Chillpak Hollywood Hour

Original Release Date: Monday 6 July 2026     Description:   It was a big weekend, and your friends in podcasting have a lot of big topics to discuss, from the World Cup to the art of Caravaggio, from a masterpiece of German literature to the creation of synthetic life that demonstrates most of the hallmarks of actual life, from the ten films that best define America to a couple of the all-time gr...

Original Release Date: Monday 30 June 2026     Description:   Tomorrow is Canada Day and the end of the week is Independence Day in the USA. Your friends in podcasting have thoughts about celebrating. They have thoughts about Team Canada’s big win in the World Cup. They have thoughts about why very few of the listeners to this podcast are in Canada! Phil got back from the Carolinas and has stories...

Original Release Date: Monday 22 June 2026     Description:   There are two Carolinas in the USA. North and South. Phil is exploring both of them. So, this week’s show was pre-recorded quite a few days earlier than usual. In it, Dean and Phil discuss The Actor’s Gang, a well-respected theater company and training ground for talented performers (like their pal, Steve Benaquist). Dean and Phil conti...

Original Release Date: Monday 15 June 2026     Description:   In a rather shocking cold open, Phil reveals not only that he has World Cup Fever, but also that he is genuinely thrilled about the early tournament achievement accomplished by Team Canada! Brief remembrances of artist David Hockney and journalist Gene Shalit (both of whom died during the past few days) are offered. Then, things turn da...

Original Release Date: Monday 8 June 2026     Description:   Phil was actually worried he and Dean wouldn’t have enough to discuss to fill this week’s show and wow was his worry unfounded! The gentlemen get the conversational ball rolling with the return of “What We’re Reading” wherein four quite fascinating and quite disparate works get covered, leading to in-depth discussion about such topics as...

Original Release Date: Monday 1 June 2026     Description:   Even we are impressed at the ground covered in only 74 minutes this week by your friends in podcasting! They start by going deep into the improvisational jazz of Sun Ra and dissecting comments Sonny Rollins made in a podcast about jazz being “ a music of freedom”.  The Coen Brothers’ 1991 masterpiece Barton Fink gets revisited at 35 and...

Original Release Date: Monday 25 May 2026     Description:   Great theaters and great comedy are on the minds of your friends in podcasting. First, Dean and Phil pat themselves on the backs for taking the time at the beginning of the year to preview the film that ended up winning the Palme d’Or at the just-completed Cannes Film Festival. Then, they finally, after a break of months, return to the T...

Original Release Date: Monday 18 May 2026     Description:   On this second episode of Year 20 (“the year we get it right!”), Dean and Phil have crime on their minds! They start with an appreciation of director Jules Dassin’s classic film noir Night and the City . Then a Hitchcockian thriller, Mirage , by Edward Dmytryk, the man largely responsible for Jules Dassin getting blacklisted gets analyze...

Original Release Date: Monday 11 May 2026     Description:   Welcome to Year 20 (“the year we get it right!”). On this, their overall 988th installment, Dean and Phil really put the “Hollywood” into “Chillpak Hollywood Hour” with showbiz news, analysis, previews and reviews. It starts with a discussion of the long-running series “Supernatural”. Then in the “Lawsuit of the Week” the supposed end of...

Original Release Date: Monday 4 May 2026     Description:   Welcome to a show 19 years in the making! Special guest co-host Jon Lawlor, and special guests Erynn Petrulis, Yoshi Kato, Lily Holleman, and Marc Hershon join the festivities and help Dean and Phil celebrate this milestone event! Topics include movie-going here and in Japan, improvisation in jazz and in deejaying, performance art, laserd...

Original Release Date: Monday 27 April 2026     Description:   We are one week away from Dean Haglund and Phil Leirness celebrating 19 years of “changing the way people listen to the internet” through YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour (now the flagship of the “Chillpak Hollywood Presents” expanded universe of podcasts on Substack). On this week’s show, Dean and Phil come to humorous grips with just how...

Original Release Date: Monday 20 April 2026     Description:   After a cold open wherein Phil gives everyone the lay of the land, outtakes from last week’s show are picked up off the floor, dusted off and used, revealing an obviously drunken Dean and (a perhaps tipsy) Phil continuing their discussion of commuter trains before delving into Project Hail Mary and a couple of vintage James Bond films....

Original Release Date: Monday 13 April 2026     Description:   Dean Haglund is back in Los Angeles and he and Phil went up to the rooftop studio high atop the historic neighborhood of Los Feliz to get their drink on and to record this episode all about travel, commuter trains and movies. Dean sings the praises of Waymo, tells tales of getting “upgraded” during his flights, and says the word “bathh...

