Tag: plays

Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 23

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This week’s episode picks up where last week’s show left off with a deep dive into Charles Laughton’s 1955 masterpiece The Night of the Hunter the ending to which Dean greatly misunderstood. In fact, a special guest stops by to help explain the ending and to discuss the film through the prisms of expressionism, surrealism and absurdism. Then, Dean, Phil, and (frequent collaborator) Jon Lawlor discuss several filmmaking and film distribution and film marketing topics pertaining to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. In 1964, the United Nations produced four movies for television. One of them featured an all-star cast and a script by Rod Serling. Carol for Another Christmas gets discussed. Finally, the recent conversation the gents had about Carl Theodore Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc inspired a thoughtful email from a loyal listener.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 19

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In another episode featuring now regular contributor Jon Lawlor (longtime purveyor of excellent Chillpak Hollywood Hour theme songs), Dean tells stories of his ongoing trip back to his hometown of Winnipeg and the workshopping of a theatrical play that was the reason for his trip. He also reveals details of what may, or may not, be a Winnipeg-themed art collection he will be (or might not be) showing at a forthcoming Hamilton, Ontario, art show! Jon and Phil compare notes on the live stage show (“Viva Los Feliz”) in which they both performed last week. Then, the focus turns to Spike Lee’s latest “joint”, a remake of an Akira Kurosawa classic itself based on a novel by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter). Particular attention is paid to the cinematography and the music. Finally, it’s time for more Superman discussion, as a longtime, brilliant listener takes Dean and Jon to task for what they “missed” in their scathing reviews of one of this year’s most beloved, and most talked about movies. Oh, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes quite a few strays in the process!

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 18

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This week’s show was recorded several days early because Dean is off to Canada to workshop a new play, to re-visit some of his old, musical stomping grounds, and to prepare for an art show! Phil hosted a live stage show this past week, one that featured such good friends of Chillpak as Lily Holleman and Jon Lawlor. Phil offers a full report in “Live Event of the Week”. An email from a loyal listener about the dangers and responsibility of making historical dramas leads to a fascinating, deeply thoughtful, thorny conversation, one that promises to continue to unfold in the weeks to come. Another friend of the show, Steve Benaquist, drops in to help answer a question from a listener about the current box office smash Weapons before Dean and Phil tackle Marvel’s Thunderbolts* and all of the MCU’s “Phase Five” before turning their attention to the brand small-screen franchise adaptations “Alien: Earth” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 18 Episode 24

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Phil is back from New York City. Dean is preparing to travel to Tokyo. They have a lot to discuss on this week’s installment. Phil talks about a live show he saw in New York, about the work of an all-time great stone-cutter, about Columbus Day, and about Indigenous Peoples Day. Dean talks about the fish market he can’t wait visit, and the “Venice of Japan”, and previews the drawings he will do while far out and far east. “Hogan’s Heroes” gets discussed, because, y’know … Dean! Apple TV + is foremost on the mind of Phil – both its dominance of episodic television and its failure at feature filmmaking. One classic film (1962’s The Manchurian Candidate), one action film from Taiwan (The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon) and two recent releases (Wolfs, The Bikeriders) get deep dive analysis, while Guy Maddin’s latest and the new “Joker” film get previewed. All that plus Phil offers personal recollections of a true genius in the history of film, film criticism and film preservation, Robert Rosen, who died at 84.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 4, Episode 15

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Three weeks shy of their 17th Anniversary show, your friends in broadcasting & podcasting bring you this action-packed installment. A Tony-winning playwright whose work revealed genuine comedy brilliance, a football player-turned movie star-turned (alleged) murderer, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist, a groundbreaking drummer, an iconic news journalist, the director who helped launch many of the most beloved T.V. shows of all time, and the matriarch of a great filmmaking dynasty (an award-winning filmmaker herself), all get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”. Then, the movie talk continues with two great, internationally hailed documentaries and two recent releases from (once) great filmmakers now available for streaming: Matthew Vaugn’s Argylle and Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls. Finally, Dean has thoughts about the current theatrical release Wicked Little Letters. All that, plus the return of “What We’re Reading”.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 4, Episode 10

