Contra Zoom Pod

Dakota Arsenault and Sammy Feilchenfeld decide to revisit Sydney Lumet’s landmark debut film, 1957’s 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda. 

The idea for this episode stems from Dakota and Sammy who requested a list of their favourite movies for a friend. Dakota mentioned 12 Angry Men as one of his favourite films and called it a drama/thriller, which Sammy had initially rebuked. 

Upon a rewatch, the guys realized just how prescient the subject matter is, especially in the current political climate where xenophobia and racism, especially in privileged white male culture pervades thinking. 

For a “bottle episode” film that takes place entirely in one location the film is remarkable in building tension and fleshing out an ensemble of characters who all get their time to shine.

Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.

In the latest edition of make/remake Dakota Arsenault and Stephanie Prior talk about George Orwell’s novel 1984 and two different cinematic adaptations of it.

In 1949, George Orwell published his landmark novel detailing what the future might look like if we allow our civil liberties to be eroded and for extreme ideologies to take hold so strongly that the very fabric of society would crumble. It only took eight years for the first film adaptation of the book to be made directed by Michael Anderson and staring Edmond O’Brien as Winston Smith. The 1984 version of 1984 directed by Michael Radford and staring John Hurt as Winston, portrays communism just as dangerous as right wing authoritarianism.

Dakota and Steph discuss what similarities both films employ to tell the same story along with what differences the filmmakers decided to diverge from each other. Both contexts are looking at the pros and cons of the director’s choices.

Follow the show @ContraZoomPod and Dakota @Dgapa on Twitter.

Now that 2017 is firmly in the rear view mirror Dakota Arsenault and Mehek Seyid go over their favourite films of last year. 

Dakota’s list:

10. Loveless

9. Logan Lucky

8. Mudbound

7. Columbus

6. Lady Bird

5. Get Out

4. Dunkirk

3. Phantom Thread

2. Call Me By Your Name

1. A Ghost Story

Mehek’s list:

10.  Sheikh Jackson

9. Mom and Dad/The Killing of a Sacred Deer

8. Lady Bird

7. The Shape of Water

6. Thor: Ragnarok

5. Coco

4. What Will People Say

3. I, Tonya

2. Get Out

1. The Florida Project

Sean Chin’s favourite movie was Icarus. 

Sammy Feilchenfeld’s favourite movie was Blade Runner 2049.

Honourable Mentions for Dakota: The Shape of Water, I, Tonya, Loving Vincent, Coco and Thor Ragnarok.

Honourable Mentions for Mehek: The Incredible Jessica James, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Free Fire, Colossal and Logan.

Notable Omissions Not Seen by Dakota: Personal Shopper, Lady Macbeth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Beatriz at Dinner, All the Money in the World and A Fantastic Woman.

Notable Omissions Not Seen by Mehek: Logan Lucky, Good Time, Ingrid Goes West, Girl’s Trip and A Ghost Story.

Music from this episode is by Ministry of Interior Spaces and his song Hoyt Arboretum OR. Last week we premiered the music video and you can find out more at his Bandcamp where you can preorder his upcoming album.

On this Episode Dakota Arsenault and Sammy Feilchenfeld recap and review the 90th Academy Awards that were handed out on Sunday March 4th, with the Best Picture being awarded to The Shape of Water.

Some thoughts discussed include:

Among many other topics!

If you have any thoughts on the Oscars let Dakota know what you think! Follow Dakota @Dgapa and the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Dakota Arsenault is joined by Mehek Seyid to talk about this year’s Oscar’s nominees as they make some bold predictions. They say who they think should win, will win and who was snubbed. Check out Part 1 from earlier this week for the rest of the picks. Look at the images below to see their final picks.

Easy to watch nominated films:

On Netflix- Mudbound, Icarus, Strong Island, On Body and Soul, Heroin(e), Revolting Rhymes, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Last Men in Aleppo and Beauty and the Beast.

Edith+Eddie and Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.

