The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast

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. 

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. 

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!

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 thing. 

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 here. 

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 conforms to Nazi neurosis, and, of course, the question of if Captain America is Good or Bad.  Matt's Recommendation. Corbin's. Next Week's episode will be the FINAL EPISODE of our Digital Frontiers series and it will be about MELANCHOLIA. Watch it here!

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 reemerging in the tiny cameras we would all be packing around sooner rather than later.  Matt's recommendation. Corbin's recommendation is MAYBE in theaters near you but if not you can rent it.  Next week: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. Disney+ if you're sick with it. Expect it around Monday, Matt is gonna be in California. 

Old Cinema! New Cinema! Here they are, together! Ellis and Corbs talk about "Hugo," Martin Scorsese's honestly conspicously excellent family movie about a an orphan, a great filmmaker, and the open wounds of World War One. Topics: how exactly is Scorsese so good at making a special effects extravaganza, the 3D moment, fated to fail, color, and Scorsese's ability to bring a wide range of techniques to the table.  Read a fascinting article about Rave Culture in Britain here. Corbin  Rec. Matt rec. Next episode is about Leviathan. Watch here. 

Welcome. In this episode Matt and Corbin talk about Abbas Kiarostami's 2010 brainscrew "Certified Copy," a movie about two strangers hanging out in the Italian countryside. Topics include: Binoche's performence, an anchor in a storm, Kiarostami as a natural candiate for digital cinema owing to his particular unfussiness, and Walter Benjamin. So much Walter Benjamin. Matt's recc. Corbin's recc is available on your music streaming application of choice. Our next episode is about "Hugo." Watch it here. 

(sorry for the double post. this is a repost of a bad upload. LISTEN TO THIS ONE) Hi there! Matt made a guest appearance on a great new podcast about cinema, history, and the left and we are sharing it, with you, RIGHT HERE! The podcast is called 'Cold War Cinema,' and you can find it here and here.  Join Ellis and hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as they discuss: The Phoenician Scheme’s connections to the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA-backed cultural operation from 1950 that weaponized writers, artists, and other thinkers for intelligence operations. How Anderson’s film reveals the Cold War origins of the contemporary world in its critiques of capitalism and the neoliberal project.  The ways that The Phoenician Scheme breaks Anderson’s hermetically sealed aesthetics and alludes to its formal limitations. To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at coldwarcinema.com, or find them online on Bluesky @coldwarcinema.com or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema.  For more from your hosts: Follow Jason on Bluesky at @JasonChristian.bsky.social, on X at @JasonAChristian, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic.  Follow Anthony on Bluesky at @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X at @tonyjballas. Follow Paul on Bluesky at @ptklein.com, or on Letterboxed at @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at www.howotreadmovies.com   alright that's all. we'll be back on friday with Certified Copy, which i need to watch RIGHT NOW

Corbin and Matt talk about THE SOCIAL NETWORK, David Fincher's (and also Aaron Sorkin's) parable about the fouding of Facebook and the terrible dream of what felt like was coming next. Topics include: capital and moral hazard, the Winkelvosses and Eduardo, the movie's make believe version of Zuckerberg, Fincher setting the palette for the future by accident, and a bunch of other stuff. I dont know if you can see, but this episode is very long. Corbin rec. Ellis rec. Next episode is about "Certified Copy." Have a good day!

Documentarian CHRISTOPHER JASON BELL (MeansTV, 'Miss Me Yet,' the upcoming 'Failed State') joins us to talk about 'A Married Couple,' Alan King's 1969 documentary about a disintegrating Canadian marriage. Topics include: reality TV, the weird sexism in the movie's reception, documentary performance, the parade of hideous outfits this guy wears, and the terrible language of irrational arguements stuck deep in a nightmare mire.  I will not be indexing our recs this week, there are simply too many of them. Next week's episode will return to the DIGITAL MINES as we talk about "The Social Network," David Fincher's symphony for the end of human communication. Check it out!!!

