68: New Oscar Rules

08/16/18 • 26 min

The Academy Awards are changing the way their ceremony will be run in three drastic ways over the next two years. Dakota goes over the pros and cons for each of these changes.

First- The date of the ceremony will be changed from the end of February to the beginning of February starting in 2020. What this means for when nominations are announced to what other awards shows will do is still up in the air, but this impact will be felt across the industry.

Second- The show will be capped at a hard three hours, meaning that some things will need to be cut out with the Academy already announcing that some categories (at the moment unnamed) will be handed out during commercial breaks and will be shown in a montage at the end of ceremony. Other changes to ensure the time length have not been announced yet.

Third- There will a Best Popular Film award handed out next to the Best Picture award. As far as the rules surrounding what makes a film “popular” have not been announced but the fall out from this will be felt as it will change the landscape of what the award means, what types of films will be nominated and how it will affect smaller films.

For further reading check out Vulture “The Oscars Made Some Dumb Decisions Today” and Forbes “New Category For Popular Movies Will Help Disney Rule The Oscars”. You can also check out Box Office Mojo and their list of highest grossing films of the year so far to see some potential nominees.

Something new I’ll be asking people to do is to rate and review Contra Zoom on Podchaser, a site that aims to be the IMDb of podcasts. Please rate 5 stars and if possible leave a short review to help grow this show.

Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.

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

The post 68: New Oscar Rules appeared first on LIVE IN LIMBO.

The Academy Awards are changing the way their ceremony will be run in three drastic ways over the next two years. Dakota goes over the pros and cons for each of these changes.

Also if you have never given the show a rating on iTunes, that also helps tremendously. Every bit of exposure helps grow the show.

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

The post 68: New Oscar Rules appeared first on LIVE IN LIMBO.

Previous Episode

67: Contra Zoom Presents… Hitchcock

On this week’s episode Dakota Arsenault is joined by Zach Sokol, host of Radio Camp Half Blood a Percy Jackson read-a long podcast. The two talk about director Alfred Hitchcock one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. They talk about his legacy on cinema history and their favourite works by him.

If you were to recommend a Hitchcock film to introduce someone to his work the guys have a few options. Zach rec’s The Birds or Psycho while Dakota suggests Rear Window.

While breaking down Hitchcock’s films into tiers they try to make a Mount Rushmore of his work. They agree on Psycho and Vertigo while Dakota suggests Rebecca and Rear Window to round it out contrasting with Zach wants Strangers on a Train and The Lady Vanishes.

Zach informs Dakota that a sequel to The Birds exists called The Birds II: Land’s End (“directed” by Alan Smithee like Zach assumed it was). Surprisingly Tippi Hedren, also in this sequel but not as the same character.

You can watch the original Psycho trailer where Hitchcock gives the audience a tour of the Bates Motel HERE.

In a fun game of over rated/under rated the named some other picks.

Dakota- Over rated: Notorious and The Birds

Under rated: The Wrong Man and I Confess! (honourable mention Rebecca)

Zach- Over rated: Rebecca

Under rated: Rope

Check out Zach’s podcast Radio Camp Half Blood: A Percy Jackson Read-A-Long Podcast. You can also follow Zach on Twitter @suda41.

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

The post 67: Contra Zoom Presents... Hitchcock appeared first on LIVE IN LIMBO.

Next Episode

69: TIFF 2018 Preview

According to the Toronto Star’s preview this year’s Toronto International Film Festival features 21 world premieres, seven international premieres, eight North American premieres and 11 Canadian premieres, including 13 features directed by women. It all kicks off with Netflix’s own Outlaw King starring Chris Pine that is sure to make waves across the industry. Mehek Seyid joins us this week to go over the most anticipated TIFF films and what ones she plans on seeing in advance of this year’s awards season.

Here is a list of films discussed on this week’s episode were trailers can be found on their IMDb page.

First Man- Directed by Damien Chazelle tells the story of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.
The Old Man & the Gun- Directed by David Lowery has Robert Redford in his final film playing an aging bank robber.
High Life- Directed by Claire Denis in her English language debut about a group of criminals sent into deep space.
Shoplifters- Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda about a family of small time crooks.
Everybody Knows- Directed by Asghar Farhadi starring real life married couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as they travel to Spain to go to a wedding and dark secrets are revealed.
Roma- Directed by Alfonso Cuarón about an intimate story of a single family over the course of a year in Mexico City in the 1970’s.
The Predator- Directed by Shane Black reboots the 80’s action/horror franchise where an alien hunter kills a lot of people.
Assassination Nation- Directed by Sam Levinson is about how a hacking of personal info in Salem turns everyone in the town crazy.
The Man Who Feels No Pain- Directed by Vasan Bala is a Bollywood film about a young boy who can feel no pain so he decides to take down local criminals.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?- Directed by Marielle Heller in a dramedy about a struggling writer played by Melissa McCarthy who turns to forging letters to make money.
A Star is Born- Directed by Bradley Cooper starring himself and Lady Gaga in the lead roles of this oft-remade film about an aging singer and his young protégé.
Boy Erased- Directed by Joel Edgerton starring Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman in a film about a young man you is sent to gay conversion therapy by his minister parents.
Beautiful Boy- Directed by Felix Van Groeningen starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet about a family that overcomes addiction issues.