Contra Zoom Pod

We are continuing a new series here at Contra Zoom. A24 is putting out some of our favourite films and we want to revisit them and fill in the gaps for movies we have missed. We plan on going through every A24 episode, in order (except for some select new releases along the way). On this second episode, we look at the 2012 Sally Potter film Ginger & Rosa. The film stars Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Alessandro Nivola, Oliver Platt, Timothy Spall and Anette Bening. The film is a coming of age tale of two teenage girls in 1960's England as they navigate becoming young women will dealing with threats of atomic war. 

Our double bill pairings are An Education (Dakota's pick) and I May Destroy You (Rachel's pick).

If you want to learn more about Split Diopter shots, watch this video from The Movie Textbook.

If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and our first episode in this series 156: A24 Retrospective - A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III.

Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

Last year for my birthday, I made an episode picking my favourite movie from every year that I have been alive for (114: 30 Films in 30 Years). This year Bil Antoniou joins, host of the podcast Bad Gay Movies, as we pick our favourite movie (and runner up) for every decade from the 1920's through the 2010's. 

Dakota's picks are first then Bil's.

1920's - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Passion of Joan of Arc

1930's - M, L'Atalante

1940's - The Great Dictator, Black Narcissus

1950's - Rififi, Tokyo Story

1960's - The Apartment, La Dolce Vita

1970's - All The President's Men, Nashville

1980's - Do The Right Thing, Missing

1990's - Devil in a Blue Dress, Howard's End

2000's - Inglorious Basterds, Talk To Her

2010's - The Master, A Separation 

Read Bil's article on German Expressionism. Follow Bil on Instagram and YouTube. 

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.

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 and Facebook.

We are starting a new series here at Contra Zoom. A24 is putting out some of our favourite films and we want to revisit them and fill in the gaps for movies we have missed. We plan on going through every A24 episode, in order (except for some select new releases along the way). We start with the very first film A24 ever distributed, the Roman Coppola directed A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III starring Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Katheryn Winnick, Patricia Arquette and Aubrey Plaza. We also take the A24 four question quiz, make a double billing pairing and play "Would You Rather". 

Our double bill pairings are The Royal Tenenbaums (Dakota's pick) and Lost in Translation (Rachel's pick).

If you haven't heard our deep dive into the origins of A24, listen to episode 108: A History of A24 Films and episode 109: Top Ten A24 Films.

Check out Rachel's interview with A'ziah King, the real life Zola from the new movie of the same name. 

Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

On this episode, Dakota and Rachel review the films they saw during the 10th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival. Joining them is Naomi Wada Platt, a YouTuber who often covers Japanese culture and politics in both English and Japanese language videos. 

The films talked about include:

School Meals Time Final Battle 9:30-26:00

A Family 26:00-39:30

Hope 39:30-50:30

Under The Open Sky 50:30-1:00:00

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese 1:00:00-

Read Rachel's reviews for Hope, A Family and School Meals Time Final Battle on Exclaim.ca.

Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter.

Follow Naomi on Twitter and Instagram.

To hear more on about our coverage on Japanese cinema, check out episode 139: Celebrating Asian American Cinema, 141: Celebrating Japanese Cinema - Live Action, 143: Celebrating Japanese Cinema - Animation and 153: Make/Remake Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars. 

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

It's been over a year since the world was ravaged by Covid-19, almost everything was shut down including film sets. Slowly productions started to be granted approval to restart, with the condition that they follow strict medical protocols. It was only time before movies used the pandemic as a plot device or narrative structure. 

Rachel and Dakota look at five films in particular that are set against our current Covid times. They are Host, In the Earth, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Songbird and Locked Down.

Read Rachel's review of In The Earth and interview with the director Ben Wheatley on Exclaim!

Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter!

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

Normally 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 1961 Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo and the 1964 Sergio Leone remake A Fistful of Dollars.

Stay tuned for more great Japanese cinema coverage, as we will be doing a show on the Toronto Japanese Film Festival later this month. 

Check out our two part series celebrating Japanese cinema, Live Action and Animated. 

Check out Rachel's website for more great reviews and interviews and follow her on Twitter!

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

Who doesn't love a good cultural exchange program? On this episode we share sports films from different cultures. Me being a good Canadian hockey fan, brought the movie Goon to the table. It is about a dim witted bouncer who gets brought in to be a fighter for his local hockey team and ends up becoming a sensation. Joining the show is Hugh Dempsey and Sam Blakeley, hosts of Please Watch This, who are two football loving Brits as they share the movie The Damned United. The film is about the tenure of legendary manager Brian Clough as he only lasted 44 days running Leeds United. 

Follow Please Watch This of Twitter and Instagram.

For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the second 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. We talk favourite movies (Arrival, both Blade Runners), favourite guest appearances (81: Video Game Films - Past, Present and Future), last movie turned off (Wonder Woman 1984) and more!

For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.

On this show we talk about all the films we watched during the 2021 iteration of Hot Docs, the worlds premiere documentary film festival. Joining the show is Rachel Ho. In exciting news Rachel now joins the show as a regular contributor. She won't be on every episode, but she will be on very frequently and will help shape the show going forward.

Movies we both saw discussed:

Check out Rachel's interview with Scott Gawlik director of Set!

Films that Rachel saw:

Films that Dakota saw:

Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. 

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 and Facebook.

Just like last year, film critic Thom Ernst joined the show to recap the Oscars. Thom is the host of the Rewind Fast Forward Podcast, a film podcast where he interviews Canadian directors, it was made in participation with the Kingston Canadian Film Festival. Thom previously hosted TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies and the podcast This Movies About You and you can find his written reviews at Original Cin. We talked about the nights big winners and losers, our thoughts on the new format of the show and who had the best and worst speeches. 

Thom Ernst has recently launched Outside Voice, a new website for survivors of sexual abuse. Please visit the site and show your support.  

For all for CZP needs visit us at contrazoompod.com.

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 wherever you listen. Send us a screenshot of your 5 star rating and review to [email protected] and we will send you free swag!

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 and Facebook.