Contra Zoom Pod

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.

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 [email protected] 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.