Spineless: The Future Films of 4K

On today’s episode of Spineless (in which we agree that animation is actually cinema please don’t hate us Guillermo), Nick and Brennan discuss the 2019 Academy Award-nominated animated feature I LOST MY BODY. Does this movie still have a profound effect on Nick? What’s the best way to kill a fly? Did Scott Pilgrim have a negative effect on society? Does the rage virus from 28 Years Later affect ha...

Just to clarify: YES we all agree with Natasha Lyonne’s perfect takes on AI usage in the entertainment industry*. The Spineless Boys are once again joined by Adelina Marinello to discuss Jamie Babbitt’s Criterion Collection candidate BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER (1999), a masterpiece of queer satire that is either sadder or funnier than it appears on the surface, depending on who you ask. Is this film ca...

Doesn’t matter. Just keep telling the story. In the most symmetrical episode of Spineless yet, Nick and Brennan discuss Wes Anderson’s 2023 film Asteroid City, one of his few films not already in the Criterion Collection. They talk about the star-studded cast, the compelling but not-dramaturgically-sound use of metanarrative, and how Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch haven’t yet made...

Not my tempo. Film is all about asking questions, and the central question of this week’s film is: Imagine If You Liked Drum? To help answer that question, the Spineless Boys recruit percussionist (and Nick's brother) Daniel Kinney to discuss Damien Chazelle’s breakthrough Whiplash (2014), with surprisingly minimal discussion of Maestro and Red One for a film that involves music and also stars JK...

An obsessed fan will do anything to get what he wants--including....crime??? In a Martin Scorsese picture?!? On this episode of Spineless, Nick and Brennan break down Marty's undersung masterpiece The King of Comedy and the king himself Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), asking questions such as: Why wasn't Jerry Lewis nominated for an Oscar for this performance? Who would be the King of Comedy of th...

If Roger Rabbit asks you to come down into his basement, DO NOT LISTEN!! It just might be the Zodiac speaking. This week on Spineless, Brennan and Nick discuss David Fincher's 2007 crime masterpiece Zodiac, a film which fourteen-year-old Brennan called “extremely terrifying” and also wrote a song about. Brennan and Nick discuss how Fincher subverts and plays within the true crime genre, where they...

Mushroom omelette, anyone? The title may deceive you--there are no phantoms in this movie. Just a very ornery dressmaker. Join Nick and Brennan as they discuss Paul Thomas Anderson’s haute couture character study Phantom Thread, a film that makes the Spineless Boys pose questions such as: Do Vicky Krieps and Daniel Day-Lewis be f***ing? Is this film secretly about Alfred Hitchcock? And, most impor...

We have one question for you: Daddy would you like some sausage? In one of their most delirious episodes yet, Brennan and Nick come to you in-person from the Windy City to discuss 2001’s FREDDY GOT FINGERED, a harbinger of things to come. It’s late at night and they got jewels, sausages, and a truly locked-in performance from Rip Torn on the brain, so get on into your rocket-powered wheelchair and...

Get out your luna juice and get ready to take on Mr. Melancholy: we're going to the Pink Opaque. In this Very Special Episode of Spineless , Nick and Brennan are joined by friend and comedian Robin Borden to discuss Jane Schoenbrun’s 2024 film I Saw The TV Glow, the recipient of a record-setting number of Golden Spine Awards. It’s a real lovefest here as we go over all the reasons this movie cooks...

It's Oscars weekend, and we wanted to get in on the fun...introducing the Golden Spine Awards, Spineless' own awards show celebrating excellence in 2024 cinema. We are joined by Andy Germuga (Cannes I Kick It? podcast) to pick our personal nominees and winners in 8 major categories: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting (x2), and Screenplay (x2). Plus, stick around for our own coveted awar...

You might need tissues for this one folks. On this episode of Spineless, Nick and Brennan muse on love, loss, and adaptation in their discussion of Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk. Horrifically snubbed at the Oscars for 2018, Beale Street is a heartrending portrait of a love torn apart by the societal ills of its time, gorgeously adapted by Jenkins from a masterful novel by James Baldwin...