Dakota Arsenault is joined by Mehek Seyid to talk about this year’s Oscar’s nominees as they make some bold predictions. They say who they think should win, will win and who was snubbed. Watch out for Part 2 coming later this week with the rest of their picks. Look at the images below to see their final picks.

Easy to watch nominated films:

On Netflix- Mudbound, Icarus, Strong Island, On Body and Soul, Heroin(e), Revolting Rhymes, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Last Men in Aleppo and Beauty and the Beast.

Edith+Eddie and Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.

Dakota Arsenault had the opportunity to chat with Mitchell Cushman, director of the play Jerusalem that is currently showing at Crow’s Nest Theatre until March 10th. You may remember Mitchell who previously appeared on Contra Zoom back on episode three when he talked about directing Mr. Burns a Post Electric Play.

Special thanks to Mr. Cushman and to Red Eye Media for setting up this chat. Look for Dakota’s review of the play coming soon.

This is the second Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. Last week he talked about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour and Lady Bird. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Dunkirk, Get Out, Call Me By Your Name and The Post. 

For the last written primer check it out HERE.

These are the nominations for Dunkirk.

Best Picture

Best Director- Christopher Nolan 

Best Cinematography- Hoyte Van Hoytema 

Best Film Editing- Lee Smith

Best Production Design- Nathan Crowley and Gary Fettis

Best Original Score- Hans Zimmer 

Best Sound Editing- Richard King and Alex Gibson

Best Sound Mixing- Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo and Mark Weingarten

*Correction I mistakenly say Hans Zimmer has a million nominations when I actually confused him with John Williams who scored his 51st nomination compared to Zimmer’s mere 11 nominations. 

These are the nominations for Get Out.

Best Picture

Best Actor- Daniel Kaluuya 

Best Director- Jordan Peele 

Best Original Screenplay- Jordan Peele

These are the nominations for Call Me By Your Name. 

Best Picture

Best Actor- Timothée Chalamet 

Best Adapted Screenplay- James Ivory 

Best Original Song- Sufjan Stevens for “The Mystery of Love”

These are the nominations for The Post.

Best Picture

Best Actress- Meryl Strep

This is the first Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom of the year, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode as he talks about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour and Lady Bird.

These are the nominations for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

These are the nominations for Darkest Hour

These are the nominations for Lady Bird

Make sure you check out this week’s Oscar Primer where Dakota goes over Blade Runner 2049, Coco, The Big Sick and The Florida Project. These Primers will be posted once a week on Tuesdays. Follow Dakota @Dgapa and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Sammy Feilchenfeld joins Dakota to talk about the biggest news stories of 2017. This isn’t the usual top movie of the year podcast, but instead reflecting on the year that was and what to expect for 2018. For an amazing Best Of list check out Rachel Gordon’s Top 25 Films of 2017, Live in Limbo’s official Best Of list.

– Best Picture Winner mixup back in Feb causing LaLaLand to think it won when Moonlight actually did.

– Horror movies absolutely raking in the dough with IT, Get Out, Split and Annabelle: Creation all earning more than $100 million.

– Systematic abuse is finally being taken serious with the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Louis CK and others being taken to task for the suffering they put people through.

– Star Wars having all types of Director issues, from Colin Trevarrow being kicked off of Ep 9 (and replaced by JJ Abrams), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller being fired before reshoots of Solo (and replaced by Ron Howard) and on the heels of Gareth Edwards having Tony Gilroy oversee Rogue One reshoots and the franchise has had either the number 1 or 2 highest grossing movie of the last 3 years. 

– Disney buying 21st Century Fox and what that mean’s that now about 40% of all entertainment will be produced by one studio.

For examples of all of our stories in one easy source check out Collider or Empire Online. 

The guys also ran down the highest grossing films of the last year.

Music from this episode is Sun Slug and Sleepwalker by psych rockers Possum. They have recently played with acts like Ty Seagall and Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs.

Make sure you follow Possum on Twitter @possumyyz. You can listen to their records on Spotify or buy it on Bandcamp. 

Let us know your favourite movie moments from 2017 @contrazoompod and @dgapa.