Contra Zoom Pod

Welcome to the brand new iteration of the Contra Zoom podcast! We are now very proud to be presented by Aesthetic Magazine and have this welcoming home. On this debut episode, Aesthetic Magazine founder and Editor-in-Chief Curtis Sindrey joins Dakota Arsenault, to discuss movies coming out this summer...

On this episode of Contra Zoom, we have our first interview! Benjamin Charles Watson, who will been seen on the upcoming season of Netflix's Designated Survivor and TNT's Snowpiercer, joins Dakota Arsenault to talk about these shows along with what it is like to be a Canadian actor living in LA, his workout routine and his appearance on the short-lived cult CW show The LA Complex...

On this episode I chat with Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, directors of the new documentary Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind. The conversation goes in depth talking about getting to spend time with Gordon Lightfoot, fitting in thirty minutes with Alec Baldwin and getting access to a treasure trove of historical footage of the Canadian music scene. Gordon Lightfoot: If You Can Read Mind is playing at Hot Docs in Toronto and for more show listings go to Kino Smith...

On this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss video game movies! They talk about the rocky history of adaptations, do a throwback review of the very first video game movie Super Mario Brothers and then talk about the future of genre...

On this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss the 50th anniversary of the moon landing! They talk about the the monumental event, along with their favourite space travel related films including A Trip to The Moon, The Right Stuff, Hidden Figures, Apollo 11 and Apollo 13...

Make/Remake examines how two films that share the same story. It isn't about what film was better or worse, but how they are similar and different while following the same arcs. In this episode we look at Park Chan-wook's 2003 movie Oldboy and Spike Lee's 2013 version with the same name...

Continuing the long running (and long dormant) series chronicling every Best Picture winner and ranking them decade by decade, Dakota is joined by Stephanie Prior to break down the winners from 1988-1997. At the end of the top ten, the duo reveals their Best Actor’s, Best Supporting Actors and Best Picture’s from the crop.

Here is how it turned out:

10. Driving Miss Daisy

9. Forrest Gump

8. Rain Man

7. The English Patient

6. Braveheart

5...

In this episode, Dakota is joined by Sammy Feilchenfeld to discuss everything Marvel. Starting with the announced MCU films and going into the Disney/Sony Spider-Man standoff, the new Disney+ streaming site and finally the Marvel TV shows that will air on D+.

Films discussed include Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder...

On this special episode of Contra Zoom, we have two interviews in this packed episode. First off I speak with Carol Nguyen, a Toronto filmmaker who is having her latest short film No Crying at the Dinner Table premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. We talk about dealing with family trauma, representation in cinema and getting to screen her film in front of family and friends...

We here at Contra Zoom Pod got a chance to check out some films that played at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Listen to us talk about Jojo Rabbit, The Laundromat, Harriet, There's Something in the Water and No Crying at the Dinner Table. We also talk about Digital releases not receiving press screenings, Oscar hopefuls and the People's Choice winning films...