Contra Zoom Pod

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 Ale...

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,...

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....

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...

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...

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 influenc...

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 . Re...

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 th...

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 N...

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 fra...

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 P...

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 Thoma...

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 Paul...

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...

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 V...

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 contri...

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...

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...

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 co...

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...

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...

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 Canad...

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...

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:...

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...