Are Dean and Phil filled with the spirit of the holiday season? This week, we will all find out! They certainly are immersed in the spirit of the Hollywood Awards Season and they discuss the top ten films according to critics, and delve into the top films and performances according to the Golden Globes. They do deep dive analyses of two films – one current award hopeful, and one all-time classic from a true giant of cinema. Then, in the return of “Celebrity Deaths”, a world-famous mentalist, and a big-screen comedy hit-maker get remembered.

On this week’s brand new installment, friend of the show and great music journalist Yoshi Kato joins Phil to celebrate the life and legacy of the brilliant composer, musician and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died at the age of 71. Then, Phil and Dean welcome back Eric Mark, who gives a full report on this year’s Sundance Film Festival, regales with stories of performing on “the game show circuit”, and tells all about the popular sci-fi podcast he co-produces and acts in, “Broken Road”.

 

Next Monday, your friends in broadcasting and podcasting will return with a brand new “live” show that will catch you up on all the news of the season. This week, it’s part two of the road trip adventure Dean and Phil recorded on Friday December 9 when they drove from downtown Los Angeles to Montecito and back. The Sight and Sound poll of the greatest films ever made, the #16 film on that poll, surrealism, dream logic, and the works of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali are the topics that open the proceedings. Then, after a shift to the (very loud) Summerland Beach Café, Phil tackles two films making a lot of Top Ten Lists this year: the donkey adventure tale EO and the latest from auteur Robert Eggers, The Northman. Please bare with the difficult audio, for soon Dean and Phil will be back in the car, riding alongside the sparkling blue Pacific and discussing the Netflix series “1899”, the improv collaborations of Jonathan Winters and Robin Williams, and whole lot of casting “what-ifs”. There is also analysis of a law-change benefiting sexual assault survivors, and a fascinating “trash talk” interaction in the National Basketball Association. Hop in and buckle up!

On this week’s show, Dean shares with Phil his jury duty “cheat code”, Phil shares with Dean fascinating historic facts and rumored hauntings surrounding the town of Turlock, and they discuss another David Lynch-Mark Frost television collaboration from the late 1980s, and this one was supposed to star Steve Martin and Martin Short! Speaking of those comedy greats, their co-star from “Only Murders in the Building” has a new movie in development, a remake of a 1980s classic. Dean and Phil discuss it and they analyze the ever-shifting landscape in the battle between theatrical movie-going and streaming releases, a battle that movie theaters seem to be winning. A terrible new Netflix movie gets discussed as does the rather spotty track record of its celebrated directors. Other topics covered include “Better Call Saul”, the casting of Bullet Train and Craig Kilborn’s new podcast. Finally, in “Celebrity Deaths”, three trailblazers get remembered: Pat Carroll, Bill Russell and Nichelle Nichols.

You might not know the name Don Phillips, but you will definitely know the names of many the performers whose careers he launched as a casting director, and the films with which he was involved. He is one of four cultural titans that Dean and Phil remember in “Celebrity Deaths” on this week’s show, including a poet and founder of the mythopoetic men’s movement, an iconic Broadway composer, and a trombonist who received the highest honor ever bestowed on jazz musicians. Dean will update us on the latest in his bout with Covid-19, his travel plans, his live ghost hunts and his “Hellacious Renovations”. Phil will regale us with his birthday adventures, his deep dive into historic movie locations, and his exploration of the Manzanar “War Relocation Center”. Several movies will get analyzed as well, including a Kurosawa classic ripe for a modern-day remake, a film noir with a claim to the best dialogue of any movie ever, and a current box office hit that begs the question, “Does bustin’ make Dean & Phil feel good?”

Dean and Phil follow up on their deep dive analysis of the quality and box office fortunes of a wide variety of cinematic releases with an even DEEPER dive into the box office calamity that has befallen Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel. From a movie that died at the box office to “Celebrity Deaths”, a pioneering stand-up comic, an inspiring and award-winning jazz guitarist, a legendary writer of “Doctor Who” and “Wallace and Gromit”, and a popular actress of the 60s and 70s all get remembered. Then, Dean and Phil turn their attention to Thanksgiving by programming another of their “film festivals”. This time it’s five double-features you might be well-advised to watch in order to celebrate the holiday in style!

After a cold open in which Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness celebrate the fact that YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour becomes a teen-ager this week, they launch into what they do best, trying to make sense of a (Covid-19) world gone wild with humor, insight, irreverence and inspiration. In the return of “Wingnut of the Week”, Dean and Phil offer a wag of the finger at Covid-19 conspiracy theorists and a doff of the cap to UFO “truthers”. In “Celebrity Deaths”, they pay tribute to a true titan of comedy publishing and filmmaking, an international star who broke big in both Bollywood and Hollywood, a character actor-turned-casting director, an influential folk singer, and the musician who turned Hugh Grant into a pop star! Then, your friends in podcasting tackle how Covid-19 will affect the up-coming television season, and how it will affect the Oscars, before turning their attention to what years in cinema might rival 1962 as the best year ever for movies! 

Oh, man, is this week’s show a good one! 72 minutes long and featuring a “cold open” AND an “Easter egg” (post-credits scene?), this epic installment boasts big laughs,. two poems, celebrations of the lives of poet Mary Oliver, Tuskegee Airman John “Jack” Lyle, Broadway legend Carol Channing, CIA Operative Tony Mendez, and a tribute to good friend of the show John Girodo, who was feted as one of L.A.’s Impact Makers to Watch in 2019. There is all that, PLUS Dean and Phil engage in a thoughtful, fascinating discussion about recent movie casting controversies and Dean regales us with reviews of three TV series available now for binging!

Due to Phil’s teaching schedule, this week’s show was delayed by a half day. Once they made their trans-pacific, intercontinental connection, your friends in podcasting remembered a playwright, an actor from “The X-Files”, a beloved sitcom actor and a hip-hop star in “celebrity deaths”. They delved further into the topic of casting actors subsequent to a listener email they shared on last week’s show, which leads into a really deep analysis of diversity and cultural pendulum swings. Finally, they discussed such disparate movies as Clint Eastwood’s Sully, the recent drama about motherhood, Tully, the current inventive thriller Searching, as well as two legendary films, one about the concept of “celebrity” the other a romantic comedy about witches. YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour. Enjoy!

As they approach the final few shows of the Australian, intercontinental and trans-pacific era of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour, your friends in podcasting have really been ramping up with great episodes. And those episodes have led to an overflowing “mailbag”. On this week’s installment, Dean and Phil will finally get to several of these missives, which range in content from corrections about things Dean and Phil have said to questions about the dubbing of movies and TV into different languages, from a question about mysterious sounds to one about the ineffable art of casting the right performers for the right roles. Of course, Dean and Phil will comment upon the latest show biz and media news, including the controversy surrounding Nike, the latest charges leveled against CBS head honcho Les Moonves, and the Academy’s major about-face for this year’s Oscars. All that, plus Dean updates his Down Under Bucket List and he and Phil remember the late, great Burt Reynolds.