The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast

Oct 30 2024 52 ep. 86 mins 7

The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast artwork

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)

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"Let's Scare Jessica to Death" (1971, Dir: John Hancock)

Oct 30 2024 83 mins

Corbin and Ellis are joined by MATEA, Portland's Elvira (Letterboxd here, subscribe today!), for a conversaion about the early indie horror touchstone "Let Scare Jessica to Death." Topics include: the shifting uses of mental health care as a literary device, the bitter end of the sixties playing out on screen, the thin line between madness and a vampire invading your mind, and the

"The Apprentice" (2024, DIR: Ali Abbasi)

Oct 25 2024 91 mins

Corbin and Matt talk about "The Apprentice," a movie that persues an impossible goal and comes out Interesting. Topics: Sebastian Stan, who is incredible, where orbin was when Trump won, Fred Trump, and how "Humanization" is actually like, the only honest way of telling this story. Corbin reccomends "Persona 5," he guesses. Available wherever you buy games. Matt reccomends "It Hap

"The Breaking Ice" (2023, Dir: Anthony Chen)

Oct 18 2024 88 mins

Ellis and Da Corb talk about "The Breaking Ice," a lil' character drama about three people in a chilly city on China's border with North Korea. Topics: America in the 50's and China in the now's, capital's universal qualities, China's particular qualities, and a depressing story that happens in a Safeway. Watch the movie here. Ellis's reccomendation can be heard here. He totally r

MEGALOPOLIS (2024, Dir: Francis For Coppola) with CORY ATAD

Oct 10 2024 98 mins

Cory Atad (The Baffler) Joins Dr. Movies and The Corb to talk about "MEGALOPOLIS," a movie about Francis Ford Coppola getting extremely baked and creating a drastically less efficent method of public transit. Corbin writing this right now just wants to say: my opinion on this movie has curdled into something meaner and less forgiving after recording this episode. I have come to th

Fredric Jameson's thoughts on "VIDEODROME" (Dir: David Cronenberg, 1983)

Oct 04 2024 93 mins

Matt and Corbs talk about the recently departed Frederic Jameson and his thoughts on VIDEODROME, David Cronenberg's 1983 masterpiece about the terrifying merger of man and machine occuring en masse in front of your very eyes and also the pleasures and perils of having a gigantic hole in your abdomen that someone can stick living videotapes inside, compelling you to murder people on

"The Young Master" (1980, Dir: Jackie Chan)

Sep 27 2024 92 mins

Jackie Chan. Early eighties. Fred Astaire. Buster Keaton. Buddy if you need convincing to watch The Young Master please, get your fun switches cleaned. Check out a good essay about Jackie here. Corbin reccomends a sandwhich. Next week's episode is about VIDEODROME. Then: MEGAOLOPOPPOIS!

"Christ Stopped at Eboli" (1979, Dir: Francesco Rosi)

Sep 23 2024 88 mins

Big Matt and Lil' Corbs talk about 'CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI,' a movie about a dissident who get sent to the world's cruddiest village by Benito Mussolini. He learns lessons. Topics include: Pringles, anarchism, its similarities and differences to "The Tree of Wooden Clogs," another movie about pesants, and which came first: Christianity or History? Matt reccomends Roger Waters' ne

"Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World" (2023, Dir: Radu Jude)

Sep 14 2024 90 mins

Ellis and the Corbot talk about "DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD," Radu Jude's recent bang bang exploration of the feeling of being alive under late capitalism. Subjects include: terrible Romanian techno, exploitated people observing other exploited people for the purpose of exploitation, and international business's wholesale domination of our lives. Corbin reccom

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

Sep 06 2024 94 mins

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

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

Aug 31 2024 79 mins

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