshua recommends the 2002 Canadian film The Bay of Love and Sorrows and the 2014 book The Morning After.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
An episode more than five years in the making, after ranking the Best Picture winners decade by decade starting from episode 1 with Wings in 1927 going all the way up to the end of decade nine, episode 123, with The Shape of Water in 2017. Stephanie Prior joins the show as we cover the most and least deserving winners, the oddest and overrated winners and much more.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We cover one of the largest film festivals in Canada with the 2020 edition of Cinefest Sudbury that offered a digital package for viewers. Stephanie Prior joins the show as we talk about Lucky Grandma, My Salinger Year, Quebexit, Mogul Mowgli, Black Bear, Radioactive and Another Round. They also give out their own awards to Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress.
Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story screened at the festival and was previously reviewed on the Hot Docs at Home episode.
Another Round was also reviewed on our TIFF 2020 Wrapup episode.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we recap the 45th Toronto International Film Festival. We are joined by film lovers John Brody and Maria Escribano who describe the experience of attending a digital festival, their favourite films that they saw, and the People's Choice Winner Nomadland, which instantly is the front runner for Best Picture at next year's Oscars.
Films discussed include Nomadland, Another Round, Concrete Cowboy, One Night In Miami, Falling, The Father and Good Joe Bell, which all appeared on my TIFF Preview episode from a few weeks back. Other films talked about were The Way I See It, Gaza mon amour, Under The Open Sky and Shadow in the Cloud.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing the long running series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 2008-2017. On this episode they countdown numbers 5-1 and give out their awards for best performances and film of the decade. If you missed Part 1, click HERE to listen.
Timestamps:
-
12 Years a Slave 3:30-18:30
-
Argo 19:00-31:00
-
The Shape of Water 31:00-41:00
-
Moonlight 41:00-55:00
-
Spotlight 55:00-1:06:00
Awards 1:06:00-1:18:00
Best Supporting Actress - Janelle Monae (Steph), Naomie Harris (Dakota)
Best Supporting Actor - Richard Jenkins (Steph), Mark Ruffalo (Dakota)
Best Actress - Bérénice Bejo (Steph), Sally Hawkins (Dakota)
Best Actor - Michael Keaton (Steph + Dakota)
Best Picture - Spotlight (Steph), Moonlight (Dakota)
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing the long running series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 2008-2017. On this episode they countdown numbers 10-6 with part 2 coming out in one week to finish off the decade.
Timestamps:
10: The Hurt Locker 3:00-9:30
-
Slumdog Millionaire 9:30-17:00
-
The King's Speech 17:30-23:30
-
Birdman 23:30-32:30
-
The Artist 32:30-40:00
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The Toronto International Film Festival of 2020 is going to be a hybrid mixture of traditional screenings, mixed with digital and drive-in ones too. We preview then 10 films we're most excited about for this year. Here you can find a complete list of movies being shown and screening times.
Here are a list of movies we preview: Ammonite, Another Round, Beans, Concrete Cowboy, Falling, The Father, Good Joe Bell, MLK/FBI, Nomadland and One Night in Miami. Honourable Mentions include Underplayed, David Byrne's American Utopia, The Water Man and Bruised.
You can read our preview originally found on Aesthetic Magazine.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Sammy Feilchenfeld joins the show to talk about the first weekend of DC Fandome that covered their upcoming movie projects.
- The Batman released its first trailer and we learned that there would be a Gotham PD spinoff coming to HBO Max.
- Wonder Woman 1984 released a new trailer showing more of the characters Max Lord and Cheetah.
- The Suicide Squad put out two clips, one a character introduction and the other consisting of behind the scenes footage and interviews with some completed shots thrown in too.
- The Flash movie is going to revolve around time travel to ret-con the DC universe and they have enlisted both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck to play Batman at different ages.
- The Synder Cut of Justice League got its first trailer and a whole bunch more details regarding its release.
- Black Adam released some concept art but not much else is known about the film.
- Sequels for both Shazam and Aquaman are in pre-production with no other real news about them.
- DC is adapting Neil Gaiman's Sandman series to be a Netflix show, not much else is known at this time.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we chat with Martyn Zub, a sound re-recording mixer who was nominated for two Emmys for his work on Beastie Boys Story, the brand new Apple TV+ documentary that has Mike D and Ad Rock tell the history of the band. Martyn is an accomplished sound mixer and editor who previously has worked on all three John Wick movies, both Deadpool's, Nocturnal Animals, Nightcrawler and Frozen.
We discuss the differences between sound editing and mixing, the fear of meeting your heroes (and the Beastie Boys destroying the narrative by being awesome), the consolidation of Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing to just Best Sound starting at the Oscars this year and how working on a live show documentary compares to his usual work and much more.
Go to contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to contrazoompod@gmail.com and we will send you free swag!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
No new episode this week, but some general housekeeping to still share.
- For the most part moving forward, the show will be bi-weekly (every other Tuesday) but we specifically left gaps for any interviews or surprise topics to discuss.
- We have a brand new website! Visit contrazoompod.com for all things CZP including past shows, guest appearances, blog posts and much more. Bookmark the page as we will be updating it frequently!
- Speaking of appearances, Dakota was a recent guest on both the Hawkeyes and Please Watch This podcasts, so check them out.
- I'm working on designing stickers and if you live in North America, I will mail them to you for free. Keep posted for when they are ready and there will be more swag and merch down the road.
- If you haven't yet, please rate and review us on iTunes, Podchaser or wherever you listen to podcasts. It will help us grow and find new listeners.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook. Visit our Official Website for all things CZP!
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This year's San Deigo Comic Con couldn't be held physically this year, so they pivoted to offer their full slate of panels and presentations for free on YouTube. Sammy Feilchenfeld joins the show to discuss the reception the convention received, the two Keanu Reeves panels, all things Star Trek, the latest news on The New Mutants and much more. With Justice League and DC being absent from SDCC it leads credence to the importance of DC's Fandome late this month.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In our second "A History Of..." series after the success charting the rise of A24 Films, we are looking at The Criterion Collection. The company that is the premiere destination for your favourite hard to find art house flicks, out of print classics, B-movie masterpieces, retrospective boxsets and the best special features of any home video distributor. We look at their start from Janus Films back in the 1950's to being pioneers of CD-ROMs under the Voyager banner to putting out the best Laserdisc's, DVD's and BluRay's.
What "A History Of..." would you like us to cover next? Email us at contrazoompod@gmail.com.
King Kong Commentary
Gizmodo Short Documentary
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
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Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
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On this episode Kelvin Harrison Jr. star of films like Waves, It Comes at Night and The Photograph joins the show to discuss his latest flick The High Note. In the movie he plays an aspiring musician named David Cliff who meets Dakota Johnson's aspiring producer character as they begin to work together and fall for each other. The film also stars Tracee Ellis Ross, Ice Cube, Bill Pullman, Marc Evan Jackson and Eddie Izzard. We talk about the differences between acting as a musician on set and in the studio, working so closely with Dakota Johnson and what Sterling K. Brown was really like on the set of Waves. You can currently rent or own digital copies of The High Note on VOD services and the film comes out on DVD and BluRay on August 11th.
Thank you to Universal Pictures and Think Jam for setting up the interview.
I was also a guest on Episode 52 of Hawkeyes an Ethan Hawke themed podcast, out now as I discuss the 2014 Shakespearean adaptation Cymbeline (that co-starred Dakota Johnson too!) with hosts Harper Thompson and Johnathan Zavaleta.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In celebration of Christopher Nolan's new film Tenet coming out later this summer, we thought we would rank all ten of Nolan's previous films from worst to best. We briefly discuss his earliest available work, the short film Doodlebug as well. View Dakota's own rankings on Letterboxd. This is the first entry into a new series where we look at the complete or partial filmographies of directors and discuss their films. Send us an email contrazoompod@gmail.com to recommend future directors to cover!
Timestamps and Rankings:
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Insomnia 5:00-12:00
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Memento 12:30-21:00
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The Dark Knight Rises 22:00-29:00
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Batman Begins 29:30-36:30
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Following 37:00-45:00
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Interstellar 45:00-52:00
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The Dark Knight 53:30-58:30
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Dunkirk 59:00-1:06:30
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Inception 1:07:00-1:15:00
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The Prestige 1:15:30-1:26:00
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This week it is Dakota Arsenault's birthday! To help celebrate he names one movie per year that make up who he is as a film lover. View the entire list on Letterboxd, and send in your picks for a movie per year! Dakota of course can't count very well and actually 31 movies, but don't hold that over him.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Royce Benson returns after guesting on the Top Ten A24 Films, as we discuss how we are consuming media during quarantine life. That includes what new movies we've been watching and oldies we've made time for, our favourite 2020 releases so far, how Jurassic Park beat out Jaws to top the box office, when TENET will be released along with the gradual reopening of theatres, and what the future of cinema holds when things get back to normal.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On June 27th is Global Pride Day and we are celebrating with our favourite queer films. Sammy Feilchenfeld joins the show as we discuss our recommendations for L, G, B, T and Q+ works of art and representation and depictions of queer people in media.
Lesbian Films
Mulholland Drive, Carol, The Kids Are All Right, The Handmaiden, Aniara, The Favourite and Booksmart
Gay Films
Call Me By Your Name, Brokeback Mountain, My Own Private Idaho, Love Simon, Boy Erased, Beginners, The Birdcage, A Single Man, Pain and Glory and Moonlight
Bisexual Films
Y tu mamá también, This Movie is Broken, Cabaret and Atomic Blonde
Transgender Films
Dog Day Afternoon,The Danish Girl, The Matrix, Transamerica, Tangerine, Orange is the New Black, Transparent, Pose and A Fantastic Woman
Queer+ Films
Rocky Horror Picture Show, Victor/Victoria, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, But I’m A Cheerleader, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Paris is Burning, Pride, Judy, Schitt’s Creek and Queer as Folk
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode artists Sébastien Heins, Tony Ofori and Jerome Jarvis join the show to discuss the new Spike Lee joint, Da 5 Bloods that was released on Netflix on Friday June 12th. In the second half of the show artist Mouna Traoré joins the group as they have a roundtable discussion to talk about some of their favourite black films.
List of Notable Black Films
- Do The Right Thing
- Chi-Raq
- Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
- The Color Purple
Join Contra Zoom Pod in donating to the following groups: The Black Legal Action Centre, Obsidian Theatre and B Inc/B CURRENT.
Timestamps:
Da 5 Bloods Review 1:00-22:00
Spoilers of Da 5 Bloods 22:00-27:00
Celebrating Black Cinema 27:00-1:12:00
Follow Sébastien Heins, Tony Ofori, Jerome Jarvis and Mouna Traoré.
For more movie suggestions check out Letterboxd's Official Top 100 Narrative Feature Films by Black Directors and Slate's The Black Film Canon.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode we review a selection of films that were selected to air during the 2020 Hot Docs, the premiere Canadian documentary festival based out of Toronto. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, they had to pivot and offered screenings of their films to people at home, thus birthing Hot Docs at Home.
Nathan Sizemore and Katey Cottrill from the horror movie podcast I Hope You Suffer join the show to discuss Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist. Later on music fan Alex Burke comes on to discuss two music documentaries, Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story and Dark City Beneath the Beat. Lastly Dakota does a solo review of In Your Eyes, I See My Country.
While Hot Docs Festival Online ran from May 28 to June 6, over 120 films are still available to stream until June 24.
Timestamps
I Hope You Suffer on Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist 3:00-37:00
Alex Burke on Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story and Dark City Beneath the Beat 37:00-55:00
Dakota on In Your Eyes, I See My Country 55:00-1:04:00
Visit HotDocs.ca for more info on all films and screenings. Thank you to the festival for the screener links.
Follow I Hope You Suffer on Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On Part 2 of our A24 features, Royce Benson joins the show to help rank the top ten films A24 has distributed. If you missed Part 1 (A History of A24 Films), which covered the history of the company make sure you listen first. We also reveal the results of our A24 survey we posted on Reddit.
Follow Royce on Letterboxd.
Dakota's full A24 rankings and Royce's full rankings.
Top 10 Films (Dakota's picks come first, then Royce's)
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20th Century Women / Locke
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Enemy / Midsommar
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The Lobster / Good Time
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Lady Bird / Eighth Grade
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Green Room / The Lighthouse
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A Ghost Story / The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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Ex Machina / Hereditary
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Moonlight / Under the Skin
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Uncut Gems / First Reformed
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The Last Black Man in San Fransisco / The Witch
Timestamps
Survey Results 1:30-15:00
Bottom five slots 16:00-50:00
Top five slots 50:00-1:26:00
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
A24 Films was founded in 2013 has been the home to some of the best cinema this decade. They have won countless awards including Best Picture for Moonlight and had critical and commercial hits with the likes of Lady Bird, Uncut Gems, Ex Machina, Midsommar, The Witch, Greenroom and The Lobster. We trace the companies origins, their early years, breakthroughs and ups and downs. This is a two part event, so stay tuned to the next episode were we rank A24's best releases.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In this episode, Bruce Franks Jr. a twice elected representative for the Missouri Legislature, an activist who works with the Community Justice Action Fund, a successful battle rapper and the star of the Oscar nominated documentary short film St. Louis Superman joins Dakota. They talk about his inspirations for activism, why he allowed a film crew to document his story, learning about being nominated for an Oscar and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mark Ruffalo.
