The Pacific Northwest Insurance Corporation Moviefilm Podcast

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!  

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.

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  

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. 

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! 

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.  

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. 

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' 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. 

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! 

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!

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. 

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. 

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

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.  

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,' available on Criterion. 

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.