Welcome to part one of a two-part installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour wherein Dean and Phil will discuss the best in cinema of the year 2023. This is no ordinary “Top Ten” show. Ultimately, dozens of films and just as many topics will get explored. This week’s show actually begins with discussion of atmospheric rivers, of spreading a loved one’s ashes, of comparisons between the original Cape Fear and the Martin Scorsese remake, and the beloved athlete-turned-actor Carl Weathers gets remembered. Then, before setting their sights on the cinematic year that was, your friends in podcasting (and broadcasting) examine something last week’s guest (Luke Y. Thompson) said about what an all-time great year for movies 1999 was. It turns out he could not have been more right, and so Dean and Phil wonder, when looking back at 2023 many years hence, will it be as impressive as 1999 is now in the rearview mirror? That serves at the springboard into discussions of Wim Wenders, editing, Imax, and such films as Anselm, Perfect Days, Napoleon, Cocaine Bear, A Haunting in Venice, Oppenheimer and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. And, of course, the best thing about this week’s show is that it is “to be continued …”! 

This week’s show picks up where last week’s left off, with Dean and Phil discussing their favorite Canadian films of all time, including a title by one of the most brilliant filmmakers working today. Then, your friends in podcasting celebrate the life and career of another towering filmmaker in “Celebrity Deaths” before focusing on three noted writers, which in turn, inspires the return of “What We’re Reading”.

Because Phil Leirness is in the nation’s capital, he and Dean Haglund, pre-recorded this week’s show and it is hilarious! The first half deals with Dean’s recent road trip across the frozen tundra of America, as he, his better half, his Doberman puppy, and his cat, faced arduous conditions as they traveled from L.A. to the Motor City. The second half deals with the all-important “season of self-congratulation” in Hollywood, which reaches fever pitch with this week’s announcement of the Academy Award nominations. Your friends in podcasting discuss the folly of taking the Golden Globes seriously, while also praising some of the winners. They also analyze whether the Oscars matter any more when it comes to how Best Picture winners are viewed by history. The open road and movies. This week, on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour.