
Advertise on podcast: The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast
Rating
4.9from
This podcast has
116 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Corbin Smith and Matt EllisExplicit
Yes
Date created
2023/10/18
Latest episode
2026/01/23
Average duration
102 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
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)
Unlock The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast podcast Email contact info,
Listeners & Audience details
Email contact information
Direct podcast contact details

Listeners
Audience numbers & engagement insights

Audience details
Podcast Insights

Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast podcast
"RAN" (1985, Dir: Akira Kurosawa)
2026/01/23
The master is here folks and this time he wields the themes and some of the particulars of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S great work KING LEAR in service of a hypnotic nightmare about the horrors of war. It whips! We talk about that, about Kurosawa as a supremely 'Cinematic' figure trying on a 'Theatatrical' think in this movie, Lear as an eternal political fable, some of the hot shit sequences in here, and other stuff.
this is a weird way to deal with this bit theres a lot of interesting academic writing about RAN out there, in shakespeare journals and filmic ones. peek around if you wanna learn something.
Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going.
Matt's rec is in theaters. Corbin's rec is mega off the done. We dont know what the next episode is, for reasons that would take too long to explin here. Thanks!
'The Secret Agent' (2025, Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho) w/ Ryder C.
2026/01/16
Ryder C. joins Matt and Corbs to discuss "The Secret Agent," a drama film that uses the rythyms of historical research to tell a story about a man getting suqeezed by the military dictatorship in 1970's Brazil. It's a cool movie, scope it out.
Matt rec. Ryder's rec sounds cool but is hard to find on streaming. Perhaps you can take a journey and find it. Corbin reccomends a movie currently in theaters.
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 RAN. Watch it here.
"The Turin Horse" (Dir: Béla Tarr, 2011)
2026/01/09
This week, Béla Tarr, a Hungarian art film director of note, passed away at the age of 70. Tarr's stark, highly idiosyncratic dramas about the dread in the heart of every man are favorites of Matt Ellis and many other philosphically inclined, hard thinking movie fans the world over.
'The Turin Horse,' Tarr's last film, released in 2011, tells a story so small you can drown it in a bathtub: A farmer and his daughter and their horse live a brutally meger lifetyle in a small farmhouse while the world around them devolves into... something? That's it, that's all he needs, folks. Art!
Corbin rec. Ellis rec. Our next episode is about THE SECERET AGENT which may or may not be in a theater near you right now.
Check out the show on Letterboxd if you're into that thing. Matt is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going.
Music: "Dark Space Low" - Angelo Badalamenti, from Twin Peaks: The Return, "The Closing of the Gates" - Luke Howard and the Budapest Art Orchestra
"The Mastermind" (2025, Dir: Kelly Reichardt)/Top Fives of 2025
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.
"Hail Mary" (1985, Dir: Jean-Luc Godard)
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!
"Racetrack" (1985, Dir: Frederick Wiseman)
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.
"Earth" (1930, Dir: Alexander Dovzhenko)
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 is also on there. We also got a Bluesky going!
Our next episode about about Racetrack, watch it here.
"Nouvelle Vague" (2025, Dir: Richard Linklater)
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 recommends The Museum. Next episode is about EARTH. You can watch it here.
THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982, Dir: Jim Henson and Frank Oz)
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.
"Eddington" (2025, Dir: Ari Aster) w/ John Wilmes
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, which you can watch on Tubi and probably somewhere else but cmon man give it up for tubi! They got all the Looney Tunes over there!
"Cobra Verde" (1987, Dir: Werner Herzog) w/ Ryder Canepa
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 movie that was interesting that I dont necessarily 100% agree with.
Matt's rec. Corbin's rec is in a weird release vortex right now but you'll be able to see it soon. Ryder recommends a food. Our next episode is about EDDINGTON. You can watch it on HBOMax if you're so inclined. Have a wonderful week!
"Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" (2004, Dir: Joe Berlinger Bruce Sinofsky)
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 therapy-speak, even among the world's biggest violence-celebrating band.
excerpted music in this episode in order:
"Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin (published 1899)
"Crazy Blues" by Perry Bradford, performed by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds (1920)
"Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael, performed by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1931)
"Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles (1966)
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys (1966) (YouTube video)
"So What" by Miles Davis (1959)
"Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin (1969)
"Detroit Rock City" by KISS (1976)
"Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" by Discharge (1982)
"Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath (1970)
"Machine Gun (Live)" by Jimi Hendrix (1969)
"Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest (1980)
"Bonded by Blood" by Exodus (1985)
"Phantom Lord" by Metallica (1983)
"Master of Puppets" by Metallica (1986)
Our NEXT episode will be about Cobra Verde! Watch it here.
"The Shrouds" (2025, Dir: David Cronenberg) w/ Nathan Lee
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 episode is about METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER, and it should come out earlier next week to make up for the gap last week (Sorry, busy). But NEXT WEEK IN THE NORMAL SLOT we are watching "Cobra Verde" which you can watch here.
A Lil' One Battle After Another Chat
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
"Tokyo Drifter" (1968, Dir: Seijun Suzuki)
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 this weekend and was seperated from his laptop, touching grass.
Corbin rec. Matt rec. Andy Rec. Our next episode is about COBRA VERDE, watch it here.
Podcast reviews
Read The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast podcast reviews
ABMorse 2025/09/01
Movie Boys
Still great! I don’t care how long they go. Gimme more of that movie juice.
Glisan411 2025/04/26
Makes you think
A fun movie podcast for people who like to think harder about movies than fandom and learn about history and theory. Corbin and Dr. Movies make you sm...
WonderMan1984 2024/02/27
🤌
These boys are watching “Modern” movies
Mirror_Sea 2025/03/17
Annoying waste of time.
Unless you are very bored or think you will like the cult of university thought police products here, then this podcast is a huge waste of time. I lo...
Jeffrom 2024/02/01
He’s done it again
🤘
Goniners22 2023/12/25
mr. smith, you’ve done it again
big films, big opinions, love it
wjeiii 2023/12/12
Hooting and hollering
Nothing better than Big Corbs and Dr Movies
dlukashok 2023/10/19
do the crimes of grindlewald
the beasts are literally fantastic
Podcast sponsorship advertising
Start advertising on The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast relevant audience podcasts
You may also like to advertise on these Podcasts

4.6193117
The Libertarian Institute - All Podcasts
The Libertarian Institute - All Podcasts

4.91799205
Caught Offside
ESPN, Andrew Gundling, JJ Devaney

4.8835514
Church of the City New York
Jon Tyson

4.8224376
Dusty Thunder
Dusty Thunder

4.4515176
Slaycation: True Crimes, Murders, and Twisted Vacations
Kim Davis, Adam "Tex" Davis, Jerry Kolber; True Crime Podcast

4.943523
1010 WINS ALL LOCAL
Audacy

4.7792534
Thinner Peace in Menopause
Dr. Deb Butler

4.81417546
The Anxiety Guy Podcast
The Anxiety Guy

4.2200405
Politics Weekly UK
The Guardian

595260
Motivational Speeches, Inspiration & Real Talk with Reginald D (Motivational Speeches/Inspirational Stories)
Reginald D - Motivational & Inspirational, Faith and Self-Improvement Podcast