Original Release Date: Monday 6 April 2026     Description:   In his final show from his current trip to the East Coast, Phil regales with thoughts of Easter and tales of cherry blossoms. Dean explains why he did not see Project Hail Mary . An email from a friend of the show leads to further discussion of the 1978 sci-fi cheese-fest Starcrash and to the entire concept of “guilty pleasures” getting...

Original Release Date: Monday 30 March 2026     Description:   Phil is in the nation’s capital, and reveals that he really doesn’t understand much about weather at all. Dean is in Birmingham, Michigan, where the ongoing airport delays prevented him from participating in this weekend’s “No Kings” protests. Phil shares with Dean the favorite signs he saw while protesting with his in-laws! Last week,...

Original Release Date: Monday 23 March 2026     Description:   This week’s episode starts off with a follow-up to a fascinating bit of silent film history discussed on this weekend’s “Celebrity Deaths” show. That leads into discussion of the landmark 107 year-old Santa Monica Airport and what is to become of that land now that the airport is (finally) shutting down. AI is creating a “new” Val Kilm...

Original Release Date: Monday 16 March 2026     Description:   This week’s show begins with Dean and Phil discussing the World Baseball Classic and sharing (and answering) an email from a loyal listener who wanted to celebrate the recent 25th Anniversary of Dean’s series “The Lone Gunmen”. Recorded on Sunday morning before the Oscars (and before the big “Firefly” announcement), the bulk of the dis...

Original Release Date: Monday 9 March 2026     Description:   After comparing notes on their forthcoming respective travel plans, Dean and Phil roll up their sleeves and discuss the 25th anniversary of “The Lone Gunmen” series.  Then, in what will be a multi-week exploration, they begin to delve into Time Out’s list of the 100 Greatest Movie Theaters in the World that are still in operation. The m...

Original Release Date: Monday 2 March 2026     Description:   Dean and Phil discuss the fallout from Paramount supposedly closing the deal to acquire Warner Bros. and its assets. They celebrate the feat that Richard Linklater became the first-ever American filmmaker to achieve this week. They review three new genre films: a horror sequel ( 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple ), an homage/deconstruction...

Original Release Date: Monday 23 February 2026     Description:   After discussing the latest news regarding Netflix, their attempts to purchase Warner Bros, and what the current President of the U.S.A. is demanding they do, Dean and Phil talk about more of the intriguing movies coming out in 2026 (including period pieces, biopics, and crime films). Hollywood still hasn’t recovered from the dual s...

Original Release Date: Monday 16 February 2026     Description:   Your friends in podcasting discuss Netflix's (perhaps misleading) embrace of movie theaters, they celebrate the resurrection of Todd Hayne's seemingly dead but now forthcoming detective film (with Pedro Pascal replacing Joaquin Phoenix), and an upcoming movie starring Simon Pegg, Sofia Boutella and Quentin Tarantino. Nia DaCosta's H...

Original Release Date: Monday 9 February 2026     Description:   It’s part two of a special two-part episode! 2025 was a truly great year in cinema and Dean and Phil have a great many topics to discuss as they each reveal their Top 5 films from the year that was (consult Year 19 Episode 39 for their #10 thru #6 selections). Afterwards, they take a look at, perhaps, the most promising fantasy film...

Original Release Date: Monday 2 February 2026     Description:   It’s part one of a special two-part episode! After a rather hilarious cold open, Dean and Phil immediately get down to the serious (ridiculous?) business of counting down their respective lists of the Top Ten Best Films of 2025. This week, they reveal #10 thru #6 on their lists. As with years past, Dean’s list includes films he has h...

Original Release Date: Monday 26 January 2026     Description:   Phil is playing hurt with a nasty head cold. Dean is braving the sub-zero temperatures. And somehow, they manage to bring you one of the most epic installments yet of YOUR Chillpak Hollywood Hour! They start the show by discussing some of the upcoming 2026 cinematic releases that the Criterion Collection has on their list of the film...

Original Release Date: Monday 19 January 2026     Description:   Phil gets things started by singing the praises of “The Lowdown” (and its emotional intelligence), and of Marc Hershon, who had this Sterlin Harjo-created Ethan Hawke-starring series on his list of the best television of 2025. Some casting news (regarding season 4 of “The White Lotus”) has Phil greatly enthusiastic. Then, for the fir...