St. Louis Superman airs on MTV, MTV2 and VH1 on Monday, May 18 at 9PM ET/PT via simulcast.
Follow Bruce Franks Jr. on Twitter and Instagram.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing the long running series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 1998-2007. On this episode they countdown numbers 5-1 to finish off the decade. If you missed Part 1, click HERE to listen.
Timestamps
0:00-2:00 Recap
2:00-11:00 Shakespeare in Love
11:00-20:00 Gladiator
20:00-29:00 The Departed
29:00-37:00 No Country For Old Men
37:00-44:00 Chicago
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing the long running series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 1998-2007. On this episode they countdown numbers 10-6 with part 2 coming out in two weeks to finish off the decade.
Timestamps
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Crash 2:00-9:00
-
Million Dollar Baby 9:00-17:00
-
A Beautiful Mind 17:00-24:00
-
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 24:00-35:00
-
American Beauty 35:00-44:00
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. It isn't about what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. In this episode we look at James Whale's 1933 film The Invisible Man and Leigh Whannell's 2020 remake The Invisible Man. Both films tell the story of a man who discovers how to make himself invisible through science and the disastrous, and deadly consequences it has on other people. Joining Dakota this episode is Calum McNab who hosts Scaretroducing, a horror anthology themed podcast.
Time Stamps
Similarities 1:00-22:00
Differences 22:00-38:00
Follow Scaretroducing on Instagram and listen on Spotify.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On the last episode we covered the most anticipated films of 2020, not even two weeks later but everything scheduled before the summer either has been pushed back or announced it will be released directly to own or stream, bypassing cinemas entirely. COVID-19 has wrecked havoc on the world, and unfortunately the movie industry is no different. Sammy Feilchenfeld joins as talk about movies that have delayed releases, films that are halting production and what this all means for blockbusters this summer and awards season in the fall.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
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We finally close the chapter on season 5 and of 2019, as we movie on to talk about the most anticipated films coming out this year. Due to the coronavirus, some film releases have already been pushed back, while others are very likely to be moved as well. So please understand that this episode might eventually become just a films I'm looking forward too, but might not be out anytime soon.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
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We are finally ready to close the book on 2019 with out best films of the year. Stephanie joins me this week to count down our ten best. Dakota's list: 10. Corpus Christi 9. Little Women 8. Pain & Glory 7. Uncut Gems 6. Jojo Rabbit 5. Knives Out 4. The Two Popes 3. 1917 2. One Upon a Time in... Hollywood 1. The Last Black Man in San Fransisco Special thanks to Curtis Sindrey from Aesthetic Magazine, Eric and Sandra Duggan from First Round Flick, Paulo Bautista from Filmography in Focus and Harper Thomson and Jonathan Zavaleta from Hawkeyes Podcast. Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more! If you listen to your podcasts on YouTube, follow our channel. Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com. Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
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Contra Zoom Pod is celebrating it's 100th episode! To help wrap up Oscar season, Dakota interviews the Oscars Death Race Podcast host Paulo Bautista. They chat about watching all 53 nominated films, their most and least favourite flicks and what it is like being a part of a community that punishes themselves every year to complete the race. What is the Oscars Death Race? Dakota also thanks people involved in the show, both past and present and sets up the new season that will begin shortly.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
We're trying something new by having the shows up on YouTube, if enough people listen there, it will become a regular occurrence.
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com. Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
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On this episode Dakota is joined by film critic Thom Ernst, who you will likely know him from TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies, the podcast This Movies About You and his written work from Original Cin. The two recap the 92nd Academy Awards including their thoughts on the winners, the loser, the musical numbers and the speeches.
Make sure you follow Thom on Twitter and look for his reviews on Original Cin.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The 92nd Academy Awards air on Sunday February 9th and Dakota and Stephanie go over every category of who they think will win, and who they want to win.
Make sure you listen to the episode where we broke down the Best Picture nominees in Part 1 and Part 2. If you haven't already checked out the Oscar Nominations Reactions episode, do so too!
Make sure you stay subscribed to the show because there will be more great Oscar content after the broadcast!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
There are nine Best Picture nominees and over the last two episodes we broke down each film's nominations and the odds they have on winning them to help you with your Oscar Pools or just to be better informed. On this episode we cover 1917, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, Marriage Story, Parasite and Ford v Ferrari. This episode does not contain spoilers.
Make sure you listen to the episode where we broke down Joker, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit and Little Women. If you haven't already checked out the Oscar Nominations Reactions 2020 episode, do so too!
Make sure you stay subscribed to the show because there will be a new episode every week leading up to the Oscars on February 9th.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
There are nine Best Picture nominees and over the next two episodes we will break down each film's nominations and the odds they have on winning them to help you with your Oscar Pools or just to be better informed. On this episode we cover Joker, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit and Little Women. This episode does not contain spoilers.
Stay tuned for next week where we break down 1917, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood, Marriage Story, Parasite and Ford v Ferrari. If you haven't already checked out the Oscar Nominations Reactions 2020 episode, do so!
Make sure you stay subscribed to the show because there will be a new episode every week leading up to the Oscars on February 9th.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The 2020 Oscar nominations are now out! Every year Contra Zoom Pod dedicates the lead up and subsequent aftermath of the show to discuss and dissect everything related to the awards ceremony. On this episode Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld and Stephanie Prior to talk about the nominations. They go over each category and talk about any surprises, snubs and what they think about the group.
The trio also made a prediction about what they think will be the final nominees for Best Picture. To ensure they weren't cheating a picture was posted on the CZP Facebook page.
Make sure you stay subscribed to the show because there will be a new episode every week leading up to the Oscars on February 9th.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This episode of Contra Zoom is ten years in the making! Join us as we count down the 50 best films of the 2010's. On part two we go through films 25 through 1. To make things more fun there are a ton of special guests (too many to name) to give their takes on why these films are important. If you haven't listened to part 1 yet, please do so first!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing this very special logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This episode of Contra Zoom is ten years in the making! Join us as we count down the 50 best films of the 2010's. On part one we go through the bottom half of the list. To make things more fun there are a ton of special guests (too many to name) to give their takes on why these films are important. Stay tuned as the top 25 will be revealed on December 31st!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing this very special logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Dakota Arsenault and Stephanie Prior talk about the movies that are the early frontrunners to be nominated and potentially win big at this year's Oscar's. First they run through films they have seen like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, My Name is Dolemite and Parasite, then later they talk about movies either not out yet or just ones they haven't seen like Marriage Story, The Irishman and 1917.
Also in the show Dakota chats with Colin Mercer, the creator and show runner for Game Time a new sketch comedy show. The two discuss how to mine dark subject matter for laughs, male nudity being funny and the creative process of writing short sketches. You can watch 5 sketches on YouTube right now. Make sure you follow Game Time for updates on future sketches.
Time Stamps:
00:35-39:00 Early Oscar Predictions for Movies Seen
39:30-1.00:40 Interview with Colin Mercer of Game Time
1.01:10-1.31:00 Early Oscar Predictions for Unseen Movies
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. It isn't about what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. In this episode we look at Gilles Mimouni's 1996 film L'Appartement and Paul McGuigan's 2004 remake Wicker Park. Both films tell the story of a young man who thinks he see's his ex-girlfriend and starts to follow her to find out why their relationship had ended years earlier, but along the way suspicious things keep popping up in this romantic thriller. Joining Dakota this week is Stephanie Prior to talk about the two films.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter, Instagramand Facebook or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
The new streaming service Disney+ launches in Canada, the United States and the Netherlands on November 12th. With the release just days away Sammy Feilchenfeld comes on the show to talk about how the platform will work, which titles are available, pricing and more. They then discuss some anticipated shows and movies on the platform including The Mandalorian, The World According to Jeff Goldblum and Monsters at Work.
For a discussion of the Marvel offerings, listen to the All Things MCU episode from September.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode Dakota Arsenault is joined by Stephanie Prior to talk about some classic horror movies that you can check out this Halloween season. All the picks can be found on The Criterion Channel for ease of viewing. Also as an added bonus friend of the show Calum McNab who hosts SCARETRODUCING, a horror themed podcast leaves his top 5 picks for under rated scary films you should check out. Here are the movies Dakota and Stephanie talk about: 1. Godzilla 2. The Blob 3. The Haunted Strangler 4. Eyes Without A Face 5. Night of the Living Dead Here are Calum's picks: 1. Frenzy 2. Kill List 3. The Neon Demon 4. Hounds of Love 5. Whistle and I'll Come To You! You can see Dakota's complete Alfred Hitchcock rankings HERE. Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podchaser, Podcast Addict and more on the way! Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo. Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com. Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Wrapping up our Toronto International Film Festival 2019 coverage, I got a chance to speak with film composers David Wingo (The Report), Joel P West (Just Mercy) and Trevor Gureckis (The Goldfinch). All three conversations involve where they get inspiration from, how they collaborate with their directors and what their creative process is like.
The Report, directed by Scott Z Burns, comes out on Amazon Prime on November 15th.
Just Mercy, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, comes out in theatres on December 25th.
The Goldfinch, directed by John Corwley, is out in theatres now.
If you haven't listened to the other TIFF episodes I recap what I saw at the festival and interview Carol Nguyen and Craig Prater about their experiences.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
We here at Contra Zoom Pod got a chance to check out some films that played at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Listen to us talk about Jojo Rabbit, The Laundromat, Harriet, There's Something in the Water and No Crying at the Dinner Table. We also talk about Digital releases not receiving press screenings, Oscar hopefuls and the People's Choice winning films.
If you haven't listened to the last episode where I interview Carol Nguyen and Craig Prater about their TIFF experiences.
Netflix, Amazon Movies Barred From Toronto International Film Fest's Industry Screening Venue.
Jojo Rabbit captures TIFF People's Choice Award.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this special episode of Contra Zoom, we have two interviews in this packed episode. First off I speak with Carol Nguyen, a Toronto filmmaker who is having her latest short film No Crying at the Dinner Table premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. We talk about dealing with family trauma, representation in cinema and getting to screen her film in front of family and friends.
The second interview is with Craig Prater, President of Heartland Film, a non-profit organization who has previously screened Carol's films. Craig talks about his passion for short films and their filmmakers, how his organization selects films to screen at their own festival and what does visiting a film festival look like business wise.
Check out the Facebook page for No Crying at the Dinner Table to learn more.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss everything Marvel. Starting with the announced MCU films and going into the Disney/Sony Spider-Man standoff, the new Disney+ streaming site and finally the Marvel TV shows that will air on D+.
Films discussed include Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder. TV shows discussed include The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, What If...? and Moon Knight.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing the long running (and long dormant) series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 1988-1997. At the end of the top ten, the duo reveals their Best Actor’s, Best Supporting Actors and Best Picture’s from the crop.
Here is how it turned out:
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Driving Miss Daisy
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Forrest Gump
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Rain Man
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The English Patient
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Braveheart
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Unforgiven
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Dances With Wolves
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Titanic
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Schindler’s List
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Silence of the Lambs
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. It isn't about what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. In this episode we look at Park Chan-wook's 2003 movie Oldboy and Spike Lee's 2013 version with the same name. Joining Dakota on this episode is Gemma Mastroianni and the two try to avoid spoilers, so if you haven't seen these films you are probably good to still listen!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss the 50th anniversary of the moon landing! They talk about the the monumental event, along with their favourite space travel related films including A Trip to The Moon, The Right Stuff, Hidden Figures, Apollo 11 and Apollo 13.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss video game movies! They talk about the rocky history of adaptations, do a throwback review of the very first video game movie Super Mario Brothers and then talk about the future of genre.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode I chat with Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, directors of the new documentary Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind. The conversation goes in depth talking about getting to spend time with Gordon Lightfoot, fitting in thirty minutes with Alec Baldwin and getting access to a treasure trove of historical footage of the Canadian music scene. Gordon Lightfoot: If You Can Read Mind is playing at Hot Docs in Toronto and for more show listings go to Kino Smith.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode of Contra Zoom, we have our first interview! Benjamin Charles Watson, who will been seen on the upcoming season of Netflix's Designated Survivor and TNT's Snowpiercer, joins Dakota Arsenault to talk about these shows along with what it is like to be a Canadian actor living in LA, his workout routine and his appearance on the short-lived cult CW show The LA Complex.
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Podcast Addict and more on the way!
Thank you Eric and Kevin Smale for creating the awesome theme music and Stephanie Prior for designing the logo.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram or send an email to contrazoompod@gmail.com.
Contra Zoom is proudly presented by Aesthetic Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Welcome to the brand new iteration of the Contra Zoom podcast! We are now very proud to be presented by Aesthetic Magazine and have this welcoming home. On this debut episode, Aesthetic Magazine founder and Editor-in-Chief Curtis Sindrey joins Dakota Arsenault, to discuss movies coming out this summer.
