This week, Dean and Phil will begin to slowly roll out the new era of Chillpak Hollywood, releasing much more content each week. Phil provides details at the outset. Then, he and Dean engage in much show biz “water cooler” discussion. The most famous modernist home in the world is up for sale for the very first time. Dean and Phil talk about the house, its history, and some of the movies that were filmed there. Warner Bros. is also up for sale, apparently (again!), and Dean and Phil both discuss it and sort of lament it! A loyal listener is very upset about the film Bugonia, so Dean and Phil revisit their debate about the film’s director, Yorgos Lanthimos. The lack of box office this year for accomplished and acclaimed films aimed at adults gets discussed broadly, with two of these films (the Channing Tatum vehicle Roofman, and the recent spy thriller Black Bag) going under the microscope. Finally, two classic films get re-appraised and celebrated anew: Rian Johnson’s Brick on its 20th anniversary, and the rollicking 1966 western The Professionals. Finally, one of Phil’s all-time favorite actors, indeed one of the greatest figures in Japanese cinema history, gets remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

Big changes are coming, with much more content each week. This week, Dean and Phil hint more at what these changes might bring, while whetting the appetite thru discussions of art, culture, television, movies and acting. The festivities begin with Dean revealing which of the cities he has lived in most inspired his painting. The return of Vince Gilligan to the small screen gets discussed, the hilarious new sitcom “Stumble” gets reviewed, and the cancellation of Rian Johnson’s “Poker Face” AND his plans to revive it get analyzed. In “Celebrity Deaths”, the maverick independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom gets remembered and his ongoing legacy and influence are pondered. Then a whole raft of new Netflix films get mentioned before Dean doffs his cap at Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix version of Frankenstein, and Phil wags his finger at the preposterous The Woman in Cabin 10. Finally, The Fantastic Four: First Steps gets revisited before the state of acting in the 1970s gets hailed as, perhaps, the all-time peak of screen acting.

After almost 19 years of “changing the way you listen to the internet”, your friends in podcasting are about to change the way they continue to … change the way you listen to the internet! They discuss their plans on this week’s absolutely excellent show. Dean discusses a big improv performance he gave this weekend and goes deep into explaining the improv game “crime endowment”. In the long-awaited return of “Celebrity Deaths”, iconic rock guitarist Ace Frehley, and all-time great actress Diane Keaton get remembered. During those celebrations, Dean and Phil take a detour into a deep dive analysis of people dying from falls. A little-known 1973 film about the JFK assassination gets discussed, as does whether we can ever truly know history in general, and JFK assassination history in particular. Finally a rather terrible documentary about beloved actor John Candy gets reviewed.

After a cold open wherein Phil sets the stage, the show gets started in mid-conversation as frequent contributor Jon Lawlor shares some of his thoughts about Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune. The topic then turns to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2002 film Punch-Drunk Love with particular emphasis paid to the way Anderson used music while shooting the film. This leads to Dean explaining the ways on-set music would be used in the silent film era, and how something called “click tracks” would be used in animation. In 2022 the great actor Stellan Skarsgard suffered a stroke and yet has been able to continue acting. The ways this has been achieved get discussed. The current heist picture The Mastermind from master filmmaker Kelly Reichardt is foremost in Phil’s thoughts, specifically why, despite universal critical praise, the film is being mostly hated by moviegoers, most of whom have seen it in multiplexes. Phil also shares with Dean and Jon the new set of questions he asks himself, and answers in writing, each night before bed.