Hindsight, like this episode, is 20/20 (Year 20 Episode 20, get it?) and so Dean and Phil begin this week’s show with a clip from the long-running ABC news magazine show “20/20” from the mid-1980s and remark upon just how contemporary those clips sound! From there, the upcoming “Blade Runner 2099” television series gets previewed and the latest in the lawsuit surrounding Paramount’s on-hold merger with Warner Bros. gets analyzed (and laughed about). Phil wants to know why Dean isn’t watching the terrific “Lanterns” on HBO. The brilliance of director Zach Cregger and the success of his new Resident Evil get appraised. Then, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner (just in time for its return to cinemas, this time in black and white) and DC’s Supergirl both get reviewed. Finally, the great Ang Lee and his landmark Sense and Sensibility get reappraised (just in time for a new adaptation to get released).

Dean and Phil got together high atop a certain “historic building” in downtown Los Angeles to watch the sunset on the winter solstice, to enjoy a lovely bottle of Malbec, and to record this week’s show! They discuss Dean’s holiday travels, the big forthcoming change to the annual Oscars telecast, and the changes in the beaks on songbirds at UCLA! After that, they discuss the unique legacy of actor-turned-filmmaker Rob Reiner, and take the time to analyze several of his films. Then, two film noirs (Tension and Where Danger Lives), a fairly bizarre war film (36 Hours) and the biggest box office hit of Brad Pitt’s career all get reviewed!

Your friends in podcasting had planned this week’s podcast to be part 1 of a special 2-part Top Ten show and then … real life cropped up! So, instead, in what proves to be a personal and heartfelt show, Dean and Phil discuss the “Roseanne” controversy, and Phil’s personal connection to one of the key players in the spotlight. In “Celebrity Deaths”, a profoundly influential voice in the New York indie rock scene of the late 90’s will be remembered (another death which which Phil has a personal connection). An amazing update on Phil’s beloved feline Fuzz Aldrin leads into a terrifying account on the plight and population of stray cats in Los Angeles. Two very different, and fascinating films get discussed: a documentary about a Supreme Court Justice, and a grindhouse-style prison drama starring Vince Vaughn. All that, plus some serious laughs on YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour.