Month: March 2026

Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 47

Posted on by PHIL19

Phil is in the nation’s capital, and reveals that he really doesn’t understand much about weather at all. Dean is in Birmingham, Michigan, where the ongoing airport delays prevented him from participating in this weekend’s “No Kings” protests. Phil shares with Dean the favorite signs he saw while protesting with his in-laws! Last week, Dean and Phil discussed the 107 year-old Santa Monica Airport, soon to close operations for good and set to become public parkland. Phil regales Dean with tales of one very famous and beloved movie filmed there. This leads to a discussion about built sets that were too big for any studio soundstage to hold. After that, three very disparate, and somewhat unusual, films get analyzed: the recent Japan-set Rental Family starring Brendan Fraser, the 1978 sci-fi schlock movie Starcrash (featuring Christopher Plummer!) and the 2025 faith-based historical fiction family film Sarah’s Oil. Finally, Dean and Phil do more exploring in the Time Out list of the 100 Greatest Movie Theaters in the World RIGHT NOW. Oh, and a belated Happy National Respect Your Cat Day to all who celebrate!

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 46

Posted on by PHIL19

This week’s episode starts off with a follow-up to a fascinating bit of silent film history discussed on this weekend’s “Celebrity Deaths” show. That leads into discussion of the landmark 107 year-old Santa Monica Airport and what is to become of that land now that the airport is (finally) shutting down. AI is creating a “new” Val Kilmer performance for an upcoming feature film. Dean and Phil have thoughts. Likewise they have thoughts about three movies: the 2016 classic zombie thriller Train to Busan, the most recent film from indie film legend Jim Jarmusch, and an all-time masterpiece from The Archers. Then, your friends in podcasting wrap up the festivities by discussing several more of the theaters that made Time Out’s list of the 100 Greatest Movie Theatres in the World RIGHT NOW!

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 45

Posted on by PHIL19

This week’s show begins with Dean and Phil discussing the World Baseball Classic and sharing (and answering) an email from a loyal listener who wanted to celebrate the recent 25th Anniversary of Dean’s series “The Lone Gunmen”. Recorded on Sunday morning before the Oscars (and before the big “Firefly” announcement), the bulk of the discussion surrounds what Dean and Phil are looking for at Hollywood’s big night. They discuss how talented filmmaker and entertaining video host Ryan Casselman might just have devised scientific formulae for “decoding” Oscar voting. The controversy surrounding Timothée Hal Chalamet’s comments regarding ballet and opera get full analysis. Then, five films go under the microscope, including two by classic thriller director Henri-Georges Clouzot, two tales of nuclear paranoia from Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, and the multi-Oscar-winning 1983 classic Tender Mercies.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 44

Posted on by PHIL19

After comparing notes on their forthcoming respective travel plans, Dean and Phil roll up their sleeves and discuss the 25th anniversary of “The Lone Gunmen” series. Then, in what will be a multi-week exploration, they begin to delve into Time Out’s list of the 100 Greatest Movie Theaters in the World that are still in operation. The movie business is foremost on their minds these days, and they pose some of the big, perplexing questions regarding the possibly sinister and definitely nonsensical merger of Paramount with Warner Bros. Then, because it’s STILL awards season, they tackle the really odd, almost desperate nature of the recent SAG-AFTRA “Actor Awards” on Netflix. As a bonus, you will learn what the following phrases uttered by Dean Haglund in this episode actually mean: “We made the Ramones cry!” and “funky, artisanal whatever”.

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Chillpak Hollywood Hour – Year 19 Episode 43

Posted on by PHIL19

Dean and Phil discuss the fallout from Paramount supposedly closing the deal to acquire Warner Bros. and its assets. They celebrate the feat that Richard Linklater became the first-ever American filmmaker to achieve this week. They review three new genre films: a horror sequel (28 Days Later: The Bone Temple), an homage/deconstruction of 1960s Eurospy movies (Reflection in a Dead Diamond), and a sci-fi comedy that gives genuine 1980s “feels” (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die). They revisit the much-loved “classic” Field of Dreams. In honor of Dean’s first wedding anniversary that takes place this month, Phil offers previews of two forthcoming cinematic marriage stories. Finally, the big casting news for the reboot of “The X-Files” gets analyzed.

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