Rabbit, Rabbit! Welcome to May and welcome to the final show of year 15 of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour where Dean and Phil get the ball rolling by discussing the obituary fictional character Dame Edna wrote for her creator prior to his death. Phil remembers the legendary playwright Robert Patrick and he and Dean ponder the life – not the legacy – of the woman who falsely accused Emmett Till. Then, in “Celebrity Deaths”, the towering artistry and humanity of Harry Belafonte gets discussed, as does Belafonte’s friendship with Sidney Poitier. The latest in the pending Writer’s Strike gets analyzed. Facts surrounding three movies discussed last week get revealed, the 1996 classic Irma Vep starring the incomparable Maggie Cheung gets revisited, and the countdown to the end of Netflix results in analysis of both Sean Baker’s Red Rocket and Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon. Finally, the concluding seasons of “Succession” and “Barry” get hailed.

This week’s show begins with plenty of mystery as Phil riddles Dean about a hidden Japanese teahouse and a vintage movie ad from the late 1970s! Then, Dean and Phil tackle a wide array of topics including a commemoration of Japanese internment, the latest lawsuit involving Alec Baldwin and Phil’s encounter with Malcolm McDowell. In “Celebrity Deaths” the brilliant comedic character actor Barry Humphries and the accomplished classical musician-turned-journalist/memoirist Blair Tindall get remembered. Haven’t heard of them? Trust us, you know their work! Finally, Dean and Phil have three movie recommendations, including new films from China and Korea, and an unearthed and restored excellent film noir from Argentina.

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”.

Another show 10 years in the making! Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness ring out 2019 by counting down their Top Ten lists of the Greatest Films of the Decade! Get that popcorn ready (and keep those Netflix queues handy) because we’re going to the movies …

 

You will be hard-pressed to find another episode of this or any other show biz-centric podcast that covers as much ground thematically OR temporally as this installment of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! Silent film legends John Gilbert and Harold Lloyd both made transitions to the sound era and Dean and Phil, with the help of a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU) dig into this history. Dean’s live streaming sci-fi adventure series “Gravity Hole” is back and Dean will tell all! Last week, Phil waxed rhapsodic while singing the praises of two female performers of Asian-American descent. This week, he reveals a startling personal connection to one of them, while previewing a potential “Live Event of the Week” and celebrating another actor he believes is due great things. The actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA held a contentious (possibly contested) election and your friends in podcasting will try to make sense of it. In a jam-packed installment of “Celebrity Deaths” a multi-Emmy-winning TV star, a modern-day “robber baron”, the “king of puns”, a pioneering animator, a “Star Trek” actress, a comic book artist, and a counterculture icon of the late 60’s and 1970’s all get remembered. 

Phil reveals good news and terrifying stories about his recovery from eye surgery, he and Dean lay out a wide array of possible solutions to gun violence, they remember a legendary writer, they update the Writers Guild’s battle with talent agents, they reveal new movie theater subscription news and they re-visit what they were talking about 12 years ago this week! All that, plus your friends in podcasting dig deep in their analysis and appraisal of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his career output and his place in cinematic history. Finally, they celebrate one of the most important voices in cinema today, Sean Baker, the filmmaker behind The Florida Project, Tangerine and many more.