Movie Bones cover art

Movie Bones

Movie Bones

Written by: Justin Miller
Listen for free

About this listen

Movie Bones is a film podcast adventure, exploring the rich history of movies available from free-streaming platforms to find out how much of it still has value, whether it's in the form of thought-provoking art-house films to cheesy cult classics. Justin Miller and Ryan Spurlock subject themselves to it all, and render judgement.

And because the best adventures are shared, we hope you'll watch them alongside us. Especially because we talk spoilers. Did we mention that? I guess now we did. New episodes every Wednesday.


If any of this sounds like your jam, feel free to follow us on your favorite podcast platform.

Here's how we rate the films we dig up, based, naturally, on that most famous film archaeologist himself, Indiana Jones...


“Fortune & Glory” films are pure gold. They're movies to go back to again and again. These are the films would find a great home in your physical movie library, if you've still got one - they're that good.

“Trust Me” films are imperfect gems that still offer a really good time. Buy a digital copy to stream if you want to make sure you always have access to it.

“Belongs in a Museum”: If you think of museums as places you pay to get in to see things you wouldn’t necessarily want to bring home with you, then you’ve got a good feel for this category. If you can’t find these movies for free on sites like Tubi, you might still consider renting them off one of the paid platforms when the mood strikes.

“Bad Dates”, happen when ‘free’ is the only price you’d be willing to pay to experience it, and only because at least one person showed up to make a good film. It could be the special effects were ahead of their time, the stunning cinematography, or some other aspect. But generally speaking, these are once-and-done films. Once you’ve seen it, you’ve gotten everything out of it you’ll ever get.

“Don’t Look At It”. Movies so bad they’ll melt your face off, whether from boredom or some really horrible sensibilities, and nobody doing ‘their best’ could make it worth enduring again. If you've taken the chance to watch it along side Ryan and me, we make no apologies, because part of what makes this podcast journey unique is the shared risk of the occasional exploding head!

“Nuke the Fridge”; A category reserved for films that manage to be fun because they’re bad in entertaining ways. You know the kind. This is kind of a ‘modifier’ category, that’ll often be applied alongside one of the other ratings.

“Kill it with FIRE”; A new basement category, to only be used sparingly. This is our "Break glass in case of Emergency" basket. Films in this category don't just have horrible sensibilities, but go out of their way to feature them as an integral part of the plot and theme so you can't just wait them out. First appears in our review of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", and hopefully will never again!


Don't forget to share your thoughts on our Facebook page!

All rights reserved.
Art
Episodes
  • Episode 094 - "The Brain From Planet Arous" (1957)
    Jan 7 2026

    This week, Justin and Ryan dig into 'The Brain from Planet Arous' (1957) and talk about...




    - Can a sci-fi film be less concerned with explaining what the rules are?

    - "Is he dead?"

    - Fiction's best detective is not Batman, but random nameless small-town sheriff.

    - Ridiculously overpowered villain foiled by easily foil-able plot.

    - Brain dude doesn't need to possess a human to threaten Earth, but it's fun, so...

    - Why our note-taking system should probably incorporate a sarcasm tag

    - Why the *dog*?

    - Missed potential: Alien-possession couples-therapy

    - Even 'good' alien brains are sexist, because 50's

    - Is Mystery Mountain *really* that rarely visited?

    - Neat concept, but...

    - Everybody's wooden - except Steve. And Steve makes up for everyone else

    - The women-preparing-food trope

    - Does the FBI accept alien possession" as the reason why you're not really a threat any more?

    - Our Verdict

    - Next week's film: 'The Taming of the Shrew' (1967)



    Did we get the movie wrong? Tell us why! And let us know what films you think we should cover.

    Join in the discussion on our Youtube channel or Facebook page!


    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • Episode 093 - "The Thin Man" (1934)
    Dec 31 2025

    This week, Justin and Ryan dig into 'The Thin Man' (1934) and talk about...


    https://tubitv.com/movies/100045809/the-thin-man



    - a 'light' noir piece

    - Nick and Nora: a couple for the ages

    - the smartest guy in the room, sans arrogance

    - A *relationship* for the ages

    - the amazing popular streak of "The Thin Man" series

    - The real-life platonic relationship between the leads

    - One-take directors, like Ed Wood, but actually good

    - When the couple steals the show from the genre

    - Our Verdict

    - Next week's film: 'The Brain from Planet Arous' (1957)



    https://archive.org/details/brain-from-planet-arous-1957



    Did we get the movie wrong? Tell us why! And let us know what films you think we should cover.

    Join in the discussion on our Youtube channel or Facebook page!


    Show More Show Less
    26 mins
  • Episode 092 - "Scrooge" (1951)
    Dec 24 2025

    This week, Justin and Ryan dig into 'Scrooge' (1951) and talk about...


    https://tubitv.com/movies/100011055/scrooge-black-white-version



    - Should they have just gone full camp/comedy with this?

    - What this version *does* have that others could do better with

    - Dickins' own thoughts on "A Christmas Carol"

    - We list all the "Christmas Carols" we can think of, and where this one ranks.

    - Rating the three ghosts

    - Not standing out among its peers.

    - Our biggest complaints with the original story.

    - Our Verdict

    - Next week's film: 'The Thin Man' (1934)



    https://tubitv.com/movies/100045809/the-thin-man



    Did we get the movie wrong? Tell us why! And let us know what films you think we should cover.

    Join in the discussion on our Youtube channel or Facebook page!

    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
No reviews yet