Tag: A24

Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 42

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After discussing the latest news regarding Netflix, their attempts to purchase Warner Bros, and what the current President of the U.S.A. is demanding they do, Dean and Phil talk about more of the intriguing movies coming out in 2026 (including period pieces, biopics, and crime films). Hollywood still hasn’t recovered from the dual strikes of a few years back, and with the negotiations for new contracts upcoming, the Writers Guild seems to be imploding. Dean and Phil analyze the latest labor strife. The recent movie Anaconda gets reviewed, and the French classic Amelie gets re-appraised in time for its 25th anniversary. In the return of “What We’re Reading” the latest by Dan Brown and a work of historical fiction about legendary filmmaker G.W. Pabst get discussed. Finally the murders of two groundbreaking physicists has Phil troubled, so he asks Dean about whether the deaths might be part of a conspiracy. And speaking of conspiracy, Dean and Phil conclude with the latest news surrounding Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files”.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 37

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Phil gets things started by singing the praises of “The Lowdown” (and its emotional intelligence), and of Marc Hershon, who had this Sterlin Harjo-created Ethan Hawke-starring series on his list of the best television of 2025. Some casting news (regarding season 4 of “The White Lotus”) has Phil greatly enthusiastic. Then, for the first time in ages, but as they used to do on the regular back in the day, Dean and Phil analyze the long four-day weekend’s domestic box office, paying particular attention to the lack of performance by (the supposedly excellent) 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple and the milestone achieved by bona fide movie star Timothée Chalamet. Then, the conversation about IMDB’s list of the 20 most anticipated movies of 2006 picks up where it left off last week. The incredible achievement Sentimental Value pulled off at the European Film Awards gets placed in a historic perspective. Two movies get reviewed: Dean wags his finger at the Edgar Wright remake The Running Man and Phil doffs his cap to Bi Gan’s masterful Resurrection. This week’s show is EXCELLENT, but don’t take our word for it – just hit “play”!

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 31

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On this week’s show, Dean Haglund is finally using a microphone once again. It makes his audio better, to be certain, but somehow it also manages to create several cameo opportunities for his dogs! Don’t let those moments dissuade you, however, as this week’s show is an utterly fascinating conversation between Dean and his longtime co-host Phil Leirness. They go deep, discussing the potential sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix, the life and legacy of perhaps the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Gehry, and the truly spine-chilling lessons we can learn from the Nazis’ film policy.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 13

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Dean Haglund turned 60 this past week and on the occasion, Phil Leirness and (friend of show and composer of numerous themes songs) Jon Lawlor met up with Dean via Zoom to discuss the importance of celebrating birthdays. They also celebrated the incredible life and hilarious artistry of the great Tom Lehrer. This led into a discussion of the gents’ all time biggest comedy influences. Finally, they discussed the fact that two of the films hailed as the best of 2025 both deal with recovery from sexual trauma and why that might make sense for where we are as a culture right now. Afterwards, Lily Holleman joined the festivities to go in-depth with Phil about one of those two films.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 7

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Dean is back home in Birmingham, Michigan. Phil is at home in Los Angeles. They connect via Zoom to discuss the fire damage Dean witnessed while he was in L.A. last week, as well as his ongoing and evolving thoughts regarding Captain America: Brave New World which he caught up with on a flight. Phil has thoughts about the recent Mickey 17, and about the current theatrical releases Caught by the Tides and Friendship. The talk then turns to the business of show and the recently announced/ongoing breakups of media conglomerates Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast/NBC Universal. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, a character actor on the brink of big fame, a chart-topping singer of 1960s hits, and a legendary jazz singer and pianist all get remembered, and Phil corrects something Dean said last week in remembering the great Brian Wilson, as well as offering something he recently learned about beloved television star Loretta Swit (who was remembered a couple weeks back).

