Your friends in podcasting connected via Skype on Christmas Morning to slide down your virtual chimney and stuff your audio stocking full of podcasty goodness! Topics include comic book cataloging, engagement party advice, the role of the arts in the heart of a nation, travel guardian angels, an all-time great voice, a punk rock pioneer, and two actresses-turned-directors who are big reasons why we don’t need to say “female directors” any more. We can just start calling them “directors”. Happy Holidays! We think you will really enjoy this festive, 68 minute installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

As the holidays approach, it’s the season of self-congratulation in Hollywood, where awards are being handed out and award shows are being planned. Dean and Phil weigh in on the controversy surrounding the Academy’s choice of Oscar hosts, and where they go from here. A filmmaker who never won major awards, but who left an enduring legacy, is remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Steve Coogan is a comedic actor (writer and producer) who is a source of contention between Dean and Phil. Your friends in podcasting roll up their sleeves and analyze his gifts and review his two 2018 big-screen releases: Ideal Home and Stan & Ollie. This leads into a terrific discussion of pathos and of the enduring film catalog of Laurel and Hardy.

In the second of two face-to-face episodes recorded this past week while Dean was in Los Angeles, your friends in podcasting discuss two “Celebrity Deaths” and three current cinematic releases. The creator of “SpongeBob SquarePants” and the woman who co-wrote “American Graffiti” and who gave Princess Leia her fighting, courageous spirit are the celebrities remembered by Dean and Phil. The documentary “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead” (about Orson Welles’ 15 year-long effort to make the unparalleled “The Other Side of the Wind”), the heist thriller “Widows” from director Steve McQueen (“Shame”, “12 Years a Slave”) and “If Beale Street Could Talk” from director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) are the movies Dean and Phil go into great depth discussing. on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour.

When does one planned show become TWO shows? When Dean and Phil are recording in person in Los Angeles! Dean stopped by the historic building Phil calls home (where Oscar-nominated filmmaker Adam McKay once resided) and on this episode they discuss such wide-ranging topics as the death and life of U.S. President George H.W. Bush, the forthcoming film Vice (from Adam McKay!) about former vice-president Dick Cheney, some good news coming out of the recent California fires, the live variety stage show Phil produced on his 50th birthday, Dean’s efforts to pack up his L.A. abode and his recent Michigan adventures. All that plus a plug for their dark comedy The Lady Killers in the wake of the #MeToo moment for Neil Degrasse Tyson, and an Oscar-winning filmmaker and a legendary magician turned character actor are remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

Do you know what Stan Lee’s real name was and why he changed it? Did you know that during the 1940’s and 50’s conservatives weren’t just on a witch hunt against suspected communists but against superhero comic books as well? Join your friends in podcasting as they remember the comic book giant in “Celebrity Deaths” and discuss his cultural impact, his legacy and the controversies in which he found himself. Then, Phil sits down in the woods with filmmaker Ilana Rein, to discuss her narrative feature debut Perception. Long-time listeners might recall that Ilana served as Dean and Phil’s co-host during their 26 hour Mayan podcastathon, back in 2012. So, it’s great to finally have her back to discuss her work. Then, Dean and Phil get into a fascinating discussion about how much films can change from script to screen, using the upcoming Netflix post-apocalyptic action epic Bird Box movie as a case in point. Finally, the joy of still having so many amazing movies from the past to discover and enjoy gets celebrated, with an awesome little mystery film from the late 1970’s taking center stage. YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Enjoy!

On the agenda in another action-packed installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is a full report on Dean and Phil’s movie The Lady Killers  at the historic BAL Theatre, and a full report on what makes that theater so darn historic, the aftermath of the devastating California fires, Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, movie pacing, and in “Celebrity Deaths”, an innovator in motion picture title design, a country music and television icon, a screenwriting legend, a beloved television villainess, and a Shakespearean actor who gave one of the all-time great big screen performances without actually appearing on-screen are all remembered.

Seven important notes about this week’s show:

1) It’s our 600th episode!
2) It features a brand new version of the theme song appropriate to Dean’s relocation to the Motor City.
3) A horrible recording problem leads to a few choppy transitions at the start of the show and to an extremely bad electronic hum during the first 25 minutes or so of the show.
4) We have done the best we can to get rid of the hum and to at least make these first 25 minutes listenable, and you will want to bear with us as those minutes contain very personal conversation between Dean and Phil about things they love lost in the current SoCal fires, what they love that is seriously threatened by those fires, and about a great Canadian actor of Dean’s acquaintance who died this month. There is also a great story about baby diapers!
5) Several amazing movies get discussed – including the Sandra Bullock starring post-apocalyptic, action-horror vehicle Bird Box, the Coen Brothers rather amazing Western anthology feature The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Alfonso Cuaron’s seminal black-and-white memory piece Roma and Dean and Phil’s very own The Lady Killers, which Dean has finally seen!
6) The show is 72 minutes long, with about 45 minutes of that boasting clean audio!
7) We wish you all a “Malkovich Hug”!

Now that Dean once again lives in the USA, he and Phil will be recording YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour on Monday mornings! This week, they compare notes on the Steve Martin-Martin Short touring stage show, and share thoughts about the recent spate of re-booted television series of yesteryear and those reboots recently announced. The lives of a “swamp rock” legend, a WW II “Monuments Man”, the inventor of green bean casserole, the greatest trumpeter of his generation, and Phil’s all-time favorite baseball player will be remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Then, grab the popcorn because your friends in podcasting have a bunch of disparate cinematic offerings to discuss, from horror classics like Nosferatu and The Wolf Man to such contemporary releases as Bohemian RhapsodyBoy ErasedA Private War, and Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind.

“From a secret location somewhere in America …” Dean Haglund is in temporary digs somewhere in his new home state of Michigan. So, when he and Phil Leirness recorded this week’s episode, it wasn’t the official start of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour’s Motown Era. Nevertheless, we learn about Dean’s early D-Town and Michigan discoveries, as well as about the road trip he took from D.C. this past week. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles … Celebrations in anticipation of Phil’s upcoming nuptials have begun with an engagement party. Shocking stories and a hangover ensued! The bulk of this week’s show focuses on a handful of fascinating “Celebrity Deaths” and a slew of great movies. As for the former, a Norwegian World War II hero, a terrific filmmaker, one of the greatest character actors, a tech giant and philanthropic billionaire, and perhaps the most mysterious figure of the 20th and early 21st centuries are remembered. In the latter discussion, two classic horror films and a recent, groundbreaking documentary are recommended and four new cinematic releases are analyzed, including The Old Man & the GunBad Times at the El RoyaleGreen Book and your friends in podcasting’s very own The Lady Killers! Dean and Phil’s dark comedy has been described as “exactly the kind of film we need right now” and it’s available on demand across a variety of platforms in the U.S. and Canada. Learn more at http://theladykillersmovie.com and on this very podcast!

Hopefully you enjoyed last week’s bizarre audio walking tour of downtown Los Angeles with your friends in podcasting. On this week’s installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, Dean and Phil treat you to a sequel of sorts. It begins with a skyline view from outside the top floor of the city’s iconic city hall. then moves inside the presentation room, where several films get discussed, a brilliant character actor gets remembered, a rock ‘n roll lawsuit gets analyzed. All that plus a ton of laughs, a preview of Dean’s potential future enterprise in Detroit AND a major update on his long-awaited graphic novel!