Halloween week gets off to a spooky good start with this scary fun episode! Dean and Phil reveal “What We’re Reading” and both books involve France! In the return of “Live Event of the Week”, Dean talks farmers markets, and Phil talks an historic theater and a world premiere about inkblots and perception. Dan Lin is out as the film boss at Netflix and what this means for the future of the streamer and its possible future in theatrical exhibition gets discussed. Loyal listener Maurice Terenzio spills the tea on two actors discussed at length on last week’s show: Hans Conried and Errol Flynn. Loyal listener Amber has some final (?) thoughts about the Hans Conried vehicle The Twonky, reveals her favorite Hitchcock film and mentions the two films that provided her truly visceral experiences. Loyal listener G.V. wants Dean and Phil to see the current theatrical release of the restored director’s cut of Ken Russell’s The Devils, and many listeners want them to see the current box office smash documentary (docudrama? meta-doc?) You Can See Everything. Then, because spooky season is in full swing, Phil quizzes Dean about the 20 biggest horror hits of all time at the worldwide box office. After that, Phil rolls up his sleeves to discuss another horror film double-feature of titles included on the 2022 Sight and Sound poll of the greatest films of all time. Finally, Dean and Phil re-appraise Sofia Coppola and her Marie Antoinette in the wake of that film’s 20th anniversary.

In a cold open, Phil tells of the “Live Event of the Week”. Then, in the return of “Lawsuit of the Week”, the ongoing saga of Paramount’s desired merger with Warners gets updated, and the recent UK privacy lawsuit involving such notables as Prince Harry, Elton John and Liz Hurley gets analyzed. Two listener emails pertaining to the recent, epic episode of “Deep Dive” exploring 1940s Film Noir get shared. The incredible, just-released episode of “The Wayback Machine” gets discussed and Phil follows up on what was covered in that show by asking Dean about the hit 2009 film District 9 and by quizzing Dean on hit sci-fi television of the past 20 years. Phil has fun discussing the attitudes of fans that have assumed “public ownership” of beloved properties (like “Star Trek”) and Dean makes a plug for his favorite band! Finally, Phil discusses the great Jafar Panahi’s multi-Oscar nominated It Was Just an Accident and this leads to he and Dean comparing notes on their go-to streaming channels or apps.

This was not the show we expected to be bringing you this week, but all of a sudden, during their “side project” (“The Art Life” with friend of show Jon Lawlor), Dean started holding court about the current box office smash Superman. Suffice it to say, Dean had THOUGHTS! So, we bring you what ensued, a free-wheeling discussion not only of the James Gunn-directed blockbuster, but a discussion of DC comics’ history, of the character’s history, and of the lost art of behind-the-scenes documentary looks at the making of movies as promotional materials. Somehow, the conversation turns to Rob Zombie and his House of 1000 Corpses, to a “holy grail” of cinema for Phil that proved to be a guilty non-pleasure, Ashanti, and to Noah Hawley’s new Alien: Earth television series. All that, plus the Stallone film Dean walked out of, the horrible movie Nic Cage’s son starred in, why Iron Man turned out to be so good, the problem with reboots, and more!

Two weeks shy of their 17th anniversary show, Dean is in Washington D.C. and Phil is in “The Hub of Silicon Valley”, and via the magic of podcasting and broadcasting, they bring you this week’s show, featuring discussions about silent film classics, the Japanese art of the Benshi, a ground-breaking and star-studded new production of “MacBeth”, current iterations of “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” on the small screen, a genre-bending private detective series on Apple TV+, and hilarious stories about airports and Dean’s efforts to give his dogs an Instagram presence.