With the latest version of the classic Mary Shelly story Frankenstein coming out from director Guillermo del Toro, we look back at the history of this monster movie. Pairing the latest version with 1931's Frankenstein directed by James Whale and 1974's Young Frankenstein directed by Mel Brooks. Dakota, Jeff and Matthew discuss adapting the book to screen and how the versions work telling the same story in different manners.
Check out this Letterboxd list of different Frankenstein adaptations.
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For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
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The 44th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival just concluded and we are here to talk about some of our favourite films that played! Joining Dakota and Matthew is Darren Zakus from Movie Scene Canada.
The guys talk about Deathstalker and A Welcome Distraction (Dakota's picks), Wrong Husband and Blue Heron (Matthew's picks) and Blue Moon and Is This Thing On? (Darren's picks).
Read Dakota's reviews of Blue Moon and A Welcome Distraction.
Read Matthew's reviews of Wrong Husband and Blue Heron.
Read Darren's review of Blue Moon.
Read Jeff Bulmer's review of Wrong Husband and listen to his interview with Zacharias Kunuk.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Darren Zakus on Twitter and Instagram.
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Even though the Toronto International Film Festival is over, we have a very special interview for listeners. Zacharias Kunuk, best known for his 2001 film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, sat down with Jeff Bulmer to discuss his latest film Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara).
Check out Jeff's review of Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara).
If you haven't listened to our TIFF wrap up podcast, check out episode 313.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram and listen to his episode recapping TIFF.
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With the conclusion of the 50th edition of TIFF (TIFFTY), we look back at some of the films we saw, discuss the winners of the People's Choice Awards and name our own top 3 films. Joining Dakota and Jeff is Thomas Stoneham-Judge the owner of For Reel and Darren Zakus the lead critic at Movie Scene Canada.
Movies discussed include The Christophers and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Dakota), Dead Man's Wire and The Ugly (Jeff), Hedda and Tuner (Thomas), Carolina Caroline and Obsession (Darren).
Read about Chloe Zhao making history being the first two time PCA winner.
Read Dakota's reviews of Rental Family, The Smashing Machine and Nouvelle Vague.
Read Jeff's reviews of The Testament of Ann Lee, Sacrifice and Dry Leaf.
Read Darren's reviews of John Candy: I Like Me, Modern Whore and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Read Thomas' 6 Must See Hidden Gems From TIFF.
Follow Darren Zakus on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow For Reel on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
Check out Dakota's Letterboxd list of films watched.
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Toronto International Film Festival. Dakota and Jeff each pick 3 under the radar choices of movies you should have on your radar. Dakota's choices are Roofman, Steal Away and Modern Whore. Jeff's choices are Eagles of the Republic, Dust Bunny and Kokuho.
Check out Jeff's festival preview over on Classic Movies Live with fellow CZP contributor Pedro Lima.
Check out another festival preview Dakota does over on the All My Friends Are Movie Fans show.
Stay tuned for tons of great TIFF coverage including reviews and a wrap up podcast.
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In August of 1950, Akria Kurosawa released his seminal film, Rashomon where a trial of a crime is unfolded through four different perspectives showing us how flimsy "the truth" can be. On it's 75th anniversary we review the film and discuss its ongoing legacy. Martyn Strange from the Filmsplaining podcast joins Dakota and Jeff.
Listen to previous movie milestone episodes like those covering Seven Samurai, The Red Shoes, Halloween and more.
Check out some of Jeff's Fantasia reviews including $POSITIONS, All You Need Is Kill and Juliet and the King. Also listen to his Classic Movies Live episode covering Eddington and The Smurfs, the festivals opening night films.
Check out Dakota's reviews of Every Heavy Thing and Lurker from the festival.
Follow Martyn on YouTube, Instagram and Threads. Check out Dakota's appearance on episode 304: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World & Takes Off of Filmsplaining.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode Dakota and Matthew are looking at 2016's Oasis: Supersonic directed Mat Whitecross. The documentary follows the creation and rise of the Britpop band culminating in their Knebworth Festival headlining performance in front of 250,000 people in 1996. Joining the show is Alex Watson.
Our double bill pairings include Better Man (Dakota's pick), Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets (Matthew's pick) and Dig! (Alex’s pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
Read Dakota's review Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm as mentioned on the show.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd. Buy Alex's book The Pieces We Carry on Amazon!
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
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Every year to celebrate Dakota's birthday, he picks a topic and names his favourite films by that category. This year he picked the 10 most popular filming locations in North America, including NYC, Las Vegas, Chicago and more and named the best film by these cities.
