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PODCAST

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast

Corbin Smith and Matt Ellis

A Podcast about movies from the fine folks at the Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation, with Corbin Smith (The Famous Writer) and Dr. Movies, Matt Ellis (A Professor of Movies)

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

01:34:20

"The Rocketeer" (1991, Dir: Joe Johnston)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/09/06

Ellis and Corbin talk about "The Rocketeer," a Walt Disney Live Action Classic™ about a guy who acquires a Rocketpack and becomes... not like, a superhero but like... a guy with a jetpack and good intentions? Topics include: Fredric Jameson, the nexus of technological emergence in turn of the century California, and the deep and profound tragedy at the center of this movie: lazy casting. Corbin reccomends "Red Mars," a book available at your local library. Ellis reccomends "Promethus" and "Alien:

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01:19:47

"Los Angeles Plays Itself" (2003, Dir: Thom Anderson)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/08/31

Ellis and Corbs talk about "Los Angeles Plays Itself," Thom Anderson's lengthy video essay about Movie City's place in the Movies, and the Movies place in Movie City. Topics include: Modernist Architecture: is it evil? The germ of the other American cinema we see in the end of this movie, and filming driving in Los Angeles and in Portland. Corbin's reccomendation is an album, you can find it on a streaming service. Matt's is a video game he only kind of enjoyed. Watch the movie here. Next week's

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01:31:07

"Cruel Intentions" (1999, Dir: Roger Kumble)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/08/22

Corbin, Matt, and SPECIAL GUEST MATEA (Check out her ROBUST Letterboxd here) talk about CRUEL INTENTIONS, a truly wild erotic thriller/black comedy from the precise moment when the Americans were most sick and tired of their own bullshit. Topics include a lengthy diatribe about Clinton and Bush, the gauzy-TV look of the movie, and the movie's depiction of Step-sisters as well as the culture's. Check out a cool intertextual essay about the movie here. Matt reccomends the podcast "Fall of

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01:29:01

'All That Heaven Allows' (1955, Dir: Douglas Sirk)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/08/15

Big Corbs and the El Train talk about "All That Heaven Allows," Douglas Sirk's MASTERFUL melodrama about conformity, love, and how your daughter likes Freud too much. Topics: Digital Restoration: Not Actually That Bad, justice for the daughter, television, and the relationship between beaknikism and nostalgia. Good essay about the movie here. Matt's reccomendation is in theaters. Corbin's is Tetris, I guess? Next week's episode is about CRUEL INTENTIONS, which you can watch on FreeVee with ads,

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01:29:48

'North by Northwest' (1959, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/08/07

Corbin and Ellis talk about NORTH BY NORTHWEST, a movie about Cary Grant, world class charmer, getting chased around America by a faint idea about the Cold War. Topics: Grant, who is charming and handsome, the movie as a of proto-action thriller and how it succeeds and doesn't in that capacity, and style Hitch vs. Neurosis Hitch. Matt's reccomendation may or may not be in theaters. Corbin reccomends the Portland Pickles Baseball Club in Portland's beautiful Lents Neightborhood. Our next episode is

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01:24:41

'The Rules of the Game' (1939, Dir: Jean Renoir)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/07/27

Ellis and Corbin talk about "THE RULES OF THE GAME," and are kind of bowled over by how much there is in it. Topics include: farce in collapse, the movie's technical achivements, and how it functions as a frustrated, bordering on nihlistic flipside to Renoir's other prewar masterpiece. Corbin reccomends "Link's Awakening," available on your Nintendo Switch or your Nintendo Game Boy. Matt reccomends a bar in Portland. Next week's episode is NOT about 'All that Jazz,' because it was hard to find on

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01:21:25

'The Roaring Twenties' (1938, Dir: Raoul Walsh)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/07/20

Matt and Corbin talk about THE ROARING TWENTIES, a remarkably sedate gangster picture featuring the talents of JAMES CAGNEY, America's mean lad. Topics include: a weirdly progressive view on the twenties, Bogey, and Matt's band. Matt reccomends this song. Corbin reccomends the act of zoning out in front of Mario Kart. Next week's episode is about "The Rules of the Game," a very famous movie. Watch it on Criterion or Kanopy.

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01:29:41

'ANOTHER ROUND' (2020, Dir: Thomas Vinterberg)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/07/12

Ellis and Smith discuss 'Another Round,' Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's tribute to the wonder and dangers of both booze and male friendship. We discuss the little liberation of .05, the modern condition vs the human condition, and MADS. Ellis reccomends 'The Roaring Twenties,' which talk about on next week's episode. Watch it here. Corbin reccomends 'Doppelganger,' a book by Naomi Klein, available at your local library.

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01:36:27

'LOST HORIZON' (1937, Dir: Frank Capra)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/07/05

Corbin and Matt talk about LOST HORIZON, Frank Capra's fantasy movie about how the road to utopia runs through the elimination of soceity. Corbin gets a little irritated. Corbin's reccomendation here. Matt reccomends Tubi. Next week's episode is about 'Another Round,' which you can watch here.

