Happy August, everybody! This month might well tell the tale of whether the USA puts the pandemic behind it or whether Covid-19 stays with us in some form or another for quite a while longer … Before we let go of July, however, Dean and Phil want to celebrate the recent Cannes Film Festival, putting several very promising and fascinating films on your radar. They also want to celebrate the recent, groundbreaking Emmy Award nominations, celebrating the best TV has to offer, while also offering up three picks of current series you might well enjoy! All that plus The Clown Prince of Hip Hop and a beloved sitcom star of the 80’s get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.

This week’s show begins with an email from a listener in Ireland about dialect coaches and “Hollywood accounting”. After that, Dean and Phil analyze the box office struggles of the brand new In the Heights and this inspires them to look back at two song and dance films that opened on the same day many years ago, both based on the same dance craze. It also inspires them to look ahead to big blockbuster hopefuls coming out this month as well as smaller “smart house” movies all looking for some post-pandemic domestic box office love. The Angelina Jolie vehicle Those Who Wish me Dead gets reviewed. Casting news for “John Wick 4”, the Marvel MCU and “Indiana Jones 5” gets discussed. Phil follows up on his discussion of “The Undoing” by singling out two actors (and their characters) who make the show ultimately worthwhile(ish). Dean offers up an English-language Netflix series shot in Sweden as a viewing recommendation, he regales with tales of the art work he has been creating, and he reveals another of his all-time favorite episodes of “The X-Files”. Finally, Dean and Phil compare notes on their travel plans for the summer before playing an entire four-round “Steven Seagal” edition of their Vintage Movie Ad game!

Phil is back in Los Angeles. Dean is at home in Birmingham, Michigan, and they are unpacking the mysteries of Dean’s sleep schedule, a California town called “Chowchilla” and the US Government report on UFOs. The subject of paranoia gets get a deep dive analysis. Another of Dean’s favorite episodes of “The X-Files” gets revealed. HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” gets reviewed through comparisons with such other recent HBO procedurals as “True Detective” and “The Undoing”. Movies are back, box office is promising, and Dean and Phil celebrate the success of two new horror movies, before offering up a classic 2016 horror film from South Korea. This leads into remembrances of a major (and controversial) figure in the emergence of Korean cinema of the 21st Century, who died of Covid-19 in December. The rise and fall of a legendary attorney gets discussed in “Celebrity Deaths”, as does the legacy of one the great songwriters of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Finally, your friends in podcasting will play another couple rounds of their new Vintage Movie Ad game, this week featuring action stars of the 80’s and 90’s!