Joining Dakota is Bil Antoniou, host of the Bad Gay Movies and Riviera Rats podcasts. Here are their picks, with Dakota's first and Bil's second.
NYC - Midnight Cowboy, Hannah and Her Sisters
Chicago - The Blues Brothers, Return To Me
LA - Singin' in the Rain, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Boston - The Town, The Bostonians
San Fransisco - Bullitt, Vertigo
DC - All The President's Men, Born Yesterday
Las Vegas - The Hangover, Diamonds Are Forver
Philadelphia - Creed, Blow Out
Toronto - Enemy, Dead Ringers
Montreal - Red Rooms, Jesus of Montreal
Follow Bil on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Check out Bad Gay Movies and Riviera Rats on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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The 2025 Canadian Screen Awards were handed out from May 30-June 1st and the television portion was hosted by Lisa Gilroy. Universal Language and The Apprentice were the big winners. We look at ten categories and discuss the winners and Dakota, Matthew and Jeff pick our own favourites.
Check out our collection of CSA nominated film reviews that cover 22 different movies.
Check out Jeff Bulmer’s Letterboxd list and Matthew Simpson put together where to watch all of the nominees.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on Twitter and Instagram.
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Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to listen to Dakota and Matthew rank the Mission: Impossible films to celebrate the release of the 8th entry (and possibly last film in the series?) , The Final Reckoning. Joining the show is former co-host Rachel Ho the film editor at Exclaim!
Our Rankings
8. Final Reckoning (time stamp for spoilers 9:30 for general discussion and 19:30 for big spoilers)
7. M:I-II
6. Dead Reckoning (spoiler warning for Final Reckoning at 38:35)
5. Mission: Impossible
4. Rogue Nation
3. Ghost Protocol
2. M:I-III
1. Fallout
Back in 2023 Rachel ranked the top 5 Mission: Impossible stunts.
Follow Rachel on Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
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The 2025 edition of Hot Docs ran from April 24-May 4th, and we recap six of the films we watched including Ultras, Coexistence, My Ass!, The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, The Secret Lives of My Three Men, Always and Writing Hawa. Joining Dakota and Jeff is Pedro Lima, a writer for Contra Zoom Pod.
Check out Dakota's reviews of Paul, and The Secret Lives of My Three Men.
Check out Jeff's reviews of I Dreamed His Name, Shamed and Endless Cookie.
Check out Pedro's reviews of The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, Yalla Parkour, Khartoum, Mama and My Boyfriend the Fascist.
Watch C. Tangana's music video for the song Oliveira Dos Cen Anos.
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With the announcement of there being a stunt Oscar coming in 2028, we decided to name who we think should have been the nominees and winners for the past five years. We also discuss other new Oscar rules. Joining the show is critic Todd Pengelly.
Read about the addition of the Best Stunts category.
Read about the upcoming changes to some Oscar categories.
Dakota's picks for Best Stunts the last five years: The Fall Guy, The Iron Claw, The Batman, No Time to Die and Tenet.
Todd's picks for Best Stunts the last five years: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, John Wick: Chapter 4, RRR, No Time to Die and Tenet.
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We continue our series going through the entire catalog of A24's films. On this episode Dakota and Matthew are looking at 2021's Val directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo. The film is a documentary using actor Val Kilmer's extensive home video collection to cover his life and career up to his diagnoses with throat cancer that left him without a voice. Kilmer sadly passed away on April 1st, 2025 so we decided to jump forward to cover this film.
Both Matthew Simpson and Jeff Bulmer are officially joining the podcast as permanent rotating co-hosts!
Our double bill pairings include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Dakota's pick) and Top Secret! (Matthew's pick). See our complete A24 Double Bill Pairings on Letterboxd.
For more of Matthew's work check out his personal portfolio. Follow him on Bluesky and Threads.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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The Canadian Screen Awards announced their nominations for the June 1st gala with Universal Language leading the pack with 13 nominations. Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies Live podcast, joins the show as the guys try to predict who will be nominated and then react to actual films that made the cut.
See the Letterboxd list that Jeff made that features all of the nominated films.
Check out some of our Canadian Screen Award reviews from this past year, Darkest Miriam, Paying For It, Rumours, Shepherds, The Apprentice, Universal Language and Young Werther.
Check out new reviews from Contrazoompod.com including Wolf Man, The Penguin Lessons and Julie Keeps Quiet.
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Now that Oscar season has come and gone, it is finally time to put a bow on the films from 2024. We rank our top 10 films of the year. Joining the show is CZP's former co-host Rachel Ho. We also feature voicemails from friends of the show who name their favourite film of the year.
