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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

01:47:30

"The Mastermind" (2025, Dir: Kelly Reichardt)/Top...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/12/31

A Great American Film Artist made a movie about a liar trying to power through his banal midcentruy existence by grifting. It's not Marty Supreme, though, it's "The Mastermind" by Kelly Reichardt! We talk about it! Listen to KR on the LARB Radio Hour here! Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going. Our next episode will be about, uhh... how about Escape from New York? We've never done Carpenter before. Watch it here.

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01:40:10

"Hail Mary" (1985, Dir: Jean-Luc Godard)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/12/25

Merry Christmas. In the mid-80's, Godard made a fascinating high art movie about the Virgin Mary and the Christmas story. It made some people extremely angry. Should they have been angry? We discuss. Watch the movie here. Also check out these essays about the film, if you're inclined. Corbin rec. Matt's rec is life management based. Next episode is about THE MASTERMIND. It's available on Mubi, a service Corbin does not have access to. Hope he figures that out!

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01:38:58

"Racetrack" (1985, Dir: Frederick Wiseman)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/12/19

Frederick Wiseman made a movie about a horse racing track in New York State. That's all it is. But then what? We discuss. Watch the movie here, it rocks. Interview with Wiseman here. You can also find hundreds of other interviews with him. He's very smart. Corbin rec. Matt rec. Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going. Our next episode is our Christmas Special, where we will be discussing "Hail Mary." Watch it here.

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01:41:15

"Earth" (1930, Dir: Alexander Dovzhenko)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/12/12

Corbin plays a flu game for "Earth," early Soviet filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko's weird mashup of Soviet Propoganda and Art Film. Topics include: Soviet Cinema: what's up with that, Lenin's role in constructing the industry, Ukraine, and the question of the spiritual in Soviet soceity. An article about Earth that could be worth check out. Corbin rec. Corbin accidently skipped Matt's rec rushing out of the episode. He apoligizes. Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt

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01:50:08

"Nouvelle Vague" (2025, Dir: Richard Linklater)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/12/05

Why did a great American director who doesn't speak French make a movie about one of the most famous French movies of all time? What was the French new wave all about? Why does Zoey Deutch resemble Jean Seberg as deeply as she does? Why didn't Corbin remeber Hit Man when talking about Linklater and Netflix? How is Michael Bay involved in all this? Why doesn't anyone do this kind of thing anymore? IT'S NOUVELLE VAGUE FOLKS! Watch it here! Corbin rec. (Corbin also recommends Plurbis). Matt

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01:39:29

THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982, Dir: Jim Henson and Frank Oz)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/11/27

'The Dark Crystal' is a monument to craft, a movie made entirely with puppets, primative robots, strings, fog machines, lighting rigs, and spit. A true monument to analog filmmaking. But is it any good? We discuss. Matt rec. Corbin rec. Corbin apoligizes for rambling about rap lists like a weirdo at the end of this episode. Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going! Our next episode is about Nouvelle Vague, watch it here.

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01:47:55

"Eddington" (2025, Dir: Ari Aster) w/ John Wilmes

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/11/21

Earlier this year Ari Aster released a movie About Now that some people liked and some people didn't like. Corbin and Matt and friend of the program John Wilmes DID like it and we get into it! Feelings! Politics! Money! The whole gang is here, folks! Corbin recommends a book. Ellis recommends this article. Wilmes recommends a Jazz musician. Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going! Out next episode is about THE DARK CRYSTAL,

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01:41:21

"Cobra Verde" (1987, Dir: Werner Herzog) w/ Ryder Canepa

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/11/14

Werner Herzog deals in ecstatic truths. But are they truthful enough to deal with the brutal legacy of slavery and colonialism? We discuss COBRA VERDE, Herzog's last collaboration with Klaus Kinski, a movie about the slave trade and the little freaks who kept it running. Topics include: producing a shot with thousands of extras, Herzog and history, and, weirdly, Michael Haneke. Watch the movie here or on Criterion, who are doing a big Herzog retrospective right now. Here is an article about the

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02:02:44

"Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (2004, Dir: Joe...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/11/07

Since we started this show we've known that, someday, we would sit down to talk about Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, a movie about Metallica, and the world, going to therapy for the first time. Topics include: popular music, thrash, the 80's, drinking, how exactly you make a heavy metal record, the way computers absolutely annihilated the music business in a way that predicted the future annihilations we are currently living through, the advent of a new perspective on therapy and the emergence of

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01:45:21

"The Shrouds" (2025, Dir: David Cronenberg) w/ Nathan...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/10/31

Happy Halloween! To celebrate spooky season, Corbin and Matt are joined by NATHAN LEE, a film academic and critic whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Film Comment, The Village Voice, and NPR, among others, to discuss THE SHROUDS, David Cronenberg's movie about the SPOOKIEST topics of all... Grieving and Technology and Anxiety and Conspiracy. SpoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOky! Read Nathan's fabulous essay on The Shrouds here. Corbin's rec is in theaters right now. Matt's rec. Nathan's rec. Our next

