On this week’s episode, Dean and Phil answer the following questions: 1) Was Vincent Van Gogh a mathematics genius? 2) What does a Frisbee have to do with airline aviation? 3) Does Phil’s hatred of The Fall Guy know no bounds? Then, a review of the neo-noir pastiche Love Lies Bleeding leads into a brief discussion about distributor A24’s output. The recent Chillpak discussion of Joaquin Phoenix bailing on his planned collaboration with Todd Haynes, caused Phil to revisit Todd Haynes’ 2002 almost-masterpiece Far From Heaven, and the death of the legendary leading man Alain Delon led Phil to watch three of the actor’s greatest successes on the big screen this week. The result is not only a discussion of Le Cercle Rouge, Purple Noon and La Piscine (aka The Swimming Pool), but a full deep dive into “heist” pictures, film critics, and more.

This week, year 17 gets underway in style with the first part of a special two-part theme show where Dean and Phil discuss the cinematic legacies of two of the biggest stars of all time: Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. This episode focuses on these famous actor-producers’ careers though the year 1960. And it also involves discussions of many other notable screen artists, from filmmakers like Billy Wilder, to performers like Barbara Stanwyck. So keep those chosen “watchlists” and/or “queues” handy as you will doubtless learn about a title or two (or a dozen) of movies you will want to enjoy or re-visit!

Dean and Phil follow up on last week’s awesome show by discussing more about “Hollywood accounting” and how in show biz the “bottom line” is often NOT the bottom line! Last week, while discussing the box office struggles of the brand new In the Heights, Dean and Phil were inspired to look back at two dance films based on the same craze that opened on the same day many years ago, one of which boasted a music score from Phil’s frequent collaborator, Greg De Belles. Greg composed the score for Phil’s Karl Rove, I Love You and for Dean and Phil’s The Truth Is Out There and The Lady Killers. Greg died on Friday, and Dean and Phil speak of their immensely talented friend. Of course, the box office struggles continue, so Dean and Phil discuss how a Pixar movie might have been able to change everything. That leads into a deep dive into Disney +, the movie Soul, the miniseries “WandaVision” and the episodic series “The Mandalorian”. There is also a lot of talk about painting, from the advice given by the great Leigh McCloskey to the thematic approach of the Barbizon school of artists and the brilliance of Julian Schnabel’s Van Gogh film At Eternity’s Gate. Finally, Dean and Phil celebrate the careers of an Oscar-nominated character actor and a beloved sitcom actor and director.