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01:18:24

'GOOD MORNING' (1959, Dir: Yasujirō Ozu)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/06/28

Ellis and Corbin talk about "GOOD MORNING," Ozu's little fable about two brave little boys and their quest to acquire the most forbidden of all fruits... a television. It's also about adults running their mouths. Matt and Corbin both reccomended books. Corbin also reccomends "Hit Man," the new Richard Linklatter movie, which you can watch on Netflix (Ugh). Next week's episode is about Frank Capra's 'Lost Horizon,' which you can watch on the Internet Archive. Ellis send my this with the file:

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01:21:06

'Shane" (1953, Dir: George Stevens)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/06/20

Folks it's time to say "Symptomatic," because we're watching SHANE! Topics include: why is this movie basically Heaven's Gate, the weird glimpse of Hollywood's narrative future it provides, and just how guilt a violent person needs to feel to experience some degree of redemtpion in the eyes of the audience. Warning: Corbin sounds a little weird Watch Corbin's reccomendation here. Matt reccomended shirts. Next episode is about "GOOD MORNING," which you can watch here.

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01:22:14

'Werckmeister Harmonies' (2000, Dir: Bela Tarr)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/06/15

Hey! Me and Matt had a little scheduling SNAFU this week so we are releasing and episode we recorded a while back, just in case we got off schedule. It's about "Werckmeister Harmonies," a movie by Bela Tarr, Mr. Turin Horse Himself. Watch Corbin's reccomendation here, if you dare. Matt's can be listened to here. Next week's episode has been AUDIBLED. We are doing "SHANE," the western classic by George Stevens. It's on Paramount Plus and Pluto.

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01:35:32

"A Touch of Zen" (1971, Dir: King Hu)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/06/10

This movie whips so hard. Listen to me and Matt try to say something aside from "this whips." Watch it here. Check out Matt's reccomendation here. Corbin's reccomendation is currently in theaters. Next week's episode is about "Mephisto," which you can watch here.

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01:37:04

Jesus Month: "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988,...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/05/30

Corbin and Matt, two male American movie enthusiasts, watched a Martin Scorsese movie, so you KNOW they're juiced. Topics include: what in the movie ACTAULLY a little blasphemous, the ongoing translations of Judas in these movies, David Bowie's Stoic Pilate, and Peter Gabriel. Corbin's reccomendation can be acquired here. Matt's is here. Next week's episode is about TOUCH OF ZEN, which can be seen here.

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01:32:19

Jesus Month: "The Gospel According to Saint Matthew"...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/05/26

Corbin and Matt talk about THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW, Marxist Neorealist Pier Paolo Pasolini's pretty straight on take on the book of Matthew. Topics: Where's Mary Magdeline?, a political Jesus, yet another disappointing crucifixion, and the temptation to find some sense in Judas. Check out a good essay on the move here. Corbin's reccomendation can be seen on Mubi, if you're that kind of sicko. He also reccomends a movie that is presently in theaters. Acquire Matt's reccomendation

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45:04

Jesus Month: 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (1965,...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/05/22

This week, Corbin and Ellis talk about THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, a lengthy epic about Jesus from right before New Hollywood started. Topics: Max Von Sydow, John Wayne, Political Jesus, and Nikolai Jokic. Next week (By this I mean in the next few days, on account of this episode's lateness) we are talking about THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW, a neorealist take on the story of Jesus, which you can watch here. Also coming up: The Last Temptation of Christ.

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01:43:53

Jesus Month: 'KING OF KINGS' (1927, DIR: Cecil B....

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/05/10

In this, the first episode of TPNWICMFP's first ever JESUS MONTH, Corbin and Matt discuss "KING OF KINGS," a silent picture (With color segments!) from the father of the film epic, CECIL B. DEMILLE. Topics include: why we aren't we doing one specific movie, DeMille's odd theater aesthetic, the scenes that work (The Ressurection!), the scenes that don't (The Crucifixion), and the question of sin-ema trying to navigate the world of values. Watch King of Kings here. Corbin's reccomendation can be seen

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01:43:40

"Foxcatcher" (2014, Dir: Bennett Miller)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/05/02

Corbin, Matt and SPACIAL GUEST SAM WHITELEY (Comedian, The Payton Years) talk about Foxcatcher, a BLEAK movie about wrestling (The non-cool kind), the world warping around the wealth of an unstable man, the question of what america actually is, and stamp collecting. If you like hearing Corbin say something unacceptably rude to a guest, this is the one for you! Next week's episode is about Cecil B. DeMille's KING OF KINGS. It will be the first in a series of movies about JESUS OF NAZARETH, reagarded

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01:12:54

"Born in Flames" (1982, Dir: Lizzie Borden)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/04/23

This week, Matt and Corbin talk about BORN IN FLAMES, a facinating little piece of second-wave feminist instigation from Lizzie Borden. I am worried we get something wrong about it by being white men talking about 'Born in Flames' so please do not hurt us. We talk about the movie's sense of feminism in relation to capitalism and how it feels very disassociated in the present day, the music in the movie, the sight of possible futures from the perspective of the present, and other stuff. Watch the

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01:36:36

"Bambi" (1942, Dir: David Hand)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2024/04/11

Corbin and Matt discuss "BAMBI," Walt Disney's animated classic about animal friends living in a forest idyl, and their deadliest, most terrifying enemy: human beings. You can read an enlightening and low key troubling essay about Bambi's literary origins here. Corbin's reccomendation can be seen here, on Kanopy. Don't read Ellis's reccomendation here. next week's episode is about "Born in Flames," by Lizzie Borden. Check it out here!

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104 results

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