Your friends in podcasting discuss Netflix’s (perhaps misleading) embrace of movie theaters, they celebrate the resurrection of Todd Hayne’s seemingly dead but now forthcoming detective film (with Pedro Pascal replacing Joaquin Phoenix), and an upcoming movie starring Simon Pegg, Sofia Boutella and Quentin Tarantino. Nia DaCosta’s Hedda gets analyzed, as does the Thai comedy A Useful Ghost and the Charlie Chaplin masterpiece Modern Times. More upcoming movies get previewed and the outstanding discodelic soul of Say She She gets celebrated in the return of “Live Event of the Week”.

Phil is playing hurt with a nasty head cold. Dean is braving the sub-zero temperatures. And somehow, they manage to bring you one of the most epic installments yet of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! They start the show by discussing some of the upcoming 2026 cinematic releases that the Criterion Collection has on their list of the films they are most anticipating. Then, they analyze the Academy Award nominations, the surprises, the snubs, and the historic trends they see unfolding. From the best in cinema 2025 to the worst in cinema, an email from a loyal listener inspires Dean and Phil to discuss the Razzie Awards. Finally, your friends in podcasting wrap things up by revealing each of their lists of the five films that angered them, frustrated them, or downright confused them in 2025.

This week, you will hear your friends in podcasting discussing an ill-fated screening of Spaceballs, the 4th of July, patriotism, fireworks and the seminal band, Earth, Wind and Fire. In “Celebrity Deaths”, actor-singer Aki Aleong, journalist Bill Moyers, televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, actor Michael Madsen, and actor Julian McMahon all get remembered. Dean and Phil go back and forth singing the praises of the Netflix comedy-mystery limited series “The Residence” and take a deep dive into the 4th “Mission: Impossible” movie (“Ghost Protocol”). YOUR mission, should you choose to accept it …

Dean and Phil commence the proceedings with a cold open wherein they address a fantastic voice message they received from a loyal listener in Germany. Then, after finding out when Dean expects to no longer be living in his one-room art studio above the garage, Phil dedicates the rest of the show to celebrating movies from around the world and from across the decades! The recent blockbuster Sinners, the current blockbuster Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and the current limited release A Vanishing Fog from Columbia (the country, not the studio) all get reviewed. One of the great films of the 21st century, a 2000 masterpiece from Taiwan entitled Yi Yi, and the legendary capper to the “Apu” trilogy – Apur Sansar (aka The World of Apu) – from the great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray both get celebrated. Finally, Phil shares stories of Alexander Payne, and regales with the history of perhaps the single greatest influence on Payne’s work, Preston Sturges, both in light of re-watching the hilarious and surprisingly rousing 1944 wartime comedy Hail the Conquering Hero. So, butter up that popcorn, epic Year 19 Episode 4 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is going to the movies!

If you are interested in movies, movie making, or the movie business, you are going to find this week’s show fascinating. Dean and Phil do deep dives into the cinematic delights brought to us by the Marx Brothers, the Canadian films produced under that country’s 100-percent Capital Cost Allowance tax shield for investors, Jon Voight’s plan to save Hollywood and the wildly different reactions to that plan within the industry, the ways the smash hit Sinners might change the economics of the biz, and the just-commenced 78th Cannes Film Festival (including one apparent all-time masterpiece that made its debut as well as a “secret” documentary about the Red Hot Chili Peppers). As if that weren’t enough, your friends in podcasting go overtime to remember two impactful filmmakers, an Oscar-winning makeup artist, a beloved big screen “tough guy”, and a prolific child star of the 1930s and 40s.

During this week in 2007, YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour was born! Of course back then, we were called From the Heart of Hollywood until a “cease and desist” led to us … ceasing … and desisting. This week, your friends in podcasting and two special guests on Monday as they celebrate (in style!) the show that continues to “change the way people listen to the internet” becoming old enough to be out on its own! They will discuss the “Poverty Row” studios of the silent film era, the “soundies” of World War II, Las Vegas casinos circa 1980, a current Jazz artist making a name for herself, the late great Jill Sobule, the current movies Sinners, The Surfer, and The Wedding Banquet, The Muppets, Jim Henson, Star Wars Day, “Andor”, and more! And please, don’t be happy about the 18 years of shows that have passed. Instead, be sad about the 18 years of shows still to come!

One month from their 18th Anniversary (of changing the way you listen to the internet!), your friends in podcasting are still recovering from their European Adventures and during this week’s installment they start by discussing the Marx Brothers, and end by revealing architecture and fine art discoveries they made while overseas. In between, they discuss the Netflix CEO declaring war on movie theaters, a movie soon leaving Netflix, and a quite lovely, moving film just released to theaters. And in “Celebrity Deaths” character actor Bruce Glover, king of the miniseries Richard Chamberlin, and movie star Val Kilmer all get remembered.

Later this week, your friends in podcasting depart for Europe. Last night, the Oscars were held. Last week, one of their dear friends celebrated his 81st birthday, another friend had a brain tumor removed, and another friend died. So, you will forgive Dean and Phil if this isn’t the most polished installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. It IS epic in length, and it is full of the heartfelt, the insightful, the irreverent and even the inspiring. Dean reveals that planning a home renovation a few months before getting married might have been a mistake. The winners of last night’s awards get analyzed both for their historical context and for what they say about the art and commerce of motion pictures right now. Actors Gene Hackman and Michelle Trachtenberg, screenwriter and producer Roberto Orci, singers Robert John and David Johansen, and chess champion Boris Spassky get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

Following what many people seem to feel was the longest January on record, your friends in podcasting return to get February off to a good start, freewheeling their way through a variety of topics, including the closing of the most odd airport in the world, the reasoning behind Quentin Tarantino’s move into live stage work, a listener’s response to Dean and Phil’s dismissal of Oscar Best Picture nominee A Complete Unknown, and the influence David Lynch had on great Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. Dean and Phil take a deep dive into two films that figure prominently on many year-end Top Ten lists (Hundreds of Beavers and The People’s Joker) and they discuss two films that are NOT eligible for inclusion on their own lists (La Chimera and Midway). Finally, good friend of show Marc Hershon drops by to share a disturbing story about a screenwriting AI and to suggest two recent television shows.

If any week warranted an episode of epic length, it was the week that was. With Phil Leirness coming at us from the beaten and battered City of Angels and Dean Haglund coming at us from an air mattress on a hardwood floor not far from the Motor City, this week’s show covers a lot of terrain in a little more than 68 minutes. Your friends in podcasting discuss Copenhagen wedding plans and the role that city played in our understanding of quantum physics. They talk about the cold of New York City, the importance of heeding one’s intuition and the horrifying, almost unbearably sad events still ongoing in Los Angeles. Fires, bad behavior and the need for us to stop breaking things all get discussed before Dean and Phil finally put the “Hollywood” into Chillpak Hollywood Hour, briefly revisiting last week’s “Lawsuit of the Week” (involving It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni and star Blake Lively). They re-visit (and double down on) their praise for Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside”, Dean sings the praises of both “So Help Me Todd” and “Elsbeth” before the discussion turns to recent big-screen efforts by Guy Ritchie and Clint Eastwood. Finally, in the return of “Celebrity Deaths”, Phil quizzes Dean about a former U.S. President, a billionaire businessman, a Shakespearean movie star, the Gold Leader from Star Wars, a Broadway legend turned sitcom star, and a folk music icon, before setting his sights on and saying good riddance to a notorious bigot. Trust us, if you have ever enjoyed our free weekly show that has been “changing the way people listen to the internet” since May of 2007, you won’t want to miss this one!