Ellis and Corbin talk about post-continuity infused, found footage horror extravaganza PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Topics include: real estate in 2006 (the true horror), why there wasn't a second demonologist in San Diego at the time, the editing style, HDR cameras, porn aesthetics, and other stuff. Read some Fabulous Criticisim about Paranormal Activity here.  NOTICE: OUR NEXT EPISODE IS NOT ABOUT THE SOCIAL NETWORK, LIKE WE SAID HERE. It is about "A Married Couple." Watch it here. 

We had to do it, so we did. Topics include: the insane camera setup they used on this, Cameron: Movie Napoleon, the...particular aesthetics, and the faint nostalgia for Michael Bay real heads feel while watching this thing. There's stuff we like about it, too.  Read this to learn stuff about Avatar.  Ellis rec here. Corbin rec'd a video game, again. Next week: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. 

Speed Racer. It's a masterwork. It also might give you a headache. We must live in that contradiction. Topics: Comic Books and post-continuity cinema, the movie's collage-like qualities, the alternate vision for Hollywood it presents, and the movie as a product of globalization.  Matt's recommendation. Corbin's. Next episode is about "Avatar," which you can watch on Disney+, if you dare. 

Ellis and Corbin and ERIC MARSH discuss "Che: Part One," Steven Soderbergh's process-oriented tale of the Cuban Revolution, and the first movie ever shot on a 4K Movie Camera. Topics include: Oakley Sunglasses, Soderbergh during this time, digital cinematography blessing his particular way of working, and why CAPITALIST STREAMING PLATFORMS make this movie hard to watch.  Ellis: 'Song at the end is "Carlos Puebla – Hasta Siempre, Comandante," which is about Che.' Our next episode is about SPEED RACER. Tremble in fear.   

Eyy! Rachel Getting Married! It's a heavy movie! We talk about Ann Hathaway playing into public type, the incredibly strange casting, Demme as a physical filmmaker working in a kinetic-digital world, rehab, European family vs American Family, 'Realism,' and other stuff. Hey: there's a weird little background sound in this episode. Sorry we hope it doesn't drive you insane. We were recording at Workers' Tap and the music was a little loud. We swear the episode is good enough that you will be able to ignore it. Interesting interview about the movie's sound mixing here. Good essay comparing the movie to Mike Leigh's work here. Matt recommends the new Adam Curtis thing. It's called 'Shifty.' Corbin recommends "On Fire" by Galaxie 500. Our Next Episode is about "Che," a movie that is very hard to watch on the internet. More information on this in the audio of the episode. 

Some big news: Corbin and Matt lost their minds and recorded about film academy stuff for two hours. Our topic is Hollywood Continuty and its accelerants and defectors, which we process through the frame of Tony Scott's 2006 sort-of-sci-fi movie Deja Vu. Topics are wide and varied and include: comic book storytelling, film scanning, the digital console, Jim Caviezel, Ozu (again), and Michael Bay, the angel and the demon in one manifestation and the role of superhero movies in rebelling AGAINST post-continuity.  Read  Bordwell on late (intensified) continuity here. Read Shaviro on Post-Continuity here. Corbin rec's Mulaney's latest special, which is not NEW. Matt rec's his own Substack.  Next week's episode is about RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. check that out it's great

We still got a will and a burning rage to win, folks, because Ellis and Corbs are talking about WALK HARD! Topics: Non-linear editing and audience testing, Judd Apatow, John C. Reilly, bizzaro Phil Hoffman, the evolving form of the comedy star during this time, the superior (but rarely seen) director's cut of this movie, and the weird line between parody and pastiche the movie straddles. Weirdly long? Corbin's Reco Here. Matt recommends The Ankler, a newsletter about Da Movie Buziness.  Next week's episode is an episode about post continuity. Check out "Deja Vu" by Tony Scott and one of the Michael Bay Transformers movies if you want to be totally abreast of the thing we're doing but it's not necessary. 

Corbin and Matt ride their horses across the Digital Frontiers and arrive at BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, a world-historic bummer that legendary director Sidney Lumet stages in a series of disgusting interiors. Also PSH drops a bunch of rocks on a glass table. It's excruciating.  Corbin recommends a donut shop. Matt recommends "The Studio," on Apple TV. Next week's episode is about "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," which you might have to rent? Sorry.