Dean and Phil compare notes on their Thanksgivings and reveal how (and probably why) Phil got sick on his birthday! Then, they discuss a wide array of brand new and classic movies from various genres and from locales around the world, including Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice, the groundbreaking indie Chan is Missing, the all-time masterwork Au hasard Balthazar, and a Netflix doc about Eddie Murphy. In “Celebrity Deaths”, an unforgettable and prolific character actor and one of the greatest playwrights of all time get remembered.

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.

It’s the symbolic final weekend of summer 2025 and your friends in podcasting commemorate in style with almost 70 minutes of rich podcasty goodness! They discuss how one of Dean’s all-time least favorite films might become a television series. They discuss how a Todd Haynes period detective film they would have loved to see might just be back from the dead. They discuss how and why Weapons has captured the cultural conversation in a way few movies do any more. They discuss how and why Netflix had the #1 film at the box office, why Netflix didn’t want you to know that, and what it might portend for the future. They discuss the merits of the new Netflix mystery The Thursday Murder Club. They discuss the 1987 classic River’s Edge and the 1949 all-time masterpiece The Third Man. In the return of the “Live Event of the Week”, Pink Martini performs under the stars at the Greek Theatre. In “Celebrity Deaths”, an Oscar-winning composer, a Tejano legend, a chart-topping flugelhorn player, a co-founder of “Derek and the Dominos”, and the jazz singer dubbed “the lady with the million-dollar ears” all get remembered. Finally, Dean and Phil pay tribute to the great Terence Stamp. Happy Labor Day, USA! Happy Monday, everyone else.

Welcome to an excellent installment of your Chillpak Hollywood Hour that begins with tales of springtime before a couple of great soapbox moments courtesy of the “sensitivity editing” of Agatha Christie and newspaper headline treatments of black men in the media. An actress who starred in many beloved projects, a screenwriter behind crowd-pleasing movies, a singer in a legendary doo-wop band and the designer responsible for the way Phil smelled throughout his teens and twenties (!) all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Dean champions Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks, and the return of Nicolas Cage (not that he went anywhere). Phil regales with amazing original casting choices for a couple of popular recent films before launching into an appreciation of the fable-making on display in John Wick: Chapter 4.

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 …

Pre-recorded this past week in Los Angeles and Birmingham, Michigan, and edited at the Montecito Club weekend, this week’s show features irreverent, insightful and occasionally inspired and inspiring discussion on a wide range of topics, including: The California Gubernatorial Recall Election, a paranormal convention Dean was attending, some long-awaited good news at the North American box office, the recent CinemaCon (a convention for theater owners) and what we learned about Ghostbusters: Afterlife and The Matrix Resurrections, and the 2018 Japanese TV series “Miss Sherlock” and its terrific star Yuko Takeuchi, who committed suicide one year ago. All that, PLUS Phil explains his passing, yet specific, reference to moving back east, which he uttered during episode 88’s drunken, red-wine fueled bacchanal. Safe to say, he is definitely Los Angeles-based for the foreseeable future.

This week’s epic, 80 minute long show begins with an hilarious update about Phil’s medical adventures before the return of “Live Event of the Week”, where classical music, Dean’s forthcoming live comedy show, and a sordid chapter of the Los Angeles Breakfast Club’s history get discussed. Then, the Chillpak Morgue is opened as character actress Sylvia Miles, heiress Gloria Vanderbilt and Jim Pike, lead singer of famed 60’s vocal group The Lettermen, are remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. And speaking of “Lettermen”, David Letterman has returned to Netflix with season 2 of his series “My Next Guest …” Phil raves about an episode featuring Ellen DeGeneres, on that boasts a cameo by Clint Eastwood, which gets Phil thinking about Clint’s acting career. HIs films Where Eagles Dare and The Bridges of Madison County get discussed. And those are far from the only movies Dean and Phil discuss. They re-examine the classic Hong Kong actioner The Killer on its 30th anniversary. They also analyze the recent box office failures of several previously unassailable cinematic franchises and offer suggestions of what franchise producers and studios can learn from the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as from the John Wick and James Bond series of films. 

Dean previews this weekend’s X-Fest convention all about “The X-Files”, and discusses the latest on his streaming comedy series “Gravity Hole”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil celebrate the great singer Leon Redbone, the last of the Mohawk code talkers from World War II, and the socialite whose conviction and subsequent acquittal of murder formed the basis of the Oscar-winning Reversal of Fortune. Phil hips Dean to the breaking news about the Canadian genocide of indigenous women, and they commiserate over the latest mass shooting in the USA. They share an email about the (non-existent) Bowling Green Massacre. They assess the current state of movies in theaters, on HBO, via Netflix, and more, especially through the prism of reviewing two new comedies, a western revival, and one of the longest-developing projects in recent Hollywood history. Because next week’s show might be a mostly a pre-recorded interview, this week’s show is an extra 12 minutes long, offers something for almost everyone, and is jam-packed full of podcasty goodness!

Dean took a trip to Washington D.C., he has a new live streaming series, he has an update on his graphic novel, he has a couple of upcoming convention appearances and he has a Doberman puppy growing rapidly. Phil continues to grow frustrated with his limited sight, especially while taking in the (long awaited return of) “Live Event of the Week”. Hear all about these topics, about this year’s Cannes Film Festival, about John Wick 3, about a Chinese film that might be among the best films of the decade, and about the highest-grossing Supehero origin story of all time!

On this week’s brand new, action-packed episode #544, Dean and Phil are discussing great movies again, as they count down their lists of the Top Ten Action Movies of All Time!