Two movies. One episode. Several Talking Heads. In their first ever double-feature episode, Nick and Brennan discuss Jonathan Demme’s STOP MAKING SENSE (1984) and Spike Lee’s AMERICAN UTOPIA (2020), two of the greatest concert films of all time and certainly some great purveyors of unhinged David Byrne antics. Nick and Brennan talk about their favorite songs from each film, Brennan's experience se...

In Spineless’ first ever guest episode, The Spineless Boys are joined by Adelina Marinello: actor, playwright, and partner to one Nicholas Kinney, to discuss Charlotte Wells’ melancholy masterpiece AFTERSUN. Adelina thirsts over Paul Mescal and explains her deep connection to the film, Nick shares tidbits from Charlotte Wells' commentary, and Brennan discusses watching the film for the first time....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! For the very first Spineless episode of 2025, Brennan and Nick do a deep dive on Quentin Tarantino's most underrated film: Jackie Brown. A stacked cast, including Rochester native Robert Forster! An expertly orchestrated heist-esque sequence! Countless throwbacks to 70s Blaxploitation films, including Jackie Brown herself, THE Pam Grier! It's all here in QT's third feature, folk...

Christmas Eve. A supernatural force. A shot at redemption. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This week, the Spineless Boys discuss the timeless classic RED ONE (2024). Just kidding, we’re actually talking about Frank Capra’s 1946 masterpiece IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the best film ever made about an uncle named Billy (among other things). Can Brennan and Nick make it through discussing the life-affirming be...

Does anybody have any idea what's going on? Please help...we're CLUELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! In their most chaotic episode yet, Nick and Brennan discuss Amy Heckerling’s bright and bubbly teen comedy CLUELESS while facing the existential threat of an Election Day. Does Cher have a better policy on immigration than Trump? Yes. Does Breckin Meyer look distractingly like a young Shia Laboeuf? Also yes. Is t...

Watch your step, there's Shattered Glass all over the place! On this week’s episode, The Spineless Boys dive in to one of the most underrated films of the early-2000s. No lie here: Nick and Brennan talk about Hayden Christensen’s transformative performance as Stephen Glass, a serial manipulator and one of the first “fake news” cases on the internet, plus Bad Ape, their love of outdated machinery,...

Good eeeeeevvveeening! On the final episode of their SPINE-chilling month of horror, Brennan gives Nick permission to enter and discuss George Romero’s spookily-underrated vampire classic. The Spineless Boys talk about Romero’s love of Pittsburgh and his love of amateur actors, his enduring legacy as horror raconteur, and the fact that Martin looks like Nick, which honestly? Very conceited of him...

On this second spooky episode of Spineless’ Spine-Chilling Month of Horror, Nick and Brennan discuss Zach Cregger’s 2022 film Barbarian, making special note of its wicked smart script, unique marketing campaign, and freaked-up sense of humor. Would this film be better if it starred Alvin and his Chipmunks? Is it the best horror film of the decade so far? And...does it deserve Criterion status? Plu...

*breathy ghost child voice* Father… My movie podcast… To kick off the month of October, Nick and Brennan bring you their SCARIEST EPISODE YET! as they discuss the slow-burn horror classic THE CHANGELING (1980), a movie which stars George C. Scott as Maestro. Take a trip to the The Changeling House (not to be confused with the Changeling House) and try not to poop your pants as The Spineless Boys t...

We love each other so much. On this week’s episode of SPINELESS, Nick and Brennan relive fond memories (for Nick, at least) of seeing the film together at IFC, discuss how Baby Annette is just a baby after all, and debate the merits of Diana: The Musical. Nick brings up the film MAESTRO for the first time in the history of the podcast, but it certainly won’t be the last! Plus, Brennan reads a pass...

What do you call a really good film that’s not Criterion yet? On the inaugural episode of SPINELESS, your fearless hosts Nick and Brennan venture into the sweaty, sweaty jungle to discuss William Friedkin’s 1977 film SORCERER! Pack up your dynamite and drive reeeeaaalllll slow as we discuss the career of the late Mr. Friedkin, the troubled production and release of the film, and, of course, Sorcer...