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 18 Episode 47

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Phil is in Los Angeles, Dean is back in home in Detroit (or its environs) and normalcy is restored on this week’s show. Dean offers up his final thoughts about Lisbon, shares the status of his ongoing home renovations, and weighs in on the in-flight movies he availed himself of: John Woo’s remake of his own The Killer and a zombie dog horror film from South Korea. Phil weighs in on a once-great television series that has jumped the shark and a great spy film from Steven Soderbergh that is meeting with box office failure. The state of the box office, film distribution, and what can be done to fix all of it gets analyzed. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths” two great character actors, two chart-topping music-makers, a heavyweight champion turned grillmaster, and a philanthropist who championed architecture all get remembered.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 18 Episode 20

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On this week’s episode, Dean and Phil answer the following questions: 1) Was Vincent Van Gogh a mathematics genius? 2) What does a Frisbee have to do with airline aviation? 3) Does Phil’s hatred of The Fall Guy know no bounds? Then, a review of the neo-noir pastiche Love Lies Bleeding leads into a brief discussion about distributor A24’s output. The recent Chillpak discussion of Joaquin Phoenix bailing on his planned collaboration with Todd Haynes, caused Phil to revisit Todd Haynes’ 2002 almost-masterpiece Far From Heaven, and the death of the legendary leading man Alain Delon led Phil to watch three of the actor’s greatest successes on the big screen this week. The result is not only a discussion of Le Cercle Rouge, Purple Noon and La Piscine (aka The Swimming Pool), but a full deep dive into “heist” pictures, film critics, and more.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 18 Episode 5

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Dean will be heading to Los Angeles this week and plans to deal with a “haunted vacuum”? Paramount Pictures (and its parent company) are for sale. Dean and Phil discuss the ramifications of this. Many great films premiered in competition at the recent Cannes Film Festival. Dean and Phil examine the award-winners. A film festival favorite available now on Netflix is Richard Linklater’s dark romantic comedy Hit Man. Dean and Phil discuss it. Then, they take a deep dive look at three “art house” films of recent vintage and use that dive as the vehicle for exploring the function, importance and failure of critics. The films in question are Joanna Hogg’s ghost story The Eternal Daughter and Jane Schoenbrun’s coming-of-age psychodramas We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and the current theatrical release I Saw the TV Glow.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – 17th Anniversary Show

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A brief history lesson: In May of 2007, Dean Haglund & Phil Leirness started changing the way people listen to the internet with “From The Heart of Hollywood”. After a cease and desist from an individual claiming “brand confusion”, the name was changed to (YOUR) YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. On December 2 2019, after 652 previous episodes, Dean & Phil launched “Season 2” making the move to live streaming on Odysy Radio. Sometime later, “Odysy” rebranded to “Subspace Radio”. Last week, based on math that defies our understanding (100 episode “seasons” now?) was Season 4 Episode 17, and what turned out to be the LAST live streaming episode of this show … For now anyway. This week’s installment is our 17th Anniversary episode and it features Dean and Phil TOGETHER in Michigan, discussing the future of the show, answering emails from listeners, discussing Alex Garland’s Civil War, Japanese Breakfast’s “Be Sweet”, a forthcoming documentary about Detroit and some of the many charms of the Wolverine State (“Go, Blue!”).

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 4, Episode 11

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Awards season is finally behind us and Phil is finally back in Los Angeles, and normalcy is restored on this week’s episode, or at least as much as “normal” is ever on our audio menu! Dean and Phil will reveal any thoughts they have about last week’s Oscars as well as if or how they celebrated St. Patrick’s Day this weekend. In a “Live Event of the Week”, Phil will regale with stories about seeing the great indie rocker Hamilton Leithauser at the legendary Cafe Carlyle. Five movies get discussed: the current smash hit Dune 2, a possible future cult favorite Argylle, the recent Marvel flop The Marvels, the interesting Nicolas Cage vehicle Dream Scenario, and the brand new, utterly brilliant performance documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus. All that, plus a groundbreaking stunt performer and a British actor of stage and screen get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

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