Welcome to a truly great episode and it all starts with an alternately touching and hilarious cold open! In “Celebrity Deaths”, Dean and Phil remember a jazz music pioneer, an actor who was an important influence on Dean, and a versatile, prolific, Oscar-winning filmmaker. Last week’s Oscar nominations get analyzed, as does the ensuing anger surrounding supposed “snubs”. After the break, the great film critic Luke Y. Thompson joins the fun, discussing how critics, like performers, can get “pigeon-holed”. He offers up thoughts on the Oscar-nominated The Zone of Interest and the underrated Beau is Afraid, and hips you to a black and white sci-fi comedy that is well worth your 68 minutes! He even talks about toy reviews and toy photography! And trust us, this episode offers a lot of laughs! Find links to all of Luke’s articles and reviews at https://linktr.ee/lytrules. And learn about his work as a toy collector, photographer and reviewer at https://www.eql.com/media/adult-toy-collecting

 

Making every Monday night merry and bright since before many of you were even born, your friends in podcasting and broadcasting hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas. Unless you don’t celebrate Christmas, in which case, Dean and Phil hope you are having an awesome Monday! Among the many topics to be enjoyed in this week’s audio stocking stuffer are an honor being bestowed upon one of the most important directors of “The X-Files”, the brilliance of actors Jamie Foxx and Mahershala Ali, two of the best Christmas films of all time (and both are brand new theatrical releases!), animated superhero movies, Netflix movies, a UK Northern Soul legend, a star of TV’s “Route 66”, and the Detroit art scene.