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Because Phil is traveling, he and Dean pre-recorded this week’s show on Sunday morning BEFORE the Oscars, so there will be scant little Academy Awards conversation on the episode. Instead, Dean and Phil re-visit some of the more troubling aspects of the legacy of “The X-Files” and examine two other television series: The acclaimed “The Bear” and the divisive season 4 of “Star Trek: Discovery” (including friend of show Luke Y. Thompson’s hilarious review of season 4). Last week’s “Live Event of the Week” gets re-visited thanks to an email from the subject of that segment! We will learn more about the great dancer and teacher Fujima Kansuma and Dean and Phil will ponder the possibility of someday taking a “deep dive” into the art of Kabuki on the show! Two fascinating films get discussed: Wim Wenders’ 1993 Wings of Desire sequel, Faraway, So Close! and the 7th greatest film of all time according to the Sight and Sound Poll, Claire Denis’ 1999 masterpiece Beau Travail (which is having a 25th anniversary re-release). “Celebrity Deaths” includes a bit of a quiz for Dean about a legendary Japanese artist and Canada’s First Lady of Jazz, before a great Italian filmmaker, an influential and controversial British playwright, and a beloved “entertainer” all get their turn in the spotlight.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 3 Episode 11

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Dean is back in the environs of the Motor City, Phil is back in Los Angeles, and they have a lot to discuss on this week’s show … Phil asks Dean about his SoCal travel adventures and about Dean’s grandfather, a truly remarkable man. Dean and Phil preview new seasons from two utterly terrific television series and also discuss a current show you might just want to check out. The box office is, at long last, seemingly revived and there are a lot of movies out! Dean and Phil discuss some of them, but pay particular attention to the return of Ke Huy Quan, a new Chris Pine spy vehicle, a classic 1960s musical from France, an unusually personal 1981 detective film from Peter Bogdanovich, and the movie that features James Stewart’s all-time favorite performance he ever gave. In the return of “Celebrity Deaths”, several sitcom character actors, a beloved stand-up comic and voice actor, and a groundbreaking dancer, all get remembered.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 2 Episode 113

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Will this week be the final episode of “Season 2”? Will it be Dean and Phil’s final show Odysy Radio? They will discuss these matters (but, spoiler alert: yes to both!). They will also discuss Dean’s coddling of robots, Phil’s latest round of eye surgeries, Dean’s forthcoming watercolor series, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, the return of movies shown on film, as well as a whole lot of spirituality and music in this week’s show!

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 2 Episode 110

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Because people have asked, on this week’s show, Dean and Phil will explain (yet again) why this is “Season 2” of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! They will also follow up on last week’s “Twelfth Night” episode all about Shakespearean film adaptations with stories about Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books, the Shakespearean qualities of Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune and HBO’s “Succession”, Ralph Fiennes being inspired by The Hurt Locker when he made Coriolanus, and James Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli making an unfortunate comment about Shakespeare while appearing at the UCLA film school in the 1980s. The bulk of this week’s show will be about celebrating the lives and legacies of genuine cultural giants: Joan Didion, Desmond Tutu, Marilyn Bergman, Betty White and Peter Bogdanovich. Several movies, several television shows, much music, great writing, inspiring humanitarian efforts, and one amazing school all get discussed.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Season 2 Episode 109

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We hope this finds you having enjoyed a happy and healthy New Year. Twelfth Night is a festival that takes place on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of the Epiphany. Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” (or “What You Will”), is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night’s entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. On this week’s brand new Season 2 Episode 109 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, Dean and Phil celebrate both the holiday season AND the immortal Bard of Stratford on Avon by counting down each of their 12 all-time favorite cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare! Brevity might be the soul of wit, but your friends in podcasting (and broadcasting) have an hour to fill!

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