It’s part one of a special two-part episode! After a rather hilarious cold open, Dean and Phil immediately get down to the serious (ridiculous?) business of counting down their respective lists of the Top Ten Best Films of 2025. This week, they reveal #10 thru #6 on their lists. As with years past, Dean’s list includes films he has hopefully seen, and Phil’s list stretches the definition of “ten” in “Top Ten”. Because they actually accomplish this week’s task in less than an hour, Phil takes some time at the end to regale Dean with what might be the best sci-fi movies to be coming out in 2026! So, buckle up and prepare to celebrate the (recent) past AND look forward to the (near) future.

Dean and Phil commence the proceedings with a cold open wherein they address a fantastic voice message they received from a loyal listener in Germany. Then, after finding out when Dean expects to no longer be living in his one-room art studio above the garage, Phil dedicates the rest of the show to celebrating movies from around the world and from across the decades! The recent blockbuster Sinners, the current blockbuster Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and the current limited release A Vanishing Fog from Columbia (the country, not the studio) all get reviewed. One of the great films of the 21st century, a 2000 masterpiece from Taiwan entitled Yi Yi, and the legendary capper to the “Apu” trilogy – Apur Sansar (aka The World of Apu) – from the great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray both get celebrated. Finally, Phil shares stories of Alexander Payne, and regales with the history of perhaps the single greatest influence on Payne’s work, Preston Sturges, both in light of re-watching the hilarious and surprisingly rousing 1944 wartime comedy Hail the Conquering Hero. So, butter up that popcorn, epic Year 19 Episode 4 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour is going to the movies!

Phil is back from Fort Worth, Texas, and has a Logan’s Run location story to share with Dean. Phil also regales Dean with the story behind a delicious cocktail at the Grand Hotel in Oslo (named in “honor” of pop icon Madonna). Dean and Phil try to make sense of Jon Voight’s plans to “save” Hollywood and how the President seized on those plans while probably misunderstanding them completely and/or intentionally. Meanwhile, “Sinners” might end up affecting real change in the film business and your friends in podcasting will discuss how. One of the all-time great actors, William Holden, and one of the all-time great actresses, Barbara Stanwyck, get discussed through the prism of two films: Executive Suite and Stella Dallas, and THE all-time greatest film (according to the 2022 Sight and Sound poll) also gets analyzed. This film is celebrating its 50th anniversary and so the conversation turns to other films of the era, including, perhaps, the greatest of all Francis Coppola films (and no, we’re not talking about The Godfather Part II).