Contra Zoom Pod

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 (Da...

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 contrib...

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 c...

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 pairi...

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...

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 L...

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 8. Final Reckoning (time stamp for spoilers 9:30 for general discussion and 19:30 for big spoi...

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...

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...

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, 202...

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 ou...

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 10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig 9. Dune: Part Two 8. The King Tide 7. Kneecap 6. Challengers 5. Dìdi 4. S...

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:...

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 Supporti...

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 Br...

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 about Wicked , Conclave , I'm Still Here and Nickel Boys . 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 ....

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 Minu...

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 f...

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 C...

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...

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 Loomi...

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 Minute...

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...

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: F...

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...