The movies discussed include:
May Releases – Ad Astra, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Rocketman
June Releases – Dark Phoenix, Late Night, Men in Black: International, The Dead Don’t Die, Toy Story 4, Child’s Play and Yesterday
July Releases – Spider-Man: Far From Home, Midsommar, The Lion King and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
August Releases – The New Mutants, Where’d You Go Bernadette and Good Boys
Make sure you follow Atheistic Magazine on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Special thanks to Eric and Kevin Smale for composing the Contra Zoom theme music.
Follow the show on Twitter and Instagram.
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Hi iTunes subscribers! Thank you so much for being loyal listeners. This is a special announcement that the show is coming back, stronger than ever with some great re-branding. Stay tuned for the first episode coming this week!
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Despite it being March, it is finally here! The top ten films of 2018 Contra Zoom mega episode! This episode has everything including a great co-host in Stephanie, four terrific guest spots and more films mentioned than you could imagine.
On this episode, four friends of the show were asked to send in a voice mail of what their favourite film from 2018 was.
- Sean Chin’s favourite film was the mountain climbing documentary Free Solo
- Scott Murdoch’s favourite film was the Sony animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse
- Curtis Sindrey’s favourite film was the darkly comedic Game Night
- Sammy Feilchenfeld’s favourite film was beautiful black and white Mexican film Roma
It is humanly impossible to see every film in a given year and below is the list that Dakota and Stephanie weren’t able to catch up with that they thought might have had potential to crack their top ten… if they saw them.
- Dakota- Burning, Zama, The Rider, Tea With the Dames and Blaze
- Stephanie- Leave No Trace, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, Private Life and Widows
Here are the final ten films that made Stephanie’s list:
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Capernaum
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Minding the Gap
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BlacKkKlansman
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Shoplifters
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Can You Ever Forgive Me?
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Vice
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The Favourite
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Eighth Grade
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Isle of Dogs
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Outlaw King
Here are the final ten films that made Dakota’s list:
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Roma
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Capernaum
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Cold War
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The Death of Stalin
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First Reformed
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse
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BlacKkKlansmn
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Minding the Gap
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Old Man & the Gun
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Sorry To Bother You
If you want to see a full ranking of every movie Dakota saw last year, check out his Letterboxd list and give him a follow.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
I know, it is more than a full week since the 91st Oscar’s aired, in which Green Book somehow won Best Picture over the far more deserving Roma, but Dakota and Sammy talk about the winners, the losers and how the show went.
Also joining the episode was Stephanie Prior and Scott Murdoch, who recorded their immediate reactions to the ceremony. It was a lot of fun having them both on, and with Scott’s past as a sound engineer, this won’t be the last time you hear from him on Contra Zoom!
Dakota decided to throw out all five Best Actor nominees, and instead create his own list.
- Ethan Hawke for First Reformed
- Lakeith Stanfield for Sorry to Bother You
- John David Washington for BlacKkKlansman
- Joaquin Phoenix from You Were Never Really Here
- Tomasz Kot from Cold War
While I watched it after I recorded, I would also throw Robert Redford from The Old Man & the Gun in the mix too.
Rolling Stone named the Best, Worst and WTF Moments from the Oscars.
Vogue listed the 15 best-dressed attendees at this year’s Oscars.
If you missed it you can see that Dakota predicted 16 correct categories on the last episode, while Sammy only got 8 right. You can revisit that episode HERE.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
To help aid with your Oscar ballot’s below is both Sammy’s picks and mine (Dakota). The order is based on how we announced them on the podcast. During the episode we also break down whom we want to win and who was snubbed (if any).
- Best Supporting Actor: Mahershali Ali (D), Sam Rockwell (S)
- Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (D), Rachel Weisz (S)
- Best Original Screenplay: Green Book (D), Roma (S)
- Best Adapted Screenplay: BlacKkKlansman (D), A Star is Born (S)
- Best Sound Mixing: Bohemian Rhapsody (D), A Star is Born (S)
- Best Sound Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody (D), Roma (S)
- Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (D & S)
- Best Animated Short: Bao (D & S)
- Best Documentary Feature: RBG (D & S)
- Best Documentary Short: Period. End of Sentence (D)
- Best Live Action Short:
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Vice (D & S)
- Best Cinematography: Roma (D & S)
- Best Costume Design: The Favourite (D & S)
- Best Film Editing: BlacKkKlansman (D), The Favourite (S)
- Best Foreign Language Film: Roma (D & S)
- Best Production Design: Black Panther (D & S)
- Best Visual Effects: Avengers: Infinity War (D & S)
- Best Original Score: Black Panther (D), If Beale Street Could Talk (S)
- Best Original Song: “Shallow” from A Star is Born (D & S)
- Best Actress: Glenn Close (D & S)
- Best Actor: Christian Bale (D),
- Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (D & S)
- Best Picture: Roma (D & S)
In case you missed it make sure you listen to my breakdowns of all the Best Picture contenders. Episode 73 (Vice, BlacKkKlansman and Green Book), Episode 74 (A Star is Born, Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody) and Episode 75 (The Favourite and Roma).
As mentioned during the podcast, the Academy has reversed its decision to award four categories during commercial breaks as detailed in The National Post.
If you haven’t seen this infamous sequence of Rob Lowe and Snow White having a duet during the last host-less Oscars, make sure you watch this.
For a trip down memory lane, look at the history of the types of films that were nominated and won for the Best Makeup and Hairstyling award.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the last Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about The Favourite and Roma.
I categorize all nominations as either Frontrunner’s (FR) meaning they most likely to be the winners, Dark Horse (DH) candidates could pull off an upset if momentum swings their way, and Just Happy (JH) to be nominated as they stand no real chance this year. There can be multiples front-runners to each category.
The Favourite has 10 nominations:
- Best Picture (JH)
- Best Director (JH)
- Best Actress – Olivia Coleman (DH)
- Best Supporting Actress – Rachel Weisz (JH)
- Best Supporting Actress – Emma Stone (JH)
- Best Cinematography (FR)
- Best Film Editing (FR)
- Best Original Screenplay (FR)
- Best Production Design (FR)
- Best Costume Design (FR)
*Editor’s note, The Favourite is not nominated for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing
The Favourite looks to snag about 4-5 wins for sure and could be in the running for 1 or 2 others.
Roma has 10 nominations:
- Best Picture (FR)
- Best Director – Alfonso Cuarón (FR)
- Best Actress – Yalitza Aparicio (JH)
- Best Supporting Actress – Marina de Tavira (JH)
- Best Foreign Language Film (FR)
- Best Original Screenplay (DH)
- Best Cinematography (FR)
- Best Production Design (JH)
- Best Sound Editing (JH)
- Best Sound Mixing (JH)
If you missed last week’s episode breaking down the odds for A Star is Born, Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody, listen to the show HERE.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the second Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about A Star is Born, Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody.
I categorize all nominations as either Frontrunner’s (FR) meaning they most likely to be the winners, Dark Horse (DH) candidates could pull off an upset if momentum swings their way, and Just Happy (JH) to be nominated as they stand no real chance this year. There can be multiples front-runners to each category.
A Star is Born has 8 nominations:
- Best Picture (JH)
- Best Actor – Bradley Cooper (JH)
- Best Actress – Lady Gaga (FR)
- Best Supporting Actor – Sam Elliott (DH)
- Best Adapted Screenplay (JH)
- Best Cinematography (JH)
- Best Original Song – “Shallow” (FR)
- Best Sound Mixing (DH)
A Star is Born will for sure win one award with 1-2 others potentially going its way.
What is the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing?
Black Panther has 6 nominations:
- Best Picture (JH)
- Best Original Score (FR)
- Best Original Song – “All the Stars” (DH)
- Best Costume Design (FR)
- Best Production Design (FR)
- Best Sound Editing (DH)
- Best Sound Mixing (DH)
Black Panther looks to pick up 3 technical with 2 more if they sweep the Sound categories.
Variety’s breakdown of Black Panther costumes featuring designer Ruth Carter.
Bohemian Rhapsody has 5 nominations:
- Best Picture (JH)
- Best Actor – Rami Malek (FR)
- Best Film Editing (JH)
- Best Sound Editing (DH)
- Best Sound Mixing (DH)
Bohemian Rhapsody most likely will walk away empty handed, but there is a slim chance it could win 1-3 awards.
If you missed last week’s episode breaking down the odds for Vice, BlacKkKlansman and Green Book, listen to the show HERE.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the first Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Vice, BlacKkKlansman and Green Book.
I categorize all nominations as either Frontrunner’s (FR) meaning they most likely to be the winners, Dark Horse (DH) candidates could pull off an upset if momentum swings their way, and Just Happy (JH) to be nominated as they stand no real chance this year. There can be multiples front-runners to each category.
Vice has eight nominations:
Best Picture (JH)
Best Actor – Christian Bale (FR)
Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams (FR)
Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell (JH)
Best Director – Adam McKay (JH)
Best Original Screenplay (JH)
Best Film Editing (DH)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling (FR)
Vice looks to walk away with anywhere from 1 maybe 2 awards with a couple others being long shots.
BlacKkKlansman has six nominations:
Best Picture (DH)
Best Supporting Actor – Adam Driver (DH)
Best Director – Spike Lee (DH)
Best Adapted Screenplay (FR)
Best Film Editing (FR)
BlacKkKlansman looks to walk away with anywhere from 1-2 awards with the additional 3 being contenders if Roma doesn’t sweep.
Green Book has five nominations:
Best Picture (DH)
Best Actor – Viggo Mortensen (JH)
Best Supporting Actor – Mahershala Ali (FR)
Best Original Screenplay (DH)
Best Film Editing (JH)
Green Book looks to walk away with 1 award with a strong possibility of 1 or 2 others if the tide goes its way.
If you missed Contra Zoom’s Oscar reactions podcast, make sure you give it a listen to HERE.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
With the release of the Oscar nominations for the 91st Academy Awards Dakota Arsenault and Sammy Feilchenfeld discuss their first reactions to the crop of films. They also get into the debate about the merit of Black Panther being a Best Picture nominee along with surprise nominations and snubs.
The Hollywood Reporter looks at the favourites of each category.
Variety lists the biggest surprises and snubs.
There will be more podcasts along the way covering the Best Picture contenders and they chances they have to win.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Mehek Seyid joins us again to talk about the films she saw at TIFF 2018 and gave some great insight into what the landscape for the rest of this year will look like. A few weeks ago Mehek and I previewed the fest by talking about the big name films that were coming to Toronto. You can catch up on the episode HERE.
This is a list of what Mehek saw: Assassination Nation, Boy Erased, Can You Ever Forgive Me, Destroyer, Driven, Emu Runner, EXT. Night, Fig Tree, Gloria Bell, Green Book, Greta, Her Smell, Hotel Mumbai, If Beale Street Could Talk, Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, Jessica Forever, Maya, Mid90s, Museo, Rafiki, Roma, Skin, Teen Spirit, The Wedding Guest, The Weekend, Viper Club and Widows.
The People’s Choice Award was given to Green Book and the runner-ups were If Beale Street Could Talk and Roma.
Music from this week’s episode comes from Neon Beings and his EP Fudge You. Make sure you listen to his music and purchase it from whatever service you use. Spotify/Apple Music/Google Play/Bandcamp/Soundcloud/YouTube
Follow the show @ContraZoomPodand Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
In this edition of Make/Remake Dakota and Stephanie look at a unique pair of films… the exact same film cut two ways. In 1953 Italian Neorealist director Vittorio de Dica paired with David O. Selznick to make an American film his way. He cast American actors Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones and plopped them in Rome to tell the story of an American wife having an affair while in Europe and deciding she wants to go back home to her family.
Despite wanting to produce a Neorealist film, Selznick eventually became bored with the concept and cut out all the moments that make a trademark de Sica film so memorable. The result was two different version of the same film. Terminal Station, the original cut is 90 minutes long and is more nuanced compared to Indiscretion of an American Wife, which clocks in at only 60 minutes.
The topic for this episode was inspired by filmmaker Kogonada’s video essay “What is Neorealism?”showing the major differences between the two films and a bit of history of the project.
You can watch both versions of the film in full on Youtube.
Terminal Station – the full ninety-minute version
Indiscretion of an American Wife – abridged sixty-minute version
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
According to the Toronto Star’s preview this year’s Toronto International Film Festival features 21 world premieres, seven international premieres, eight North American premieres and 11 Canadian premieres, including 13 features directed by women. It all kicks off with Netflix’s own Outlaw King starring Chris Pine that is sure to make waves across the industry. Mehek Seyid joins us this week to go over the most anticipated TIFF films and what ones she plans on seeing in advance of this year’s awards season.
Here is a list of films discussed on this week’s episode were trailers can be found on their IMDb page.
- First Man- Directed by Damien Chazelle tells the story of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.
- The Old Man & the Gun- Directed by David Lowery has Robert Redford in his final film playing an aging bank robber.
- High Life- Directed by Claire Denis in her English language debut about a group of criminals sent into deep space.
- Shoplifters- Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda about a family of small time crooks.
- Everybody Knows- Directed by Asghar Farhadi starring real life married couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as they travel to Spain to go to a wedding and dark secrets are revealed.
- Roma- Directed by Alfonso Cuarón about an intimate story of a single family over the course of a year in Mexico City in the 1970’s.
- The Predator- Directed by Shane Black reboots the 80’s action/horror franchise where an alien hunter kills a lot of people.
- Assassination Nation- Directed by Sam Levinson is about how a hacking of personal info in Salem turns everyone in the town crazy.
- The Man Who Feels No Pain- Directed by Vasan Bala is a Bollywood film about a young boy who can feel no pain so he decides to take down local criminals.
- Can You Ever Forgive Me?- Directed by Marielle Heller in a dramedy about a struggling writer played by Melissa McCarthy who turns to forging letters to make money.
- A Star is Born- Directed by Bradley Cooper starring himself and Lady Gaga in the lead roles of this oft-remade film about an aging singer and his young protégé.
- Boy Erased- Directed by Joel Edgerton starring Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman in a film about a young man you is sent to gay conversion therapy by his minister parents.
- Beautiful Boy- Directed by Felix Van Groeningen starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet about a family that overcomes addiction issues.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod, Mehek @whatthemehek and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
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The Academy Awards are changing the way their ceremony will be run in three drastic ways over the next two years. Dakota goes over the pros and cons for each of these changes.
First- The date of the ceremony will be changed from the end of February to the beginning of February starting in 2020. What this means for when nominations are announced to what other awards shows will do is still up in the air, but this impact will be felt across the industry.
Second- The show will be capped at a hard three hours, meaning that some things will need to be cut out with the Academy already announcing that some categories (at the moment unnamed) will be handed out during commercial breaks and will be shown in a montage at the end of ceremony. Other changes to ensure the time length have not been announced yet.
Third- There will a Best Popular Film award handed out next to the Best Picture award. As far as the rules surrounding what makes a film “popular” have not been announced but the fall out from this will be felt as it will change the landscape of what the award means, what types of films will be nominated and how it will affect smaller films.
For further reading check out Vulture “The Oscars Made Some Dumb Decisions Today” and Forbes “New Category For Popular Movies Will Help Disney Rule The Oscars”. You can also check out Box Office Mojoand their list of highest grossing films of the year so far to see some potential nominees.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this week’s episode Dakota Arsenault is joined by Zach Sokol, host of Radio Camp Half Blood a Percy Jackson read-a long podcast. The two talk about director Alfred Hitchcock one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. They talk about his legacy on cinema history and their favourite works by him.
If you were to recommend a Hitchcock film to introduce someone to his work the guys have a few options. Zach rec’s The Birds or Psycho while Dakota suggests Rear Window.
While breaking down Hitchcock’s films into tiers they try to make a Mount Rushmore of his work. They agree on Psycho and Vertigo while Dakota suggests Rebecca and Rear Window to round it out contrasting with Zach wants Strangers on a Train and The Lady Vanishes.
Zach informs Dakota that a sequel to The Birds exists called The Birds II: Land’s End (“directed” by Alan Smithee like Zach assumed it was). Surprisingly Tippi Hedren, also in this sequel but not as the same character.
You can watch the original Psycho trailer where Hitchcock gives the audience a tour of the Bates Motel HERE.
In a fun game of over rated/under rated the named some other picks.
Dakota- Over rated: Notorious and The Birds
Under rated: The Wrong Man and I Confess! (honourable mention Rebecca)
Zach- Over rated: Rebecca
Under rated: Rope
Check out Zach’s podcast Radio Camp Half Blood: A Percy Jackson Read-A-Long Podcast. You can also follow Zach on Twitter @suda41.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
I’m often asking for movie recommendations both from fellow movie buffs and from people who want to expand their knowledge about cinema. After having a friend ask for a list of important films to watch I decided to put together a curriculum of great films that every budding cinephile should watch. This list is a starting off point for people who want to have a base understanding of cinema’s greatest achievements. All the films follow linear story lines and have one or two specific components that highlight their greatness. I also picked all English language films, not because English films are better or anything but specifically because this guide is intended for native English speakers that might find subtitles daunting when they are getting into film.
The plan is to make this a progressively more intense curriculum, with Film History 102 delving more into complex films, thematically, language wise and what they might excel at.
This is part 2 of a 2 part series featuring 25 total films. The movies in this episode are from 1977-2016. If you missed part 1, listen HERE.
For a full slideshow of the films and what makes them important click HERE.
- Annie Hall (1977) directed by Woody Allan
- Amadeus (1984) directed by Milos Forman
- Before Sunrise (1995) directed by Richard Linklater
- Fargo (1996) directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
- The Truman Show (1998) directed by Peter Weir
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella
- Gosford Park (2001) directed by Robert Altman
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) directed by Wes Anderson
- Lost In Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola
- The Departed (2006) directed by Martin Scorsese
- The Social Network (2010) directed by David Fincher
- Moonlight (2016) directed by Barry Jenkins
Music from this episode is from Callahan. We premiered his video for Milk and Honey recently on Live in Limbo. Be sure to check out and buy his music from Bandcamp.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
I’m often asking for movie recommendations both from fellow movie buffs and from people who want to expand their knowledge about cinema. After having a friend ask for a list of important films to watch I decided to put together a curriculum of great films that every budding cinephile should watch. This list is a starting off point for people who want to have a base understanding of cinema’s greatest achievements. All the films follow linear story lines and have one or two specific components that highlight their greatness. I also picked all English language films, not because English films are better or anything but specifically because this guide is intended for native English speakers that might find subtitles daunting when they are getting into film.
The plan is to make this a progressively more intense curriculum, with Film History 102 delving more into complex films, thematically, language wise and what they might excel at.
This is part 1 of a 2 part series featuring 25 total films. The movies in this episode are from 1934-1975.
For a full slideshow of the films and what makes them important click HERE.
- It Happened One Night (1934) directed by Frank Capra
- Casablanca (1942) directed by Michael Curtiz
- All About Eve (1950) directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- An American in Paris (1951) directed by Vincente Minelli
- On the Waterfront (1954) directed by Elia Kazan
- Rear Window (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- 12 Angry Men (1957) directed by Sidney Lumet
- The Apartment (1960) directed by Billy Wilder
- West Side Story (1961) directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
- In the Heat of the Night (1967) directed by Norman Jewison
- The Sting (1973) directed by George Roy Hill
- Blazing Saddles (1974) directed by Mel Brooks
- Jaws (1975) directed by Steven Spielberg
Music from this episode is from Callahan. We premiered his video for Milk and Honey recently on Live in Limbo. Be sure to check out and buy his music from Bandcamp.
Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Dakota Arsenault and Sammy Feilchenfeld decide to revisit Sydney Lumet’s landmark debut film, 1957’s 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda.
The idea for this episode stems from Dakota and Sammy who requested a list of their favourite movies for a friend. Dakota mentioned 12 Angry Men as one of his favourite films and called it a drama/thriller, which Sammy had initially rebuked.
Upon a rewatch, the guys realized just how prescient the subject matter is, especially in the current political climate where xenophobia and racism, especially in privileged white male culture pervades thinking.
For a “bottle episode” film that takes place entirely in one location the film is remarkable in building tension and fleshing out an ensemble of characters who all get their time to shine.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
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In the latest edition of make/remake Dakota Arsenault and Stephanie Prior talk about George Orwell’s novel 1984 and two different cinematic adaptations of it.
In 1949, George Orwell published his landmark novel detailing what the future might look like if we allow our civil liberties to be eroded and for extreme ideologies to take hold so strongly that the very fabric of society would crumble. It only took eight years for the first film adaptation of the book to be made directed by Michael Anderson and staring Edmond O’Brien as Winston Smith. The 1984 version of 1984 directed by Michael Radford and staring John Hurt as Winston, portrays communism just as dangerous as right wing authoritarianism.
Dakota and Steph discuss what similarities both films employ to tell the same story along with what differences the filmmakers decided to diverge from each other. Both contexts are looking at the pros and cons of the director’s choices.
Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
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Now that 2017 is firmly in the rear view mirror Dakota Arsenault and Mehek Seyid go over their favourite films of last year.
Dakota’s list:
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Loveless
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Logan Lucky
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Mudbound
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Columbus
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Lady Bird
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Get Out
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Dunkirk
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Phantom Thread
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Call Me By Your Name
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A Ghost Story
Mehek’s list:
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Sheikh Jackson
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Mom and Dad/The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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Lady Bird
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The Shape of Water
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Thor: Ragnarok
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Coco
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What Will People Say
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I, Tonya
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Get Out
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The Florida Project
Sean Chin’s favourite movie was Icarus.
Sammy Feilchenfeld’s favourite movie was Blade Runner 2049.
Honourable Mentions for Dakota: The Shape of Water, I, Tonya, Loving Vincent, Coco and Thor Ragnarok.
Honourable Mentions for Mehek: The Incredible Jessica James, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Free Fire, Colossal and Logan.
Notable Omissions Not Seen by Dakota: Personal Shopper, Lady Macbeth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Beatriz at Dinner, All the Money in the World and A Fantastic Woman.
Notable Omissions Not Seen by Mehek: Logan Lucky, Good Time, Ingrid Goes West, Girl’s Trip and A Ghost Story.
Music from this episode is by Ministry of Interior Spaces and his song Hoyt Arboretum OR. Last week we premiered the music video and you can find out more at his Bandcamp where you can preorder his upcoming album.
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On this Episode Dakota Arsenault and Sammy Feilchenfeld recap and review the 90th Academy Awards that were handed out on Sunday March 4th, with the Best Picture being awarded to The Shape of Water.
Some thoughts discussed include:
- Dunkirk became the 17th film to win both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing
- Netflix won it’s first full length feature award when Icarus was awarded Best Doc
- Jordan Peele is the first black person to win Best Original Screenplay for Get Out
- Roger Deakins finally won an Oscar after 13 previous nominations for Best Cinematography
- The Jet Ski gag was probably the best bit of the night
Among many other topics!
If you have any thoughts on the Oscars let Dakota know what you think! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Dakota Arsenault is joined by Mehek Seyid to talk about this year’s Oscar’s nominees as they make some bold predictions. They say who they think should win, will win and who was snubbed. Check out Part 1 from earlier this week for the rest of the picks. Look at the images below to see their final picks.
Easy to watch nominated films:
On Netflix- Mudbound, Icarus, Strong Island, On Body and Soul, Heroin(e), Revolting Rhymes, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Last Men in Aleppo and Beauty and the Beast.
Edith+Eddie and Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Dakota Arsenault is joined by Mehek Seyid to talk about this year’s Oscar’s nominees as they make some bold predictions. They say who they think should win, will win and who was snubbed. Watch out for Part 2 coming later this week with the rest of their picks. Look at the images below to see their final picks.
Easy to watch nominated films:
On Netflix- Mudbound, Icarus, Strong Island, On Body and Soul, Heroin(e), Revolting Rhymes, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Last Men in Aleppo and Beauty and the Beast.
Edith+Eddie and Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Dakota Arsenault had the opportunity to chat with Mitchell Cushman, director of the play Jerusalem that is currently showing at Crow’s Nest Theatre until March 10th. You may remember Mitchell who previously appeared on Contra Zoom back on episode three when he talked about directing Mr. Burns a Post Electric Play.
Special thanks to Mr. Cushman and to Red Eye Media for setting up this chat. Look for Dakota’s review of the play coming soon.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the second Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. Last week he talked about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour and Lady Bird. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Dunkirk, Get Out, Call Me By Your Name and The Post.
For the last written primer check it out HERE.
These are the nominations for Dunkirk.
Best Picture
Best Director- Christopher Nolan
Best Cinematography- Hoyte Van Hoytema
Best Film Editing- Lee Smith
Best Production Design- Nathan Crowley and Gary Fettis
Best Original Score- Hans Zimmer
Best Sound Editing- Richard King and Alex Gibson
Best Sound Mixing- Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo and Mark Weingarten
Correction I mistakenly say Hans Zimmer has a million nominations when I actually confused him with John Williams who scored his 51st nomination compared to Zimmer’s mere* 11 nominations.
These are the nominations for Get Out.
Best Picture
Best Actor- Daniel Kaluuya
Best Director- Jordan Peele
Best Original Screenplay- Jordan Peele
These are the nominations for Call Me By Your Name.
Best Picture
Best Actor- Timothée Chalamet
Best Adapted Screenplay- James Ivory
Best Original Song- Sufjan Stevens for “The Mystery of Love”
These are the nominations for The Post.
Best Picture
Best Actress- Meryl Strep
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This is the first Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour and Lady Bird.
These are the nominations for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Best Picture
- Best Actress- Frances McDormand
- Best Supporting Actor- Sam Rockwell
- Best Supporting Actor- Woody Harrelson
- Best Original Score- Carter Burwell
- Best Original Screenplay- Martin McDonagh
- Best Film Editing- John Gregory
These are the nominations for Darkest Hour
- Best Picture
- Best Actor- Gary Oldman
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling- Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick
- Best Cinematography- Bruno Delbonnel
- Best Costume Design- Jacqueline Durran
- Best Production Design- Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
These are the nominations for Lady Bird
- Best Picture
- Best Actress- Saoirse Ronan
- Best Supporting Actress- Laurie Metcalf
- Best Director- Greta Gerwig
- Best Original Screenplay- Greta Gerwig
Make sure you check out this week’s Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over Blade Runner 2049, Coco, The Big Sick and The Florida Project. These Primers will be posted once a week on Tuesdays. Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Sammy Feilchenfeld joins Dakota to talk about the biggest news stories of 2017. This isn’t the usual top movie of the year podcast, but instead reflecting on the year that was and what to expect for 2018. For an amazing Best Of list check out Rachel Gordon’s Top 25 Films of 2017, Live in Limbo’s official Best Of list.
– Best Picture Winner mixup back in Feb causing LaLaLand to think it won when Moonlight actually did.
– Horror movies absolutely raking in the dough with IT, Get Out, Split and Annabelle: Creation all earning more than $100 million.
– Systematic abuse is finally being taken serious with the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Louis CK and others being taken to task for the suffering they put people through.
– Star Wars having all types of Director issues, from Colin Trevarrow being kicked off of Ep 9 (and replaced by JJ Abrams), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being fired before reshoots of Solo (and replaced by Ron Howard) and on the heels of Gareth Edwards having Tony Gilroy oversee Rogue One reshoots and the franchise has had either the number 1 or 2 highest grossing movie of the last 3 years.
– Disney buying 21st Century Fox and what that mean’s that now about 40% of all entertainment will be produced by one studio.
For examples of all of our stories in one easy source check out Collider or Empire Online.
The guys also ran down the highest grossing films of the last year.
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Beauty and the Beast
- Wonder Woman
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- IT
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Despicable Me 3
- Logan
- The Fate of the Furious
Music from this episode is Sun Slug and Sleepwalker by psych rockers Possum. They have recently played with acts like Ty Seagall and Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs.
Make sure you follow Possum on Twitter @possumyyz. You can listen to their records on Spotify or buy it on Bandcamp.
Let us know your favourite movie moments from 2017 @contrazoompod and @dgapa.
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Here is part two of our Best Picture Countdown of movies that won between 1978-1987. On the last episode we ran down the bottom five films, click HERE to see the list and listen to the episode. On this episode Stephanie Prior joins Dakota again and they talk about the best of that decade.
Here are the bottom five pictures in our ratings. Dakota’s ratings come first and Stephanie’s second next to each film.
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The Last Emperor 7.9/10 7.5/10
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The Deer Hunter 8.4/10 7.7/10
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Amadeus 7.5/10 8.5/10
And for the very first time we have a tie for first place!
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Kramer vs. Kramer 8.5/10 8.2/10
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Ordinary People 8.7/10 8/10
If you have seen any of these films let Dakota know what you think! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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After more than a year off from continuing the Best Picture Ranking series, it is back with a vengeance! Stephanie Prior steps in to join Dakota to review the Best Picture winners from the 1978-1987 Oscars (the 50th-59th winners). The series also got a much overdue name changing dropping the Birdman for the most recent winner Moonlight. If you missed the last time the series was discussed click HERE.
Site photographer Cole Leuthel joins us to talk about his three favourite movies.
- Do The Right Thing
- Apocalypse Now
- 12 Angry Men
Here are the bottom five pictures in our ratings. Dakota’s ratings come first and Stephanie’s second next to each film.
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Terms of Endearment 6/10 5.5/10
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Gandhi 6.3/10 6.5/10
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Out of Africa 6.8/10 7/10
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Chariots of Fire 6.5/10 6/10
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Platoon 7/10 7/10
Tune into the next episode where Dakota and Stephanie count down the top five Best Pictures from the decade.
Music from this week’s episode comes from Brooklyn Doran, a Toronto based singer songwriter. Brooklyn challenged herself to perform 100 concerts in 2017 and she completed that task just in the knick of time! Her debut full length album These Paper Wings made our top 50 albums of 2016 list last year and expect big things from her next year! Follow Brooklyn on Twitter @brooklyndoran and on Facebook.
If you have seen any of these films let Dakota know what you think! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
For this massive episode Sammy Feilchenfeld joins Dakota Arsenault again to talk about all things concerning the new trend of “Cinematic Universes”, starting with reviews of both Justice League and Thor: Ragnarok the films that helped kick this new style of moving making off.
After reviewing the two latest superhero movies, the guys look to see what the future holds for both the MCU and DCEU.
– For the MCU about 20 films are already in the pipeline to come out over the next 10 years barring no major catastrophe.
– For something more immediate, we learn that Marvel’s first female lead film, appropriately named Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, has just cast Jude Law.
– Sony wants to get in on the action after lending Marvel Spider-Man, and has decided to start its own Spider-centric universe, with the first movie being based on Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Venom.
– Sammy praises the new Monster-verse kicked off with Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island for starting a franchise off right.
– The guys also belittle the very poorly conceived “Dark Universe” that started with this year’s The Mummy and how its poor reception has caused the entire planned universe to be scrapped.
– Also talked about is the X-Men series and how Deadpool is connected to it, the Star Wars series and how Rian Johnson is about to be given carte blanche to explore the galaxy from long, long ago to new heights and The Incredibles among other movie related offerings.
Music from this episode is Teach Me by folk singer Caren. You can catch her December 19th at the Horseshoe Tavern and January 27th at Musiikki Café in Kingston.
Make sure you follow Caren on Twitter @songsbycaren and on Facebook.
You can listen to her self titled album on Spotify or buy it on iTunes.
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After being out for over a month, Dakota Arsenault finally gets around to talking about the new Blade Runner 2049 movie. Sammy Feilchenfeld returns to talk about what he calls his favourite movie of the year so far.
Since this movie has been out for so long, spoilers are talked about in this episode so listeners be warned!
– Sammy and Dakota want to heap all the praise on all the amazing actresses in this movie specifically singling out Robin Wright, Ana De Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Hiam Abbas, Mackenzie Davis and Carla Juri
– Dave Bautista doesn’t want to be your typical leading man
– The guys talk about where director Denis Villeneuve ranks among the greatest current working directors. Earlier this summer there was an episode of Contra Zoom that Sammy guested on talking about the greatest Canadian filmmakers of all time.
– Roger Deakins hopefully will finally win first Oscar for his cinematography after being nominated a whopping 13 times!!!
– The stunning sets weren’t all massive larger than life ones; some were miniature with really impressive detail included.
– We eagerly await Villeneuve’s take on Dune.
If you saw Blade Runner 2049, let Dakota know what you thought! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on November 16, 2017
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On this very special episode Dakota Arsenault celebrates reaching the milestone of 50 episodes! The very first one was back in April of 2015 discussing the first ten Best Picture Winner’s can be found HEREand marvel at how much better the quality has gotten (and notice the run times are much shorter!) A bit of the podcast’s history is shared including the origin of our name.
Special thanks goes out to Sean Chin, Live in Limbo’s Editor in Chief and the creator and host of Capsulewho sent in a lovely congratulatory message.
Joining Dakota is Stephanie Prior, who has twice been a guest specializing in the Make/Remakesegment of the show. Dakota and Stephanie talk about the history of Dracula in cinema in regards to three specific films.
1931’s Dracula stars Bela Lugosi as the first “real” on screen Dracula. The film is directed by Tod Browning and with its lack of music is as close to a silent film as a talkie can get.
1958’s Horror of Dracula stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the Hammer Production directed by Terence Fisher. The film has a historical epic feel to it while also being more of a drama than a horror flick.
1993’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula stars Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins directed by Francis Ford Coppola in what is both a defining and a copycat film at the same time. Paying homage to not just Dracula films but horror films in general. Easily the goriest of the three films in this series.
Briefly touched upon is both the German film Nosferatu (the original Dracula) and the mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, which spoofs all previous Dracula/vampire films.
Happy Halloween! Make sure you send us your favourite Halloween/Horror films to watch! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on October 19, 2017
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The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped a few weeks ago and Mehek Seyid makes a return to Contra Zoom where she talks about the 28 (!) films she saw at this year festival.
The films that won top honours were Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, which won the People’s Choice award, with I, Tonya and Call Me By Your Name being named as runner ups. The top Canadian film was Les Affamés.
We also talk about the ethics of having the audience vote on People’s Choice and why it might be a bit of a flawed system.
Here are the 28 films Mehek saw and I linked all the films that had trailers released so far.
- Stronger
- I, Tonya
- Mary Shelley
- Killing of a Sacred Deer
- Mom and Dad
- Roman J. Israel, Esq.
- What Will People Say
- Lady Bird
- Euphoria
- Downsizing
- The Mountain Between Us
- Darkest Hour
- Ava
- Oh, Lucy!
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Kings
- Mudbound
- Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
- Sheikh Jackson
- Woman Walks Ahead
- On Chisel Beach
- The Current War
- The Shape of Water
- I Love You, Daddy
- Papillon
- Unicorn Store
- Three Christ’s
- Disobedience
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode originally posted on October 8, 2017
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On this episode Sammy Feilchenfeld joins Dakota Arsenault as they discuss the end of the summer movie season. This episode includes talk on some summer movie highlights, the media’s decision to cause a panic about low attendance rates for crappy movies, the success of IT and the emergence of the app Movie Pass.
– THR talks about what a poor few weeks August was for the box office.
– Movie Pass might be the greatest idea ever, except it is only for Americans.
– A fancy infographic about the history of the summer movie season.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on September 21, 2017
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With the recent passing of Horror legend George A. Romero, we here at Contra Zoom thought we should honour him by dedicating an episode of Make/Remake to him.
In this Make/Remake series we discuss how remade films are both similar and different from each other, without going super in depth into if they are “good” or “bad” movies.
Much like the first iteration of this Make/Remake series (Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven), host Dakota Arsenault is joined once again by Stephanie Prior who also did the cover art for this episode.
1978’s Dawn of the Dead directed by Romero was his second zombie film and a landmark horror movie. Combining body horror with a consumerist satire and comic book humour was a stroke of genius for the auteur as it propelled him into the mainstream movie going collective. Throughout his life Romero made fifteen feature films.
In 2004 Zack Synder made his directorial debut with a remake of Dawn of the Dead. At the time Synder was known for his work as a commercial director before given the reins to make his feature debut. Going for a more traditional thriller/horror film, he forwent the satirical take on the concept and made his mark on the industry, which lead him to eventually be the big shot behind the current DC cinematic universe and helming the new Superman and Justice League films.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on August 31, 2017
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On this special episode, Dakota Arsenault is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld as they discuss the greatest aspect of Canada- our filmmakers!
From talking about their favourite Canadian produced films like Incendies, Men With Brooms, C.R.A.Z.Y. and many more to just plain talking about their favourite Canadian directors like Denis Villeneuve, Jean-Marc Vallée, David Cronenberg and Deepa Mehta.
Episode was originally posted on July 15, 2017
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On this week’s episode Sierra Nutkevitch joins Dakota Arsenault and they talk about the latest DC film Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins. In the second part of the episode the two discuss their favourite films directed by women and the importance of female fronted movies.
- Sierra wrote an excellent review of the Wonder Woman film that is worth reading before listening to the pod.
- Sierra recommends a few great Wonder Woman stories fans of the movie should check out.
- Anything by Gail Simone who is probably the most influential female comic book writer ever having also penned stories for Birds of Prey and Batgirl.
- New 52 was a series that Brain Azzarello contributed to, which is a new take on the origin story.
- For fans of Batman check out WW’s crossover with him in The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka and J.G. Jones.
- JLA: A League of One where WW fights a dragon by Christopher Moeller!
- Superman: Sacrifice an arc that features WW also written by Greg Rucka.
Episode was originally posted on June 29, 2017
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This is the first episode of a new series called Make/Remake where we look at two films, an original and a remake and compare and contrast the films. It isn’t about anointing, which one is the superior film or deriding remakes as unoriginal. This series is about looking at two films that tell the same story and how the utilize the art of telling a story in both similar and different ways.
This week Dakota Arsenault is joined by Stephanie Prior to talk about Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.
Seven Samurai was released in 1954 and was directed by Akira Kurasawa (Rashomon, Akira Ran). The film was nominated for two Oscars (Best Art Direction/Set Decoration B&W and Best Costume Design B&W) and remains one of Japans most famous and influential films.
Only six years later did The Magnificent Seven come out, it was directed by John Sturges (The Great Escape, Gunfight at the O.K. Coral). The film only received one Oscar nomination for its iconic score even though it starred a who’s who of Hollywood including Steve McQueen, Yul Brenner, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Eli Wallach and more.
Special thanks to Stephanie Prior for joining me and for creating the artwork used for this special episode.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on June 8, 2017
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On this week’s episode Dakota Arsenault introduces interviews that Sierra Nutkevitch conducted at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference this year.
- Christina Jennings– Chairman & CEO of Shaftesbury. Christina talks about what it is like to take the plunge and follow your passions and the greatness Canada has to offer in terms of content creators.
- Michelle Daly– Senior Director of Comedy at CBC. Michelle talks about what makes Canadian content so great and the abundance of funny women.
- Courtney Jane Walker– Writer and Producer of Degrassi: Next Class. Courtney talks about how to empower young people, especially young girls and other marginalized people.
- Allison Friedman– Director of Development of Color Force.
- Corey Mandell– Playwright and UCLA Screenwriting Professor. Corey talks about watching movies both with a critical eye and as a moviegoer.
- Special thanks to the good people at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference and Touchwood PR.
- Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on May 24, 2017
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Rachel Gordon and Dakota Arsenault discuss the top films of 2016, even though it is now 4 months into 2017, as they needed time to digest everything. They were going to just award the top spot to La La Land, but at the last second decided not to.
A few guests who also talk about their number one movie of last year join them this week.
Gilles Leblanc- Rogue One
Sierra Nutkevitch- Moana
Sean Chin- Arrival
Mehek Seyid- Moonlight
Rachel Gordon’s top 10 list:
-
Don’t Think Twice
-
Little Men
-
Sing Street
-
10 Cloverfield Land
-
Kubo and the Two Strings
-
I, Daniel Blake
-
20th Century Women
-
Arrival
-
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
-
Moonlight
Dakota Arsenault’s top 10 list:
-
Sing Street
-
The Salesman
-
The Handmaiden
-
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
-
The Lobster
-
Arrival
-
O.J.: Made in America
-
Moonlight
-
Hail, Caesar
-
Hell or High Water
Check out Dakota’s entire 2016 list on Letterboxd.
What was your favourite movie of the year?
Episode was originally posted on March 30, 2017
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After all the craziness of the Oscars Dakota Arsenault and Mehek Seyid needed to talk about what transpired.
– La La Land was accidentally named Best Picture because of an envelope mixup
– Jimmy Kimmel making fun of non-white names isn’t cool
– John Legend performed both La La Land songs
– Mahershala Ali was the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar
– Damien Chazelle is the youngest Best Director winner ever
– Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them won the first Oscar for a Potter-verse film
– All five directors of the Best Foreign Language Film signed a note deriding Trump’s Travel Ban
Based on the guesses Dakota, Rachel Gordon and Mehek made during the two part predictions episode Dakota ended up with 16 right, Rachel with 9 and Mehek with 14.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on March 1, 2017
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Just in time for your last minute Oscar pool’s Dakota Arsenault and Rachel Gordon host the second annual Contra Zoom Oscar Extravaganza! Your hosts are joined by film buff and Capsule co-host Mehek Seyid. Here are the final predictions for Part 2 of the two-part special. If you missed Part 1, listen HERE. There will be a recap episode after the Oscars.
Best Documentary
Dakota- O.J.: Made in America
Rachel- O.J.: Made in America
Mehek- O.J.: Made in America
Best Foreign Language Film
Dakota- The Salesman
Rachel- Toni Erdmann
Mehek- The Salesman
Best Animated Feature
Dakota- Zootopia
Rachel- Kubo and the Two Strings
Mehek- Zootopia
Best Adapted Screenplay
Dakota- Moonlight
Rachel- Moonlight
Mehek- Moonlight
Best Original Screenplay
Dakota- Manchester By the Sea
Rachel- La La Land
Mehek- La La Land
Best Supporting Actor
Dakota- Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Rachel- Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Mehek- Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Best Supporting Actress
Dakota- Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Rachel- Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
Mehek- Viola Davis (Fences)
Best Actor
Dakota- Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Rachel- Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Mehek- Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Best Actress
Dakota- Emma Stone (La La Land)
Rachel- Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Mehek- Emma Stone (La La Land)
Best Director
Dakota- Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Rachel- Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Mehek- Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Best Picture
Dakota- Moonlight
Rachel- La La Land
Mehek- La La Land
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on February 23, 2017
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Just in time for your last minute Oscar pool’s Dakota Arsenault and Rachel Gordon host the second annual Contra Zoom Oscar Extravaganza! Your hosts are joined by film buff and Capsule co-host Mehek Seyid. Here are the final predictions for Part 1 of the two part special.
Best Live Action Short Film
- Dakota- Enemies Within (not on pod)
Best Documentary Short Film
- Dakota- Joe’s Violin
Best Animated Short Film
- Dakota- Blind Vaysha (not on pod)
- Rachel- Pearl
Best Sound Mixing
- Dakota-La La Land
- Rachel- La La Land
- Mehek- La La Land
Best Sound Editing
- Dakota- La La Land
- Rachel- Hacksaw Ridge
- Mehek- Hacksaw Ridge
Best Original Score
- Dakota- La La Land
- Rachel- La La Land
- Mehek- La La Land
Best Original Song
- Dakota- “City of Stars”- La La Land
- Rachel- “City of Stars”- La La Land
- Mehek- “City of Stars”- La La Land
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Dakota- Suicide Squad
- Rachel- Suicide Squad
- Mehek- Suicide Squad
Best Editing
- Dakota- La La Land
- Rachel- La La Land
- Mehek- La La Land
Best Costume Design
- Dakota- Jackie
- Rachel- Jackie
- Mehek-La La Land
Best Production Design
- Dakota- La La Land
- Rachel- Hail, Ceasar!
- Mehek- La La Land
Best Visual Effects
- Dakota-The Jungle Book
- Rachel- Doctor Strange
- Mehek- Doctor Strange
Best Cinematography
- Dakota- La La Land
- Rachel- La La Land
- Mehek- La La Land
Stay tuned to part two coming on Thursday with the rest of the predictions. Special thanks to Mehek Seyid for joining Rachel and Dakota on this episode.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on February 21, 2017
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On this last episode of this year’s breakdown of the Best Picture nominated films Dakota Arsenault talks about Manchester By the Sea and Lion. On last week’s episode of Contra Zoom he discussed Hell or High Water, Fences and Moonlight.
These are the nominations for Manchester By the Sea
- Best Picture
- Best Actor- Casey Affleck
- Best Supporting Actor- Lucas Hedges
- Best Supporting Actress- Michelle Williams
- Best Director- Kenneth Lonergan
- Best Original Screenplay- Kenneth Lonergan
These are the nominations for Lion
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor- Dev Patel
- Best Supporting Actress- Nicole Kidman
- Best Adapted Screenplay- Luke Davies
- Best Cinematography- Greig Fraser
- Best Original Score- Dustin O’Halloran and Volker Bertelmann
Make sure you check out this week’s Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over Jackie, Loving, Doctor Strange and Zootopia. These Primers will be posted once a week on Tuesdays.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on February 16, 2017
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On this second episode of this year’s breakdown of the Best Picture nominated films Dakota Arsenault and Rachel Gordon talks about Moonlight, Fences and Hell or High Water. On last week’s episode of Contra Zoom he discussed Hidden Figures and La La Land.
These are the nominations for Moonlight
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor- Mahershala Ali
- Best Supporting Actress- Naomie Harris
- Best Directing- Barry Jenkins
- Best Cinematography- James Laxton
- Best Film Editing- Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders
- Best Original Score- Nicholas Britell
- Best Adapted Screenplay- Barry Jenkins (screenplay) and Tarell Alvin McCraney (story)
These are the nominations for Fences
- Best Picture
- Best Actor- Denzel Washington
- Best Supporting Actress- Viola Davis
- Best Adapted Screenplay- August Wilson
These are the nominations for Hell or High Water
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor- Jeff Bridges
- Best Original Screenplay- Taylor Sheridan
- Best Film Editing- Jake Roberts
Make sure you check out this week’s Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Captain Fantastic, Hail, Caesar! and Suicide Squad. These Primers will be posted once a week on Tuesdays.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on February 9, 2017
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On this second episode of this year’s breakdown of the Best Picture nominated films Dakota Arsenaulttalks about Hidden Figures and La La Land. On last week’s episode of Contra Zoom he discussed Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival.
These are the nominations for Hidden Figures
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actress- Octavia Spencer
- Best Adapted Screenplay- Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
These are the nominations for La La Land
- Best Picture
- Best Actor- Ryan Gosling
- Best Actress- Emma Stone
- Best Director- Damien Chazelle
- Best Original Screenplay- Damien Chazelle
- Best Cinematography- Linus Sandgren
- Best Film Editing- Tom Cross
- Best Production Design- David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
- Best Costume Design- Mary Zophres
- Best Original Score- Justin Hurwitz
- Best Original Song: “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”- Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
- Best Original Song: “City of Stars”- Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
- Best Sound Mixing- Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steven Morrow
- Best Sound Editing- Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou
Make sure you check out this week’s Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over Florence Foster Jenkins, Kubo and the Two Strings and The Lobster. These Primers will be posted once a week on Tuesdays.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on February 3, 2017
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This is the first Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakotadoes every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Arrivaland Hacksaw Ridge.
These are the nominations for Arrival
– Best Picture
– Best Director
Denis Villeneuve
– Best Adapted Screenplay
Eric Heisserer
– Best Cinematography
Bradford Young
– Best Film Editing
Joe Walker
– Best Production Design
Patrice Vermette
Paul Hotte
– Best Sound Mixing
Bernard Gariépy Strobl
Claude La Haye
– Best Sound Editing
Sylvain Bellemare
These are the nominations for Hacksaw Ridge
– Best Picture
– Best Actor
Andrew Garfield
– Best Director
Mel Gibson
– Best Film Editing
John Gilbert
– Best Sound Mixing
Kevin O’Connell
Andy Wright
Robert Mackenzie
Peter Grace
– Best Sound Editing
Robert Mackenzie
Andy Wright
Make sure you check out the first written Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over some first thoughts on the nominations for this year. These Primers will be posted once a week.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Episode was originally posted on January 26, 2017
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Dakota Arsenault is proud to announce that Rachel Gordon will join Contra Zoom as the permanent co-host along with her new role as Associate Film Editor!
– You can check out Andreas Babiolakis’ Top 25 Films of 2016 and Top 25 Performances of 2016.
– You can find the top grossing films of 2016 HERE.
– Dakota’s thoughts on trends: Great child acting this year (Sing Street, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, etc), DC movies suck but Marvel movies are still great, obsession with Letterboxd (Dakota’s profile), Jeff Nichols dominates 2016 with Midnight Special and Loving.
Rachel’s thoughts on trends: Hidden Fences mistakes at The Golden Globes, adult superhero films (Deadpool, Logan), Netflix series are better than movies.
– Read Dakota’s review of Patriots Day if you want a good laugh.
– Movie watching goals for 2017: Dakota wants to watch more female directed films and Rachel is starting a personal film journal.
– Old movies that Dakota watched for the time and loved included The Killing, The Asphalt Jungle and Frankenstein while Rachel loved The Long Good Friday.
– Most disappointing films of 2016 for Dakota it was Triple 9 and American Pastoral for Rachel it was The Bad Batch.
– Movies we are excited for in 2017 (click for trailers)
Dakota: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Blade Runner 2049, War for the Planet of the Apes, Baby Driver (no trailer or teaser)
Rachel: Get Out, Wonder Woman, Logan, The Dark Tower (no trailer or teaser)
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter and Rachel on Instagram.
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- Subscribe via iTunes
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Episode was originally posted on January 22, 2017
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On this mini-episode Dakota Arsenault talks to the lovely and talented Divine Brown, who is most well known for her music career but she is about to star in the musical Passing Strange.
Passing Strange is having its Toronto premiere later this month and it is a rock and roll epic that features a live band on stage accompanying the actors. It is being produced by Acting Up Stage Productions and Obsidian Theatre Company and it will be performed at The Opera House.
The show runs from January 24th-February 5th tickets can be purchased HERE.
Check out Divine Brown’s latest single Love Alibi.
Special thanks to penelopePR for setting the interview up and everyone at Acting Up and Obsidian.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
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Episode was originally posted on January 13, 2017
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This week Dakota is joined by Rachel Gordon to talk about the passing of TIFF founder Bill Marshall, who sadly passed away at the age of 77 on January 1st, 2017.
Dakota and Rachel share some great quotes and stories that emerged in a fantastic obituary from TIFF, which include stories from the people who knew him best.
TIFF while a massive film festival also celebrates Canadian film like no other including every ten years naming the best Canadian made films of all time.
The People’s Choice Award has also gone to 5 eventual Best Picture Winners and an additional 9 nominees showing that Toronto is the first spot in awards contention.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter and Rachel on Instagram.
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Episode was original posted on January 5, 2017
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On this episode the guys start talk about the forth edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1968-1977 (the 40th-49th Oscar winners).
In Part One the guys reveal their bottom five of the decade.
-
Oliver!
-
Rocky
-
Patton
-
The French Connection
-
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Here are the top five pictures in our rankings. Dakota’s ratings come first and Andreas’ second next to each film.
-
The Sting 8.2/10 9/10
-
Midnight Cowboy 8.5/10 9/10
-
Annie Hall 8.7/10 10/10
-
The Godfather Part 2 9/10 10/10
-
The Godfather Part 1 9.5/10 10/10
As usual we award the best performances and film with our own version of the Oscar’s!
Best Picture- The Godfather Part 1 for Dakota
The Godfather Part 2 for Andreas
Best Actor- Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy) for Dakota
Al Pacino (The Godfather Part 2) for Andreas
Best Actress- Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) is both Dakota and Andreas’ pick
Best Supporting Actor- Brad Dourif (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) is Dakota’s pick
Robert de Nero (The Godfather Part 2) is Andreas’ pick
Best Supporting Actress- Talia Shire (The Godfather Part 2) is Dakota’s pick
Talia Shire (The Godfather) is Andreas’ pick
Music from this week’s episode comes from Silas Fiction an indie pop duo from Indiana. We had premiered their song Bad Company back in July. Their newest album Pairs, which came out on September 27th with a pay what you can formula from Bandcamp where all the proceeds are going to the fantastic organization Teach for America. You can also find the album on Spotify, Tidal and iTunes and where every else you get your music from.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
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Episode original post date was November 11, 2016
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This week Dakota Arsenault is joined by special guest Rachel Gordon as they talk about their favourite movies you should watch during the Halloween season!
