Contra Zoom Pod

This is the third year in a row that Live in Limbo has attended the Toronto Screenwriting Conference and the second year that Contra Zoom has done a pod and interviews on the great weekend. Here you can listen to last year’s episode, which features interviews with David S Goyer and Mara Brock Akil. 

Make sure you read the recap of the weekend, Day 1 done by Andreas Babiolakis and Day 2 done by our special guest Nathaniel Roizen. 

Andreas got the chance to interview two of the amazing speakers in this episode. 

– Glen Mazzara was the show runner of The Walking Dead for several seasons starting with season 2; he also is the show runner and creator of Damien. 

– Stephen Falk is the creator of You’re the Worst and also wrote for Weeds and produces Orange is the New Black 

Follow Dakota @Dgapa, Andreas @AndreasBabs and Nathaniel @RathanielNoizen and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

 Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date was May 17, 2016

This week Dakota Arsenault is joined by a special guest in Mehek Seyid to talk about some of the films we are most excited to see.

April

– Sing Street

May

– Captain America: Civil War

– The Angry Birds Movie

– X-Men: Apocalypse

– The Lobster

– The Nice Guys (Redband)

June

– Me Before You

– The Conjuring 2

– Finding Dory

– Independence Day: Resurgence

– Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Redband)

– Swiss Army Man

July

– The BFG

– Ghostbusters

– Jason Bourne

– Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (Redband)

– The Infiltrator

August

– The Founder

– Suicide Squad

– War Dogs

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Mehek @whatthemehek and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

 Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date April 28, 2016

On this episode the guys start talk about the forth edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1958-1967 (the 30th– 39th Oscar winners). You can find Edition 3 HERE and Part 2 of it HERE. 

Katrina Wong-Shue joined us on this episode and talked about her favourite films of all time.

– A Nightmare Before Christmas

– A Goofy Movie

– The Lion King

– Beauty and the Beast

Make sure you follow Katrina on Twitter! 

10. Gigi 4/10 

9. Tom Jones 5.5/10

8. Ben-Hur 7/10

7. The Sound of Music 7.2/10

6. A Man for All Seasons 7.5/10

Music this week is from Brooklyn Doran a Toronto based singer and song writer who happened to write a great song about the street I live on! 

Songs featured on this episode are:

– There’s a Light On (Kitchen Song)

– Look Away

Dakota photographed and wrote about Brooklyn when she played at The Cameron House in early April.

You can purchase Brooklyn’s latest album on her website HERE where you can name your own price.

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date was April 21, 2016

While it is March, the guys finally get around to discussing their ten favourite films of last year. Mehek Seyid who is just as passionate about movies as Dakota and Andreas joins them. Andreas moderates this episode as he had already made a post back in December talking about his twenty favourite films of last year. Also if you missed it, Andreas did a post about the twenty best performances too!

Andreas’ Top 10 films of 2015

10. Ex Machina

9. Love and Mercy

8. Room

7. Mad Max: Fury Road

6. Carol

5. Inside Out

4. Son of Saul

3. The Revenant

2. Spotlight

1. Anomalisa

Dakota’s Top 10

10. Creed

9. Mustang

8. Carol

7. Brooklyn

6. A War

5. Inside Out

4. Spotlight

3. What We Do in the Shadows

2. Ex Machina

1. The Big Short

Mehek Seyid’s Top 10

10. Jurassic World/Star Wars: The Force Awakens

9. Dope

8. Room

7. The Martian

6. Mustang

5. Angry Indian Goddesses

4. Ex Machina

3. The Lobster

2. Sicario

1. Spotlight

Make sure you check out Mehek’s personal blog What the Mehek and follow her on Twitter @WhatTheMehek

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show@ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date was March 18, 2016

This week Dakota and Andreas go over their thoughts on the 88th Oscars. From Chris Rock’s hosting to the nights big winners and losers, the guys cover it all.

On the last episode Dakota, Andreas and special guest Dasha Peregedouva made their bold predictions on who they think would win. See below for how their guesses turned out.

Check out Andreas’ recap of the ceremony and the big winners.

