This week’s show picks up right where last week’s show left off with Dean and Phil revealing which films topped their lists as the best of 2022! Dean regales (?) with tales of his recent adventures in the nation’s capital before he and Phil compare notes on their respective Valentine’s Day plans. Phil then takes Dean to task about two films on his Top Ten list – The Kitchen Brigade from France and All Quiet on the Western Front from Germany. Dean then takes Phil to task about the Edgar Allen Poe mystery on Netflix, The Pale Blue Eye. Dean and Phil will then tackle the controversy that swirled around the Academy Award nomination for To Leslie star Andrea Riseborough, and the latest troubling reports coming out of the prosecution of Alec Baldwin. Loyal listeners like you (yes, YOU!) have concerns about the variable frame rates in Avatar: The Way of Water and the proposed variable seat-pricing plan at AMC Theaters. Your friends in podcasting and broadcasting will weigh in on both topics, as well as on the “Lawsuit of the Week” involving breakfast cereal and an indie rock band.

Is Dean Haglund embracing his madness with a new sleep schedule? And what is his favorite episode of “The X-Files”? These are but two of the questions asked and answered on this week’s show, which also features celebrations of the great comedian (and comedy writer) Paul Mooney and the great comic actor (and provocateur) Charles Grodin. Phil hates when old white guys (like himself) complain about “woke” culture so he gets out his soapbox to rant about it before shining a spotlight on the insidious global conspiracy to … convert people to Hinduism? Apparently in Alabama, elected officials think that’s a thing! After that journey down the rabbit hole, which includes discussion of yoga, meditation and desserts, Dean and Phil tackle three overlooked movies from 2020: Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield, the documentary Dick Johnson is Dead, and the “weird western” from Brasil, Bacurau. Are movie theaters going to make a comeback? And if so, will projecting movies on FILM actually play a part in this comeback? Your friends in podcasting having thoughts about this!

Phil is back from another emergency trip to Turlock, and Dean is safely ensconced back in Detroit after a trip to Virginia, and after adopting another kitten! Cats get discussed, of course, and in an almost weekly occurrence, “Lord Turlock” issues proclamations. Then your friends in podcasting continue to tackle the appalling, ongoing wave of violence being directed against member of the AAPI community, which somehow leads to a discussion of just one of the problems Phil had with Godzilla vs. Kong. Dean and Phil share a text message from a loyal listener, and celebrate the show business lives of the actor who played “Cousin It”, a country-rock hitmaker, and a prolific country songwriter, and wax rhapsodic about the pedal steel guitar! Friend of show Jon Lawlor has another single out and it inspires a conversation about mental health and the messy business of having feelings. Dean and Phil both have feelings about the death (?) of the Arclight and Pacific movie theater chains, and about the controversy surrounding this year’s Oscar front-runner for Best Picture, Nomadland. Finally, speaking of the Oscars, Dean and Phil close the proceedings with an Oscar-themed edition of their recent (and apparently popular?) vintage movie ad game!