Dakota's List
10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
9. Dune: Part Two
8. The King Tide
7. Kneecap
6. Challengers
5. Dìdi
4. Saturday Night
3. Civil War
2. Sing Sing
1. Conclave
Rachel's List
10. The Bikeriders
9. Sing Sing
8. A Different Man
7. All The Long Nights
6. Dune: Part Two
5. Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story
4. I'm Still Here
3. Better Man
2. September 5
1. Mars Express
Thank you our special guests for sending in voicemails of their favourite films: Jeff Bulmer from Classic Movies Live (Paying For It), Bryan Loomis from What A Picture (Evil Does Not Exist), Pedro Lima from ContraZoomPod.com (exergue - on documenta 14) and Marta Djordjevic from Rewind and Revive (All We Imagine As Light).
Check out Dakota and Rachel's blog post If We Were Oscar Voters.
Check out Dakota's full list of 2024 Films Ranked on Letterboxd.
Follow Rachel on Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Read her interview with Seven Veils director Atom Egoyan.
Read Dakota's recent reviews on Shepherds and Can I Get A Witness.
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Oscar season is officially over after Anora won Best Picture and four other trophies at the 97th Academy Awards. We recap the ceremony, give our thoughts on the biggest winners and losers and judge the production of the show itself. Joining the show is critic Alex Southey, who was last heard on episode 295: 2025 Oscar Nomination Reactions.
We look at who won the the contest back on episode 299: 2025 Oscar Draft, with Alex Watson winning with 7 points, followed by Dakota and Thomas Stoneham-Judge with 5 points each and Brodie Cotnam finishing in last with 3 points.
Check out the collection of Oscar nominated reviews, blogs and podcasts all in one convenient post.
Follow Alex Southey on Instagram and Letterboxd. Check out his podcasts Your Worst Song... and The Human Interest Hour...
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We are less than a week away from the Oscars, so we put our reputations on the line to predict who will win at the 97th Academy Awards. Joining the show is Elizabeth Mulloy a Washington based critic.
Below are our picks of who we think will win:
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We are back with our third annual Oscar Draft. It is very simple, each person selects 5 movies that are nominated at this year’s Oscars and whoever gets the most awards, wins! Joining Dakota is Thomas Stoneham-Judge, Brodie Cotnam and Alex Watson.
Stay tuned to the Oscar Wrap Up podcast to see who the winner was!
Check out 2024's Oscar Draft and the 2023 Draft too.
Dakota's team - The Brutalist, A Real Pain, The Wild Robot, No Other Land, A Lien
Alex's team - Anora, Conclave, Nosferatu, Flow and Sing Sing
Brodie's team - The Substance, Dune: Part Two, A Complete Unknown, Wander to Wonder and The Man Who Would Not Remain Silent
Thomas' team - Emilia Pérez, Wicked, I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys and Black Box Diaries
Follow For Reel on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram.
Watch Brodie's short film The Gift and log it on Letterboxd. that he wrote and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd.
Follow Alex Watson on Twitter and Letterboxd.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this final episode of the series we talk aboutWicked,Conclave,I'm Still Here andNickel Boys. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Paulo Bautista host of theOscars Death Race Podcast.
Check out ourOscar Primer blog entries where we look at other films nominated at the Oscars. The most recent entry covers Nosferatu, The Six Triple Eight and Black Box Diaries.
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to theAltadena Girls Fire Recovery or theLA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund.
Check out Jeff Bulmer's review of I'm Still Here and thank you to Sony Pictures Classic and StarPR for the screener.
Follow Paulo onTwitter andLetterboxd.
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We continue our yearly tradition of breaking down the Best Picture nominees and the odds they have to win each of their categories. On this episode of the series we talk about Emilia Pérez, Dune: Part Two and The Substance. We label each nomination as Frontrunner, Dark Horse, Longshot and Just Happy To Be There. Joining the show is Ethan Simmie, the host of The Movie Draft Podcast and 24 Minutes of A24.
Check out our Oscar Primer blog entries where we look at other films nominated at the Oscars. The most recent entry covers A Real Pain, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Memoir of a Snail and Gladiator II.
This Oscar season I will be highlighting different organizations that are helping victims of the Palisades fire. This episode consider donating to the World Central Kitchen or the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program.
Check out more of Ethan's work by subscribing to his YouTube channel Movies Are So Back and read his writing at Agents of Fandom. Follow Ethan on Letterboxd, Twitter and TikTok.
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Please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For more information, visit contrazoompod.com.
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