New Horror (1980’s on)-
- Rachel suggests watching The Blair Witch Project
- Dakota suggests watching The Thing
Classic Horror-
- Rachel suggests watching anything from Alfred Hitchcock specifically Psycho or The Birds
- Dakota suggests watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Comedy Horror-
- Rachel suggests watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Dakota suggests watching Hot Fuzz
Family Friendly-
- Rachel suggests watching Halloweentown
- Dakota suggests watching ParaNorman
Thrillers-
- Rachel suggests watching Scream
- Dakota suggests watching Zodiac
Follow Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.
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Episode original post date was October 26, 2016
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Mehek Seyid joins Dakota and Andreas this week as they discuss the Toronto International Film Festival including the big winners and some other must sees.
Links:
– La La Land was the big winner taking home the People’s Choice award and both Andreas and Mehek are in sync lavishing even more praise on the Oscar front runner.
– Jackie was another film both Mehek and Andreas saw with Natalie Portman getting some serious Oscar buzz for a Best Actress win.
– Lion was the only film that made Mehek actually cry in the theatre, it’s that powerful!
– Moonlight is a film that might sneak up on you and during awards seasons.
– Birth of a Nation gets some talk, minus the controversy aspect.
– Loving is a film Andreas hopes gets more attention.
– Nocturnal Animals is Tom Ford’s second film and is poised to be an attention grabber.
Music on this week’s episode is from The Alpacas and their song The Artifact.
Follow Mehek at @WhatTheMehek and listen to her on the Capsule Podcast.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
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Episode original post date was October 1, 2016
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode the guys start talk about the forth edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1968-1977 (the 40th-49th Oscar winners).
Our photographer Katrina Lat joins us to talk about her favourite movies.
– Down With Love
– Singin’ In The Rain
– Big Fish
Here are the bottom five pictures in our rankings. Dakota’s ratings come first and Andreas’ second next to each film.
-
Oliver! 6/10 5/10
-
Rocky 6.5/10 6/10
-
Patton 7.5/10 8/10
-
The French Connection 8/10 9/10
-
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest 8.3/10 8/10
Music from this week’s episode comes from Silas Fiction an indie pop duo from Indiana. We had premiered their song Bad Company back in July. Their newest album Pairs, which comes out on September 27th with a pay what you can formula from Bandcamp where all the proceeds are going to the fantastic organization Teach for America. You can also find the album on Spotify, Tidal and iTunes and where every else you get your music from.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
- Subscribe via RSS
Episode original post date September 15, 2016
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Even though Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis are currently prepping for their proper return to Contra Zoom, it is only fitting for them to have a tribute to one of the greatest comedic actors ever in Gene Wilder. The guys talk about their favourite Wilder movies, moments and what made him so special.
Enjoy some great clips from some of his movies.
– Puttin’ On the Ritz from Young Frankenstein
– The Waco Kid introduction from Blazing Saddles
– Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date September 2, 2016
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Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis review the new film X-Men: Apocalypse. In the end the guys think the film is good, but not great and nowhere near the super negative reviews some critics have been giving it.
– Andreas spoke with Canadian actress Carolina Bartczak who plays Magneto’s wife, Magda, in the new summer blockbuster film X-Men: Apocalypse. Carolina talks about meeting Jennifer Lawrence for the first time and what a great actor Michael Fassbender is work with.
– Dakota’s old acting teacher, John Bourgeois at Humber College has a small part in the movie as a General in the war room.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date was June 30, 2016
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This is the third year in a row that Live in Limbo has attended the Toronto Screenwriting Conference and the second year that Contra Zoom has done a pod and interviews on the great weekend. Here you can listen to last year’s episode, which features interviews with David S Goyer and Mara Brock Akil.
Links:
This is Part Two of our TSC coverage at Contra Zoom. On Part One there were interviews with Glen Mazzara and Stephen Falk.
Make sure you read the recap of the weekend, Day 1 done by Andreas Babiolakis and Day 2 done by our special guest Nathaniel Roizen.
Andreas got the chance to interview two of the amazing speakers in this episode.
– Emily Andras is the creator of Wynonna Earp, a producer and writer for both Lost Girl and Killjoys.
– Moira Walley-Beckett was an Executive Producer and writer for Breaking Bad and Creator of Flesh and Bone.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa, Andreas @AndreasBabs and Nathaniel@RathanielNoizen and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
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Episode was originally posted on May 26, 2016
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the third year in a row that Live in Limbo has attended the Toronto Screenwriting Conference and the second year that Contra Zoom has done a pod and interviews on the great weekend. Here you can listen to last year’s episode, which features interviews with David S Goyer and Mara Brock Akil.
Make sure you read the recap of the weekend, Day 1 done by Andreas Babiolakis and Day 2 done by our special guest Nathaniel Roizen.
Andreas got the chance to interview two of the amazing speakers in this episode.
– Glen Mazzara was the show runner of The Walking Dead for several seasons starting with season 2; he also is the show runner and creator of Damien.
– Stephen Falk is the creator of You’re the Worst and also wrote for Weeds and produces Orange is the New Black
Follow Dakota @Dgapa, Andreas @AndreasBabs and Nathaniel @RathanielNoizen and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
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Episode original post date was May 17, 2016
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This week Dakota Arsenault is joined by a special guest in Mehek Seyid to talk about some of the films we are most excited to see.
April
– Sing Street
May
– Captain America: Civil War
– The Angry Birds Movie
– X-Men: Apocalypse
– The Lobster
– The Nice Guys (Redband)
June
– Me Before You
– The Conjuring 2
– Finding Dory
– Independence Day: Resurgence
– Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Redband)
– Swiss Army Man
July
– The BFG
– Ghostbusters
– Jason Bourne
– Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (Redband)
– The Infiltrator
August
– The Founder
– Suicide Squad
– War Dogs
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Mehek @whatthemehek and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date April 28, 2016
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On this episode the guys start talk about the forth edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1958-1967 (the 30th– 39th Oscar winners). You can find Edition 3 HERE and Part 2 of it HERE.
Katrina Wong-Shue joined us on this episode and talked about her favourite films of all time.
– A Nightmare Before Christmas
– A Goofy Movie
– The Lion King
– Beauty and the Beast
Make sure you follow Katrina on Twitter!
-
Gigi 4/10
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Tom Jones 5.5/10
-
Ben-Hur 7/10
-
The Sound of Music 7.2/10
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A Man for All Seasons 7.5/10
Music this week is from Brooklyn Doran a Toronto based singer and song writer who happened to write a great song about the street I live on!
Songs featured on this episode are:
– There’s a Light On (Kitchen Song)
– Look Away
Dakota photographed and wrote about Brooklyn when she played at The Cameron House in early April.
You can purchase Brooklyn’s latest album on her website HERE where you can name your own price.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date was April 21, 2016
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While it is March, the guys finally get around to discussing their ten favourite films of last year. Mehek Seyid who is just as passionate about movies as Dakota and Andreas joins them. Andreas moderates this episode as he had already made a post back in December talking about his twenty favourite films of last year. Also if you missed it, Andreas did a post about the twenty best performances too!
Andreas’ Top 10 films of 2015
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Ex Machina
-
Love and Mercy
-
Room
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Mad Max: Fury Road
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Carol
-
Inside Out
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Son of Saul
-
The Revenant
-
Spotlight
-
Anomalisa
Dakota’s Top 10
-
Creed
-
Mustang
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Carol
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Brooklyn
-
A War
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Inside Out
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Spotlight
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What We Do in the Shadows
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Ex Machina
-
The Big Short
Mehek Seyid’s Top 10
-
Jurassic World/Star Wars: The Force Awakens
-
Dope
-
Room
-
The Martian
-
Mustang
-
Angry Indian Goddesses
-
Ex Machina
-
The Lobster
-
Sicario
-
Spotlight
Make sure you check out Mehek’s personal blog What the Mehek and follow her on Twitter @WhatTheMehek
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show@ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date was March 18, 2016
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This week Dakota and Andreas go over their thoughts on the 88th Oscars. From Chris Rock’s hosting to the nights big winners and losers, the guys cover it all.
On the last episode Dakota, Andreas and special guest Dasha Peregedouva made their bold predictions on who they think would win. See below for how their guesses turned out.
Check out Andreas’ recap of the ceremony and the big winners.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show@ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date March 4, 2016
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In part 2 of our third annual Oscar Extravaganza Dakota and Andreas are joined yet again by Dasha Peregoudova to lend her expert opinion.
Our expert picks are at the bottom, look for Andreas’ post Oscar reaction’s early next week and a pod discussing the big winners and losers coming soon!
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Episode original post date February 27,2016
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Our Oscar Extravaganza podcast used to be held over at Capsule the last few years and we are excited to have it return to the permanent home of Contra Zoom.
Make sure you get up to speed with the weekly Contra Zoom episodes of past and Oscar Primers going over the contenders.
Friend of the show Dasha Peregoudova who actually beat Dakota last year in his Oscar Pool, so she knows her stuff joins Dakota and Andreas this week.
The gang did a trivia contest and due to some wonky math Andreas came out on top with 16 points and a smiley face then Dasha with 15 points and Dakota came in last with just 9 points.
Everyone takes some turns going over their big snubs and then start to make their picks for which they want to win and whom they think will win for some of the big categories.
Join us in a few days when Part 2 will be released covering the rest of the big categories!
Let us know who you think will win big at the Oscars this year!
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Original post date Febraury 24, 2016
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This is the third Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode once again as he talks about The Revenant and Spotlight.
Unfortunately due to my illness last week I was unable to talk about Brooklyn and Room, but you should still totally check those films out because they are great.
This is the last Oscar Primer Podcast, but you can check out my first and second ones to refresh your memory on who is likely to win.
These are the nominees for The Revenant.
– Best Picture
– Best Actor- Leonardo DiCaprio
– Best Supporting Actor- Tom Hardy
– Best Directing- Alejandro González Iñárritu
– Best Cinematography- Emmanuel Lubezki
– Best Film Editing- Stephen Mirrione
– Best Costume Design- Jacqueline West
– Best Makeup and Hairstyling- Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert A. Pandini
– Best Sound Mixing- Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
– Best Sound Editing- Martín Hernández and Lon Bender
– Best Visual Effects- Richard McBride, Matt Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
– Best Production Design- Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy
These are the nominees for Spotlight.
– Best Picture
– Best Supporting Actor- Mark Ruffalo
– Best Supporting Actress- Rachel McAdams
– Best Directing- Tom McCarthy
– Best Original Screenplay- Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
– Best Film Editing- Tom McArdle
Make sure you check out the latest written Oscar Primer where Dakota discusses Ex Machina, Trumboand Creed. These primers come out every Monday with next week’s being the last of the season!
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Original post date was Febraury 18th, 2016
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This is the second Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode once again as he talks about Mad Max: Fury Road and The Big Short.
These are the nominees for Mad Max: Fury Road.
– Best Picture
– Best Directing for George Miller
– Best Cinematography
– Best Editing
– Best Production Design
– Best Costume Design
– Best Makeup and Hairstyling
– Best Sound Mixing
– Best Sound Editing
– Best Visual Effects
These are the nominees for The Big Short.
– Best Picture
– Best Supporting Actor for Christian Bale
– Best Director for Adam McKay
– Best Adapted Screenplay
– Best Editing
Make sure you check out the third written Oscar Primer where Dakota discusses Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Straight Outta Compton and Shaun the Sheep Movie. These primers come out every Monday until the week of the Oscars.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
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Original post date was February 4th, 2016
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Who cares that Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out way back in December! Dakota and Andreas give a review for what will end up being the first of second highest grossing film of all time! The guys really enjoyed the film with Andreas even putting the film at number 11 in his top films of 2015 post!
The guys then discuss if the Original’s were as great as everyone remembers and if the Prequel’s were as terrible as everyone remembers.
The next Star Wars film has actually been pushed back a year to December 2017.
In case waiting that long for a Star Wars film you can bide your time with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which takes place just before A New Hope.
Let us know what you think about The Force Awakens along with all six of the older films!
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:
- Subscribe via iTunes
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Original post date was January 28th, 2016
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
This is the first Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about The Martian and Bridge of Spies.
These are the nominations for The Martian
– Best Picture
– Best Actor for Matt Damon
– Best Adapted Screenplay
– Best Production Design
– Best Sound Mixing
– Best Sound Editing
– Best Visual Effects
These are the nominations for Bridge of Spies
– Best Picture
– Best Supporting Actor for Mark Rylance
– Best Original Screenplay
– Best Production Design
– Best Original Score
– Best Sound Mixing
Make sure you check out the first written Oscar Primer where Dakota discusses The Hateful Eight, Inside Out and Joy. These posts will be posted once a week.
Dakota joined Sean Chin and Andreas Babiolakis to talk about the Oscar nominations among other things on this week’s episode of Capsule.
