Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Contra Zoom Pod
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 292: A24 Retrospective - The Witch | 23 Dec 2024 | 01:16:14 | |
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. 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 | |||
| Bonus: Better Know a Contributor - Matthew Simpson | 09 Dec 2024 | 01:00:39 | |
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. 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. Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr | |||
| 283: A24 Retrospective - Mississippi Grind | 12 Aug 2024 | 01:03:49 | |
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. 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. | |||
| 200: Movies That Made Us | 11 Jul 2022 | 01:12:26 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 199: Best Films by Genre | 04 Jul 2022 | 01:47:38 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 198: A History of Laika | 27 Jun 2022 | 00:58:07 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| Bonus: Better Know a Contributor - Jeff Bulmer | 20 Jun 2022 | 01:21:42 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 197: David Cronenberg and Body Horror | 13 Jun 2022 | 01:40:09 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 196: A24 Retrospective - Locke | 06 Jun 2022 | 01:29:45 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 195: Make/Remake Cape Fear | 30 May 2022 | 01:10:42 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 194: A24 Retrospective - Under the Skin | 23 May 2022 | 01:28:16 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 193: Hot Docs 2022 | 16 May 2022 | 01:25:06 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 192: 2022 Movie Preview | 02 May 2022 | 01:04:19 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 282: Best Films By Genre Part 2 | 22 Jul 2024 | 01:23:51 | |
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. Follow Bil on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Check out Bad Gay Movies on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. 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. | |||
| 191: Turning Red and Toronto Set Movies | 25 Apr 2022 | 01:30:16 | |
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 Simpson guide 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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| Bonus Episode: Better Know a Contributor - Dakota Arsenault | 19 Apr 2022 | 01:16:34 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 190: Top Ten Films of 2021 | 11 Apr 2022 | 01:58:23 | |
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: 10. The Worst Person in the World 9. Pig 8. Nightmare Alley 7. The Tragedy of Macbeth 6. Official Competition 5. Red Rocket 4. Drive My Car 3. The Righteous 2. Belfast 1. The Last Duel Rachel's List: 10. Flee 9. Aloners 8. Pig 7. Saloum 6. Dune 5. Drive My Car 4. Nobody 3. Malcolm and Marie 2. The Worst Person in the World 1. 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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 189: 2022 Oscars Recap | 28 Mar 2022 | 01:16:03 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 188: 2022 Oscar Predictions | 21 Mar 2022 | 01:39:11 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 187: 2022 Oscars: Don't Drive My Dog | 14 Mar 2022 | 01:42:51 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 186: 2022 Oscars: CODA Pizza of West Side Belfast | 07 Mar 2022 | 01:36:00 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook and visit our official website. | |||
| 185: 2022 Canadian Screen Awards Nominations | 28 Feb 2022 | 00:53:03 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 184: 2022 Oscars: The Nightmare of King Dune | 21 Feb 2022 | 01:13:58 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 183: Make/Remake Throne of Blood and The Tragedy of Macbeth | 14 Feb 2022 | 01:13:09 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 281: 2024 Toronto Japanese Film Festival | 01 Jul 2024 | 01:03:54 | |
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. Follow Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram. 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. | |||
| 182: 2022 Oscar Nomination Reactions | 09 Feb 2022 | 00:59:05 | |
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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 181: A24 Retrospective - Life After Beth | 31 Jan 2022 | 01:18:56 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 180: A24 Retrospective - Enemy | 24 Jan 2022 | 01:22:58 | |
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. 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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 179: Top Stories From 2021 | 17 Jan 2022 | 01:15:34 | |
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. 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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| Bonus Episode: AODR Festival Interview with Louise Lathey of Who Am I Now? | 17 Jan 2022 | 00:21:01 | |
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. 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 to Stephanie Prior for designing the logo. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 178: A24 Retrospective - Red Rocket | 20 Dec 2021 | 01:13:41 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 177: This or That | 13 Dec 2021 | 00:48:16 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 176: A24 Retrospective - The Spectacular Now | 06 Dec 2021 | 01:40:08 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 175: Wes Anderson Ranked | 29 Nov 2021 | 01:42:07 | |
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: 7. Isle of Dogs 6. Rushmore 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) 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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 174: Make/Remake Dune | 22 Nov 2021 | 01:04:37 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 280: Canadian Screen Awards 2024 | 03 Jun 2024 | 01:22:50 | |
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. Check out the Movie Friends Podcast and follow the show on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram. 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. | |||
| Bonus Episode: Better Know a Contributor - Calum Macnab | 15 Nov 2021 | 00:58:01 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 173: Noir-vember | 08 Nov 2021 | 01:09:22 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 172: A24 Retrospective - The Bling Ring | 01 Nov 2021 | 01:24:37 | |
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. 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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 171: The Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror | 25 Oct 2021 | 01:04:52 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 170: VIFF 2021 Wrap Up | 18 Oct 2021 | 01:12:04 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 169: A24 Retrospective - Spring Breakers | 11 Oct 2021 | 01:09:06 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 168: Cinefest Sudbury 2021 Wrap Up | 04 Oct 2021 | 00:53:24 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 167: Vancouver International Film Festival Preview 2021 | 27 Sep 2021 | 00:44:40 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 166: TIFF 2021 Wrap Up | 21 Sep 2021 | 01:20:49 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 165: Fantasia Fest Interviews - The Righteous and Indemnity Directors | 14 Sep 2021 | 00:58:09 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 279: Most Anticipated Movies of 2024 | 27 May 2024 | 01:40:58 | |
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. 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. | |||
| 164: TIFF 2021 Preview | 06 Sep 2021 | 00:53:37 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 163: Fantasia Festival 2021 | 31 Aug 2021 | 01:08:09 | |
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. Follow the show on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. | |||
| 162: Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2021 | 23 Aug 2021 | 00:42:07 | |
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. 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, YouTube and Facebook. | |||