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show@ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date March 4, 2016

In part 2 of our third annual Oscar Extravaganza Dakota and Andreas are joined yet again by Dasha Peregoudova to lend her expert opinion.

Our expert picks are at the bottom, look for Andreas’ post Oscar reaction’s early next week and a pod discussing the big winners and losers coming soon!

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Episode original post date February 27,2016

Our Oscar Extravaganza podcast used to be held over at Capsule the last few years and we are excited to have it return to the permanent home of Contra Zoom.

Make sure you get up to speed with the weekly Contra Zoom episodes of past and Oscar Primers going over the contenders.

Friend of the show Dasha Peregoudova who actually beat Dakota last year in his Oscar Pool, so she knows her stuff joins Dakota and Andreas this week.

The gang did a trivia contest and due to some wonky math Andreas came out on top with 16 points and a smiley face then Dasha with 15 points and Dakota came in last with just 9 points.

Everyone takes some turns going over their big snubs and then start to make their picks for which they want to win and whom they think will win for some of the big categories.

Join us in a few days when Part 2 will be released covering the rest of the big categories!

Let us know who you think will win big at the Oscars this year!

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Original post date Febraury 24, 2016

This is the third Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode once again as he talks about The Revenant and Spotlight.

Unfortunately due to my illness last week I was unable to talk about Brooklyn and Room, but you should still totally check those films out because they are great. 

This is the last Oscar Primer Podcast, but you can check out my first and second ones to refresh your memory on who is likely to win. 

These are the nominees for The Revenant.

– Best Picture 

– Best Actor- Leonardo DiCaprio 

– Best Supporting Actor- Tom Hardy 

– Best Directing- Alejandro González Iñárritu 

– Best Cinematography- Emmanuel Lubezki 

– Best Film Editing- Stephen Mirrione 

– Best Costume Design- Jacqueline West 

– Best Makeup and Hairstyling- Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert A. Pandini 

– Best Sound Mixing- Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek 

– Best Sound Editing- Martín Hernández and Lon Bender 

– Best Visual Effects- Richard McBride, Matt Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer 

– Best Production Design- Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy 

These are the nominees for Spotlight.

– Best Picture 

– Best Supporting Actor- Mark Ruffalo 

– Best Supporting Actress- Rachel McAdams 

– Best Directing- Tom McCarthy 

– Best Original Screenplay- Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy 

– Best Film Editing- Tom McArdle

Make sure you check out the latest written Oscar Primer where Dakota discusses Ex Machina, Trumboand Creed. These primers come out every Monday with next week’s being the last of the season!

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

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Original post date was Febraury 18th, 2016

This is the second Oscar Primer podcast for Contra Zoom, continuing the series of Oscar Primer’s Dakota does every year, normally just as written articles. He is flying solo this episode once again as he talks about Mad Max: Fury Road and The Big Short.

These are the nominees for Mad Max: Fury Road.

– Best Picture

These are the nominees for The Big Short.

– Best Picture 

– Best Supporting Actor for Christian Bale 

– Best Director for Adam McKay 

– Best Adapted Screenplay 

– Best Editing

Make sure you check out the third written Oscar Primer where Dakota discusses Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Straight Outta Compton and Shaun the Sheep Movie. These primers come out every Monday until the week of the Oscars. 

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

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Original post date was February 4th, 2016

Who cares that Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out way back in December! Dakota and Andreas give a review for what will end up being the first of second highest grossing film of all time! The guys really enjoyed the film with Andreas even putting the film at number 11 in his top films of 2015 post!

The guys then discuss if the Original’s were as great as everyone remembers and if the Prequel’s were as terrible as everyone remembers. 

The next Star Wars film has actually been pushed back a year to December 2017. 

In case waiting that long for a Star Wars film you can bide your time with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which takes place just before A New Hope. 

Let us know what you think about The Force Awakens along with all six of the older films! 

Follow Dakota @Dgapa and Andreas @AndreasBabs and follow the show @ContraZoomPod on Twitter.

Ways to Subscribe to Contra Zoom Podcast:

Original post date was January 28th, 2016