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18:29

A Lil' One Battle After Another Chat

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/10/24

Matt's working on this week's episode still, so we excerpted the beginning, where we talk about OBAA. I saw it again after this and loved it more

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02:24:57

"Tokyo Drifter" (1968, Dir: Seijun Suzuki)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/10/20

Hey! We are joined here by ANDY MORSE, the host of REKINDLING OUR BONDS, a podcast about the motion pictures regarding the life and career of JAMES BOND (available on: iTunes! Youtube! Spotify!) to talk about TOKYO DRIFTER, a kind of James Bondy-French New Wavvy Yakuza movie with wild vibes. Topics include: the particular qualities of a work made under pressure, wondering if Seijun Suzuki knew about Godard or not, and a bunch of other stuff. Sorry for ther lateness: Corbin had a bunch of reporting

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01:29:33

"The Tragedy of Man" (2011, Dir: Marcell Jankovics)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/10/10

Twenty years in the making, Marcell Jankovics' animated adaptation of Imre Madách's sort-of play is a terribly ambitious intellectual undertaking about the role of man's inherent nature in the onspooling of history. But is it any good? We discuss. A useful article about Madach. Read the play here if you're inclined. The movie is available on iTunes. Matt's recc. Corbin's recc is not important but check out Perfect Blue, which we touch on a little here. Next episode is about 'Tokyo Drifter,'

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01:47:06

"Happy-Go-Lucky" (2008, Dir: Mike Leigh)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/10/03

In 2008 Mike Leigh made a movie about a genuinely nice lady coming into contact with a lonely right wing maniac. Sooner or later it became the model for how society was structured. Let's talk about it! Topics include: Sally Hawkings, clubbing, British repression, Mike Leigh in particular, and other stuff. Matt recc. Corbin recc's a music artist. Next week's episode is about The Tragedy of Man. I have no idea how I'm going to watch this thing though.

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01:38:15

"Nashville" (1975, Dir: Robert Altman)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/09/26

Matt and Corbin are joined by the famous music writer NATALIE WEINER (Don't Rock the Inbox, other famous publications) to discuss NASHVILLE, Robert Altman's sprawling sociological survey of the city of Nashville, home of the Country Music Industry, and also America. Is it a convincing portrait of either? We discuss. Natalie wrote about the movie's use of country music as metaphor here. Natalie's rec. Matt's. Corbin's. Next week's episode is about HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Watch it here.

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01:31:35

"Harvest" (2024, Dir: Athina Rachel Tsangari)

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/09/19

This is, somehow, the third movie we've done about pesants and the second movie we've done about agricultural barons trying to remove a community from the land where they live so it can be overwhelmed by animal agriculture. This one has some weird Brechtian qualities and beautiful photography. But is it any good? We get into it. Check out the movie on Mubi. Corbin recommends a game, Matthew a book. Next week, a SPECIAL EPISODE about NASHVILLE with a VERY SPECIAL GUEST! Watch it here!

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01:44:51

"Celine and Julie Go Boating" (1975, Dir: Jacques...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/09/15

Matt and Corbin, recording from the Portland Convention Center, talk about "Celine and Julie go Boating," a movie about two friends who are looking to have a good time and also maybe save a girl from a cycling ghost house deep in the heart of Paris, France. Topics: friendship, theater, improv, The French New Wave, and other stuff. I liked this essay that discusses the movie. Corbin recc. Matt recc. Next week's episode is about Harvest (2024), which is available on MUBI if you're into that sort of

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02:06:02

DIGITAL FRONTIERS FINALE: "Melancholia" (2011, Dir:...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/09/05

Corbin and Matt wrap up Digital Frontiers with MELANCHOLIA, a movie about depression, the end of the world, and like fifty other things. It's been a second since we recorded so I cannot properly remeber what we talked about, but I suspect we touch on the movie as a uniquely digital object that represents the apex of a young form, Dunst's absolutely annhilating performence, "The End of the World" vs. the actual end of the world, and other stuff. Next episode: "Celine and Julie Go Boating." Watch

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02:09:31

DIGITAL FRONTIERS: "Captain America: The First...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/08/29

Hi! THis week, Matt and Corbin talk about "Captain America, The First Avenger," a movie about Captain America, an American Superhero. Topics: The MCU as a sort of end-product of the first two decades of digital cinema, the function of the superhero as a multi-meaning storytelling device, the production design in this movie (Good!) and the cinematography in this movie (Less good!), adapting Jack Kirby's fly by night ethic to a large, settled metanarrative, how the movie's depiction of the Red Skull

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01:37:43

DIGITAL FRONTIERS: LEVIATHAN (2012, Dir: Lucien...

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm... ·

2025/08/17

Whoops, a little late! Sorry everyone Matt is busy and I am something aside from busy but diverting enough that I forgot to post the episode. This one is about "Leviathan," a documentary from the Sensory Ethnography Lab at Harvard about commerical fishermen, the ocean, and things all sloppin' on the camera. Watch it here! Topics include: GoPros, sloppy noises, thinking about how a camera is doing something, guys with horny mermaid tattoos, Solaris, pornography, moshing, and post-continuity

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113 results

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