Even we are impressed at the ground covered in only 74 minutes this week by your friends in podcasting! They start by going deep into the improvisational jazz of Sun Ra and dissecting comments Sonny Rollins made in a podcast about jazz being “ a music of freedom”. The Coen Brothers’ 1991 masterpiece Barton Fink gets revisited at 35 and is found to be better than ever. The film genre of neo-noir gets analyzed, and the all-too-overlooked Hickey & Boggs (directed by Robert Culp and co-starring Culp and Bill Cosby) gets championed as an outstanding exemplar of that genre. The death of certain kinds of horror tropes are foremost on Dean’s mind after seeing Scream 7, whereas Phil is intrigued by the new generation of horror exemplified by the current box office sensations Backrooms and Obsession. Then, Dean and Phil switch genres yet again, and examine cinematic comedy through two documentaries (Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! and Marty, Life is Short), one all-time classic (Some Like it Hot) and two current releases in theaters (I Love Boosters and The Sheep Detectives).

Our final installment of 2025 finds your friends in podcasting discussing Dean’s holiday travels, the health of Phil’s wife, the latest on the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery and the use of AI (and self-learning programs) in a wide array of fields. Then, Dean and Phil get down to the serious business of discussing such award-hopeful movies as The Secret Agent and Jay Kelly, the comfort food that is “Spinal Tap II” and such holiday comfort viewing as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and holiday specials A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Very Murray Christmas.

Phil is back from his continental adventures and he and Dean actually got together in person on the mean-streets (and rooftops) of Los Feliz to have lunch and record this week’s show! Hear all about Dean’s epic improv performance in San Jose, Popeye Village in Malta, the Blue Lagoon in Comino, jellyfish stings, the movies Showing Up and Five Nights at Freddy’s, and learn why Dean and Phil think the recently negotiated SAG-Aftra contract might not get ratified by the actors and what they think will happen if it doesn’t. All in all, it’s a truly hilarious, free-wheeling, globe-trotting installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour!

This week, your friends in podcasting complete their epic 2-part celebration of the all-time greatest comedy movies! Boasting films from (almost?) every decade of feature filmmaking, this week’s installment covers Dean and Phil’s respective Top 5’s! There are bound to be crowd-pleasing favorites, silent classics, independent gems and studio blockbusters. So, keep those Netflix queues handy!