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.

Because Phil is on the road, tending to family matters, this week’s show was pre-recorded last week and much of the episode is dedicated to discussing two icons: The historic landmarked Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles closed its doors for good on September 14, and the great leading man, filmmaker, and supporter of the arts and the environment, Robert Redford, left the stage on September 16. Dean and Phil do a deep dive into Redford’s career and accomplishments and put his 1974 starring vehicle The Great Gatsby under the microscope. This leads to a discussion of lead characters, often seen as heroes, who suffer the delusions caused by their own fantasies. Such characters include Holly Martins in The Third Man and Rick in Casablanca. The dangers of fantasy prove the perfect segue way to Phil’s thoughts upon finally having watched James Gunn’s Superman. Then to wrap up this jumbo installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, the devilishly haunting, and rather delightfully macabre 1964 suspense picture from Japan, Onibaba gets celebrated.

Phil is hitting the road, but before doing so, he recorded a great deal of material for the next two installments of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! This week, he and Marc Hershon discuss the following television series: “Your Friends and Neighbors”, “The Studio”, “Alien: Earth”, “Chief of War”, “Peacemaker”, and “Code of Silence”. Dean reveals whether or not he is participating in a Winnipeg-themed art show, and talks about why any nostalgia he has for the city where he grew up is gone. Then, good pal of the show, purveyor of excellent theme songs, and frequent on-air contributor, Jon Lawlor finally weighs in on Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest answering a longtime loyal listener’s question about the movie’s use of music.

Welcome to a truly great episode and it all starts with an alternately touching and hilarious cold open! In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil remember a jazz music pioneer, an actor who was an important influence on Dean, and a versatile, prolific, Oscar-winning filmmaker. Last week’s Oscar nominations get analyzed, as does the ensuing anger surrounding supposed “snubs”. After the break, the great film critic Luke Y. Thompson joins the fun, discussing how critics, like performers, can get “pigeon-holed”. He offers up thoughts on the Oscar-nominated The Zone of Interest and the underrated Beau is Afraid, and hips you to a black and white sci-fi comedy that is well worth your 68 minutes! He even talks about toy reviews and toy photography! And trust us, this episode offers a lot of laughs! Find links to all of Luke’s articles and reviews at https://linktr.ee/lytrules. And learn about his work as a toy collector, photographer and reviewer at https://www.eql.com/media/adult-toy-collecting

 

Making every Monday night merry and bright since before many of you were even born, your friends in podcasting and broadcasting hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas. Unless you don’t celebrate Christmas, in which case, Dean and Phil hope you are having an awesome Monday! Among the many topics to be enjoyed in this week’s audio stocking stuffer are an honor being bestowed upon one of the most important directors of “The X-Files”, the brilliance of actors Jamie Foxx and Mahershala Ali, two of the best Christmas films of all time (and both are brand new theatrical releases!), animated superhero movies, Netflix movies, a UK Northern Soul legend, a star of TV’s “Route 66”, and the Detroit art scene.

On Christmas Eve in the nation’s capital, your friends in podcasting (and broadcasting!) got together in-person for this very special (and pre-recorded) holiday treat! Dean discusses his Los Angeles adventures, including the Cerritos mall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and nudists! Phil discusses his east coast adventures, including a visit to the Hillwood Estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post and the night his beloved cat, Fuzz Aldrin, decided to go walkabout! They touch briefly on the death of beloved novelist Joan Didion, and they discuss a handful of holiday season cinematic releases, including (more on) Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, Being the Ricardos, King Richard, Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections. There is even time for a brief follow-up on the zen brilliance of Bill Murray, and there is a photo shoot during the show! Join Dean and Phil as they ring out the final week of 2021 in style …

Following a “cold open” all about another of Dean’s all-time favorite episodes of “The X-Files”, Dean and Phil open their mailbag to answer questions from listeners like you (yes, YOU!). One email concerns why actor Nicholas Lea never appeared on the spin-off series “The Lone Gunmen” and whether Dean would ever join the internet service “Cameo”. Another is from friend of the show Yoshi Kato, who can’t quite remember whether his friends in podcasting have ever done a show about their favorite movie musicals. They have. And episode #497 is once again available for listening pleasure! Finally, loyal listener and good buddy, Greg Vincent, asks a very compelling question about Blade Runner 2049. Dean offers up a brief review of A Quiet Place Part II, Phil offers up a surprisingly glowing review of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) before launching into an analysis of the head-scratching financial reality of the D.C. Extended Universe. Finally, “The Mod Squad” star Clarence Williams III and 80s “video vixen” Tawny Kitaen get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

On last week’s show, Phil introduced what will be a recurring segment for the near future: The overlooked films of 2020. This week, a unique, uniquely painful, esoteric and funny take on both the family drama and the con-artist picture, as well as a superhero movie that really did deserve to be overlooked! Last week, Dean panned a Tom Clancy adaptation written by Taylor Sheridan. This week, another new Taylor Sheridan-scripted actioner gets discussed, this one directed by Sheridan and starring Angelina Jolie. “Celebrity Deaths” is a long-standing segment of the show, but never before have Dean and Phil discussed an actor who worked for 9 decades and died at 106! Phil, is, as listeners will know, a state certified Violence Prevention Specialist. In the wake of the horrific hatred and violence being directed at members of the AAPI community, he decided to augment his training by taking bystander intervention training. He will report on this training, and offer up tips that everyone can use to both #stopthehate and #spreadthelove. And speaking of spreading the love, over the past couple months, your friends in podcasting have begun to check in “on air” with friends of the show who have appeared on past episodes, to see how the year plus of pandemic life has treated them. This week, the great storyboard artist Rob Consing drops by. He discusses the big movies he has been working on, including Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and he competes against Dean in a round of our new, and apparently popular, vintage movie ad game (where Dean tries to guess the movie from the ad copy Phil reads)!

This week’s proceedings begin with an in-depth appreciation of the cinematic legacy left behind by Sean Connery and on the most thorny aspect of his public life. That leads into the judge’s ruling in a Johnny Depp “Lawsuit of the Week”. Then, Dean and Phil compare notes on their Halloween festivities. Phil will share thoughts sent to him by his new pen pal about conversations in recent episodes involving comic book culture and superhero movies and will compare the genre to the most classic of movie genres, the western. Finally, the show closes with a tribute to one of the last great Beat poets.

Frequent contributor and good friend to the show Marc Hershon takes time out of his birthday celebrations to join Phil Leirness for a conversation about several current and recent television series, including “Fargo” Season 4 and “Lovecraft Country”. They also discuss HBO’s “The Watchmen” and Amazon’s “The Boys” in light of recent comments by creator of the original “The Watchmen” graphic novel, Alan Moore, who called superheroes and superhero movies “blights” on our culture. Finally, Marc hits us with a sitcom suggestion from Apple TV+ starring Jason Sudeikis.