Even though Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis are currently prepping for their proper return to Contra Zoom, it is only fitting for them to have a tribute to one of the greatest comedic actors ever in Gene Wilder. The guys talk about their favourite Wilder movies, moments and what made him so special. Enjoy some great clips from some of his movies. – Puttin’ On the Ritz from Young Frankenstein – The Waco Kid introduction from Blazing Saddles – Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Choc...
Mar 21, 2019•28 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis review the new film X-Men: Apocalypse . In the end the guys think the film is good, but not great and nowhere near the super negative reviews some critics have been giving it. – Andreas spoke with Canadian actress Carolina Bartczak who plays Magneto’s wife, Magda, in the new summer blockbuster film X-Men: Apocalypse. Carolina talks about meeting Jennifer Lawrence for the first time and what a great actor Michael Fassbender is work with. – Dakota’s old acti...
Mar 20, 2019•55 min•Season 2Ep. 5
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. Links: This is Part Two of our TSC coverage at Contra Zoom. On Part One there were interviews with Glen Mazzara and Stephen Falk. Make sure you read the recap of the weekend, Day 1 done by Andreas Ba...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 4
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 ...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 3
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 (Re...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 2
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 Musi...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 1
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. Ca...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 21
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 Subsc...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 20
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: Subscribe via iTunes Subscribe via RSS Episode original post date February...
Mar 20, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 19
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...
Mar 20, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 18
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 ref...
Mar 05, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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 – Best Directing for George Miller – Best Cinematography – Best Editing – Best Production Design – Best Costume Design – Best Makeup and Hairstyling – Best Sound Mixing – Best Sound E...
Mar 05, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 16
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...
Mar 05, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 15
This is the first 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 as he talks about The Martian and Bridge of Spies . These are the nominations for The Martian – Best Picture – Best Actor for Matt Damon – Best Adapted Screenplay – Best Production Design – Best Sound Mixing – Best Sound Editing – Best Visual Effects These are the nominations for Bridge of Spies – Best Picture – ...
Mar 05, 2019•30 min•Season 1Ep. 14
This week Dakota and Andreas go over the just announced Oscar nominations . The guys talk about the films with the most nominations including The Revenant with 12, Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 and The Martian with 7. They also talk about surprises both good and bad and some snubs. They also go through the big categories and discuss whom the early front-runners of some key categories are: – Best Picture – Best Director – Best Actor – Best Actress – Best Supporting Actor – Best Supporting Actress – ...
Mar 05, 2019•35 min•Season 1Ep. 13
*So I totally realized, that there never was an episode 11 and that makes everything out of whack, so this is actually episode 11. Enjoy!* On this episode the guys continue their talk about the third edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. Check out Part 1 from the years are 1948-1957 (the 20th– 29th Oscar winners) here. You can find Edition 1 here and Edition 2 here and Part 2 here . In Part One the guys reveal their bottom five of the decade. 10. The Greatest Show on Earth 9. Around th...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 12
On this episode the guys start talk about the third edition of their Best Picture Winners revisits. The years are 1948-1957 (the 20th– 29th Oscar winners). You can find Edition 1 here and Edition 2 here and Part 2 here . Dakota and Andreas talk about the history of HUAC (The House of Un-American Actives) and the Hayes Code both black marks on the history of Hollywood. Sarah Rix’s favourite films Oceans Eleven Fantastic Mr. Fox Children of Men Make sure you follow Sarah on Twitter! 10. The Greate...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 10
TIFF is in its 40th year. Andreas and Dakota (mostly Andreas though) covered a bunch of TIFF films including Love, Stonewall, Lolo, Room and more. Check out their capsule reviews HERE . We compared TIFF to the Venice Film Festival , which is now overlapping with TIFF Previously TIFF has 5 Best Picture Oscar Winners and an additional 8 other films that were nominated win their prestigious People’s Choice Award Films we think are the most likely to be nominated for Best Picture include The Martian...
Mar 01, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Your hosts Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis were lucky to enough to see a screening of Rebecca hosted by the legendary film director Guillermo del Toro while he was in town to host a lecture series based on Gothic Horror films. For those not familiar with GdT’s filmography, check out Pan’s Labyrinth , Pacific Rim , or the Hellboy films . Back in 2012 GdT hosted a four part series about other Hitchcock works. GdT was in town to also promote his newest film Crimson Peak a gothic horror film...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Continuing on from our Best Picture Winner decade-by-decade breakdown from last week’s part 1 Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis count down the top five films of 1938-1947. – Dakota recommends that you read the bio and trivia on actor John Garfield Here is a link to our bottom five in this decade’s Best Picture Winner’s Dakota’s ratings come first followed by Andreas’ 5. Gentleman’s Agreement 7.5/10 8/10 4. You Can’t Take It With You 8.3/10 8/10 3. The Lost Weekend 8.7/10 9/10 2. Rebecca 8....
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 7
This week we started a new feature where Live in Limbo’s mastermind Sean Chin joined us to talk about his three favourite movies. – Shawshank Redemption – 2001: A Space Odyssey – A.I. Artificial Intelligence The bottom five of our countdown is the following. Dakota’s ratings come first followed by Andreas’ 10. How Green Was My Valley 2.5/10 5/10 9. Going My Way 4/10 6/10 8. Mrs. Miniver 7/10 7/10 7. Gone With the Wind 7.3/10 7/10 6. The Best Year’s of Our Lives 8/10 7/10 Next week we reveal our ...
Mar 01, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Season 1Ep. 6
For this week’s episode Dakota and Andreas discuss the finale for Mad Men and what the series as a whole meant to them and the landscape of television. The landmark show just finished its seven-season run back in May and the guys have had some time to digest what happens. They talk about their favourite characters and some of the best moments on the show. As always we would love to hear your thoughts on the show by tweeting at us @contrazoompod ! A very comprehensive list of the 100 Best Charact...
Feb 28, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 5
In this episode Dakota and Andreas review the new Marvel movie Avengers: Age of Ultron and then rank all 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films from worst to best. The discussions touch upon casting, scripts, direction, themes and execution. Here is the list of films ranked in order of when they came out (you will have to listen to the show to find out where they placed!) Iron Man The Incredible Hulk Iron Man 2 Thor Captain America: The First Avenger Marvel’s The Avengers Iron Man 3 Thor: The Dark W...
Feb 28, 2019•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 4
This week Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis turn the tables a bit regarding subject matter and discuss a play called Mr. Burns a Post Electric Play (you’ve probably seen the posters all around subway stations). Instead of just talking about the play the guys discuss methods of telling stories and how telling tales is a human ritual. Dakota also interviews co-director Mitchell Cushman and actor Sebastien Heins and plays a bit of trivia with them. – Mr. Burns a Post Electric play is running ...
Feb 28, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 3
This week Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis talk about the Toronto Screenwriter’s Conference, a yearly get together where the greatest script writers, show runners, executives and others talk on a professional level to attendees who are writers themselves. We also have two great interviews with David S Goyer and Mara Brock Akil. – This is the 6th TSC annual conference held at Daniels Spectrum in Toronto – The conference is put on by the literary agency Meridian Artists – Andreas got to int...
Feb 28, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Hey everyone, this is the debut episode for our brand new film podcast Contra Zoom! Hosts Dakota Arsenault and Andreas Babiolakis take on a massive project of watching every Best Picture winner throughout the Academy’s history! They start with the first ten winners from 1927-1937. At the end of the rankings the guys give awards to the best of the best (so far!). At the end of the episode Andreas teases us with what episode two will have in store for listeners. These are the rankings listed in th...
Feb 28, 2019•2 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 1
