Contra Zoom Pod

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...

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...

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...

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...

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)...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...