Rabbit, Rabbit! Welcome to May and welcome to the final show of year 15 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour where Dean and Phil get the ball rolling by discussing the obituary fictional character Dame Edna wrote for her creator prior to his death. Phil remembers the legendary playwright Robert Patrick and he and Dean ponder the life – not the legacy – of the woman who falsely accused Emmett Till. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths”, the towering artistry and humanity of Harry Belafonte gets discussed, as does Belafonte’s friendship with Sidney Poitier. The latest in the pending Writer’s Strike gets analyzed. Facts surrounding three movies discussed last week get revealed, the 1996 classic Irma Vep starring the incomparable Maggie Cheung gets revisited, and the countdown to the end of Netflix results in analysis of both Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon. Finally, the concluding seasons of “Succession” and “Barry” get hailed.

This week, Dean and Phil pick up right where they left off … With Dean enjoying the weather in Michigan, Phil in COVID isolation in Los Angeles, and Robert Blake’s Cinefantastique interview about David Lynch’s Lost Highway providing the basis for a “cold open”. The themes of transition, embracing what wants to come forward, emotional intelligence and more get explored deeply in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal-themed discussion doesn’t end there, as Pablo Lorrain’s Princess Diana biopic Spencer goes under the microscope. That just starts the movie talk, though, as after raving about Joanna Hogg and her films The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II, Phil previews her new film, a mysterious ghost story, The Eternal Daughter, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Praise gets heaped upon filmmaker Steve McQueen and two of the films he made for his “Small Axe” series available on Prime: Mangrove and Lovers Rock. Finally, Dean and Phil wrap things up by analyzing three comic book movies (and the industry built on comic book movies): Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, Daniel Espinosa’s Morbius, and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (NOT a comic book movie, you say? Just listen – you might change your mind!).

As you know, each year, your friends in podcasting celebrate what they think were the best films of the previous year. Well, this year, Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness welcome special guest, film critic and Los Angeles Film Critics Association member Luke Y. Thompson to help them as they discuss the best films AND the worst films of 2015! 

Best and worst in one show?! 

Why, that sounds like two shows! And it almost is. At almost 1 hour and 50 minutes, this is our longest show ever (if you don’t count the 28 hour live “podcastathon” Dean and Phil did to ring in the end of the Mayan Calendar). So, get those Netflix queues handy, power up with the caffeinated beverage of your choice and let’s begin