Andreas and Dakota gave their immediate reactions to the Oscar nominations last week on Contra Zoom.
Andreas also wrote about the Oscar nominations.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Original post date was January 21st, 2016
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This week Dakota and Andreas go over the just announced Oscar nominations.
The guys talk about the films with the most nominations including The Revenant with 12, Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 and The Martian with 7. They also talk about surprises both good and bad and some snubs.
They also go through the big categories and discuss whom the early front-runners of some key categories are:
– Best Picture
– Best Director
– Best Actor
– Best Actress
– Best Supporting Actor
– Best Supporting Actress
– Best Original Screenplay
– Best Adapted Screenplay
Make sure you check out Andreas’ reaction post to the nominations that went up right away after the contenders were announced.
Throughout the Oscar season Dakota will be continuing his great Oscar Primer series going over what chances certain films have to win their awards.
The last week before the Oscar’s there will be the 3rd annual Roundtable Discussion with special guests making their final predictions and having some fun with the ceremony itself.
Music from this episode is the Oscar Nominated Simple Song #3 from Youth.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show@ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
Original post date was January 15th, 2016
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So I totally realized, that there never was an episode 11 and that makes everything out of whack, so this is actually episode 11. Enjoy!
On this episode the guys continue their talk about the third edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. Check out Part 1 from the years are 1948-1957 (the 20th– 29th Oscar winners) here. You can find Edition 1 here and Edition 2 here and Part 2 here.
In Part One the guys reveal their bottom five of the decade.
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The Greatest Show on Earth
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Around the World in 80 Days
-
From Here to Eternity
Tie for 6th place
-
An American in Paris
-
Marty
On this episode they list the top five of the decade.
-
Hamlet
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All About Eve
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All The King’s Men
-
On The Waterfront
-
The Bridge on the River Kwai
As usual we award the best performances and film with our own version of the Oscar’s!
Best Picture- Bridge on the River Kwai for both DA and AB
Best Actor- Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront) for both DA and AB
Best Actress- Anne Baxter (All About Eve) for DA
Bette Davis (All About Eve) for AB
Best Supporting Actor- Karl Malden (On The Waterfront) for DA
John Ireland (All The King’s Men) for AB
Best Supporting Actress- Celeste Holm (All About Eve) for DA
Eva Marie Saint (On The Waterfront) for AB
Songs from this episode are from Justin Nozuka.
- Hera
- Blue Velvet Sea
Dakota photographed and Andreas reviewed Justin back in July at the Danforth Music Hall when he opened for the legendary Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
You can purchase Justin’s latest album Ulysees on iTunes here.
This episode was originally posted on December 15, 2015
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
On this episode the guys start talk about the third edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1948-1957 (the 20th– 29th Oscar winners). You can find Edition 1 here and Edition 2 here and Part 2 here.
Dakota and Andreas talk about the history of HUAC (The House of Un-American Actives) and the Hayes Code both black marks on the history of Hollywood.
Sarah Rix’s favourite films
- Oceans Eleven
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Children of Men
Make sure you follow Sarah on Twitter!
-
The Greatest Show on Earth
-
Around the World in 80 Days
-
From Here to Eternity
Tie for 6th place
-
An American in Paris
-
Marty
Music this week is from Justin Nozuka a worldly talent from right here in Toronto.
Songs featured on this episode are:
- Eyes Changing Colour
- Right by You
Dakota photographed and Andreas reviewed Justin back in July at the Danforth Music Hall when he opened for the legendary Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
You can purchase Justin’s latest album Ulysees on iTunes here.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
This episode was originally posted on November 26, 2015
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
TIFF is in its 40th year.
Andreas and Dakota (mostly Andreas though) covered a bunch of TIFF films including Love, Stonewall, Lolo, Room and more. Check out their capsule reviews HERE.
- We compared TIFF to the Venice Film Festival, which is now overlapping with TIFF
- Previously TIFF has 5 Best Picture Oscar Winners and an additional 8 other films that were nominated win their prestigious People’s Choice Award
- Films we think are the most likely to be nominated for Best Picture include The Martian, Steve Jobs, Room, The Revenant, The Hateful Eight, Joy, Carol, The Danish Girl and Spotlight.
- Some of the other films we think might be nominated include Black Mass, Bridge of Spies, Inside Out, Trumbo, Brooklyn, 45 Years and Suffragette.
- Music this week is from Toronto singer songwriter Mirian Kay featuring her songs Follow, Breaking the Chains and Sad Eyes.
- Follow her on Twitter @Mirian_Kay and check out her website for more information on her.
- Purchase Mirian Kay’s EP on Bandcamp HERE.
- Dakota shot and reviewed Mirian Kay last summer, check it out HERE.
Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.
This episode originally was posted on October 25, 2015
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Your hosts Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis were lucky to enough to see a screening of Rebecca hosted by the legendary film director Guillermo del Toro while he was in town to host a lecture series based on Gothic Horror films.
- For those not familiar with GdT’s filmography, check out Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, or the Hellboy films.
- Back in 2012 GdT hosted a four part series about other Hitchcock works.
- GdT was in town to also promote his newest film Crimson Peak a gothic horror film in its own right!
- Dakota talks about some German Impressionist films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu both of which were inspiration to Hitchcock and Rebecca.
- The guys talk about their favourite Hitchcock films like Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window and Vertigo.
- Contra Zoom was actually original going to be called The Third Man after the film of the same name. Instead it is named after the famous shot pioneered by Hitchcock in Vertigo and also used famously in Jaws. Here is a video showing the most popular instances of the shot used in cinema.
- Music this week is from local band Birds of Bellwoods. Follow them on Twitter @birdsbellwoods. You can purchase EP The Fifth here for only $5!
- Songs featured in this episode are Roll Your Stone, Sky and Grey Ghosts.
- Andreas reviewed their EP when it came out.
- See Dakota’s review of Day 3 of T.U.R.F. where Birds of Bellwoods played!
This episode originally came out on October 15, 2015
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/contrazoompod/message
Continuing on from our Best Picture Winner decade-by-decade breakdown from last week’s part 1 Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis count down the top five films of 1938-1947.
– Dakota recommends that you read the bio and trivia on actor John Garfield
Here is a link to our bottom five in this decade’s Best Picture Winner’s
Dakota’s ratings come first followed by Andreas’
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Gentleman’s Agreement 7.5/10 8/10
-
You Can’t Take It With You 8.3/10 8/10
-
The Lost Weekend 8.7/10 9/10
-
Rebecca 8.5/10 10/10
-
Casablanca 9/10 10/10
Best Picture- Casablanca for both Dakota and Andreas
Best Actor- Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend) for both Dakota and Andreas
Best Actress- Greer Garson (Mrs. Miniver) for both Dakota and Andreas
Best Supporting Actor- Lionel Barrymore (You Can’t Take It With You) is Dakota’s pick
John Garfield (Gentleman’s Agreement) is Andreas’ pick
Best Supporting Actress- Teresa Wright (Mrs. Miniver and The Best Year’s Of Our Lives) is Dakota’s pick
Judith Anderson (Rebecca) is Andreas’ pick
Songs from this episode are from The OBGM’s
– Pill
– House
Make sure you check the band out at the year’s Riot Festival http://riotfest.org/toronto/ on Saturday September 19th and buy a digital copy of their newest album, which is self titled from their Bandcamp.
Follow us on twitter @contrazoompod along with the host’s Dakota @dgapa and Andreas @andreasbabs.
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This week we started a new feature where Live in Limbo’s mastermind Sean Chin joined us to talk about his three favourite movies.
– Shawshank Redemption
– 2001: A Space Odyssey
– A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The bottom five of our countdown is the following. Dakota’s ratings come first followed by Andreas’
-
How Green Was My Valley 2.5/10 5/10
-
Going My Way 4/10 6/10
-
Mrs. Miniver 7/10 7/10
-
Gone With the Wind 7.3/10 7/10
-
The Best Year’s of Our Lives 8/10 7/10
Next week we reveal our top 5 of the decade!
Songs from this episode are from The OBGM’s
– “Torpedo”
– “Ijuswannaluvuallthetime”
Make sure you check the band out at the year’s Riot Fest on Saturday September 19th and buy a digital copy of their newest album, which is self titled from their Bandcamp page.
Follow us on twitter @contrazoompod along with the host’s Dakota @dgapa and Andreas @andreasbabs
Original post date August 26, 2015
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For this week’s episode Dakota and Andreas discuss the finale for Mad Men and what the series as a whole meant to them and the landscape of television. The landmark show just finished its seven-season run back in May and the guys have had some time to digest what happens. They talk about their favourite characters and some of the best moments on the show. As always we would love to hear your thoughts on the show by tweeting at us @contrazoompod!
- A very comprehensive list of the 100 Best Characters from We Got This Covered
- Andreas wrote about the best moments from the series
- On Don’s alcoholism from Death and Taxes
Music this week is from Catl. a Toronto dance rock band. You can buy their music both digitally and on records directly from their site.
- http://catltheband.com/
- Give the band a follow on twitter @c_a_t_l
- The band will be playing at TURF on Friday September 18th that they are highlighted as a local band opening the South Stage
- Songs featured on the episode are Gateway Blues, Lamplight the Way and F.U. Blues
- Dakota shot and reviewed the band for their NXNE show back in June
Original post date July 8, 2015
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In this episode Dakota and Andreas review the new Marvel movie Avengers: Age of Ultron and then rank all 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films from worst to best. The discussions touch upon casting, scripts, direction, themes and execution.
Here is the list of films ranked in order of when they came out (you will have to listen to the show to find out where they placed!)
- Iron Man
- The Incredible Hulk
- Iron Man 2
- Thor
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Marvel’s The Avengers
- Iron Man 3
- Thor: The Dark World
- Captain America: The Winter Solider
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Original post date June 10, 2015
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This week Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis turn the tables a bit regarding subject matter and discuss a play called Mr. Burns a Post Electric Play (you’ve probably seen the posters all around subway stations). Instead of just talking about the play the guys discuss methods of telling stories and how telling tales is a human ritual. Dakota also interviews co-director Mitchell Cushman and actor Sebastien Heins and plays a bit of trivia with them.
– Mr. Burns a Post Electric play is running until June 7th and tickets can be purchased here
http://www.ticketfly.com/venue/15345-aztec-theatre/
– Dakota’s review of Mr. Burns
http://www.liveinlimbo.com/2015/05/18/film/mr-burns-a-post-electric-play.html
– Outside the March has a history of site-specific shows and you should learn more about the group
http://www.outsidethemarch.ca/about.php
– Sebastien Heins’ Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/WhatsUpSebastien?_rdr
Please make sure you subscribe to us on iTunes and give us a rating. Not only does it give us valuable feedback, but also the more subscriptions and ratings we receive the more visibility we get to help other people find our show too. Please follow us on twitter @ContraZoomPod and let us know what you think of this incredibly theatrical experience!
Original post date May 30, 2015
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This week Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis talk about the Toronto Screenwriter’s Conference, a yearly get together where the greatest script writers, show runners, executives and others talk on a professional level to attendees who are writers themselves. We also have two great interviews with David S Goyer and Mara Brock Akil.
– This is the 6th TSC annual conference held at Daniels Spectrum in Toronto
– The conference is put on by the literary agency Meridian Artists
– Andreas got to interview David S Goyer, writer of The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, Blade and more.
– Speaking of movies Goyer has worked on, he wrote a little film called Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. I don’t think you’ve heard of it though.
– Andreas also got the chance to interview Mara Brock Akil, creator of Being Mary Jane, The Game and writer on Girlfriends and Moesha.
Please make sure you subscribe to us on iTunes and give us a rating. Not only does it give us valuable feedback, but also the more subscriptions and ratings we receive the more visibility we get to help other people find our show too. Please follow us on twitter @ContraZoomPod (not podcast as Andreas accidentally said on the show)!
Original post date May 5, 2015
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Hey everyone, this is the debut episode for our brand new film podcast Contra Zoom! Hosts Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis take on a massive project of watching every Best Picture winner throughout the Academy’s history! They start with the first ten winners from 1927-1937. At the end of the rankings the guys give awards to the best of the best (so far!). At the end of the episode Andreas teases us with what episode two will have in store for listeners.
These are the rankings listed in the episode with Dakota’s ratings first and Andreas’ second.
10- Cimarron 2/10 and 3/10
9- The Broadway Melody 5/10 and 5/10
8- Cavalcade 6/10 and 6/10
7- Grand Hotel 6.5/10 and 7/10
6- The Great Ziegfeld 7/10 and 7/10
5- The Life of Emile Zola 8.5/10 and 7/10
4- Wings 8/10 and 8/10
3- Mutiny on the Bounty 7.8/10 and 9/10
2- All Quiet on the Western Front 7.5/10 and 10/10
1- It Happened One Night 9/10 and 10/10
- Blyth Spirit played in Toronto until March 15th 2015
- Music from this week’s episode comes courtesy from Mississauga hard rock band Starfall that Dakota mistakenly said is from Toronto. Please buy their music from their Bandcamp page and Like them on Facebook.
- “The Curse” on YouTube
- “Shards” on YouTube
- Our theme song comes courtesy from The Chromatics and their song In Films
Original post date April 21, 2015
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