This week on Take 2, Carrie joins Brennan to nominally discuss 2018’s Love, Simon although it’s mainly just tangents about coming out, improving the world, and swallowing.
Our next podcast topic comes to us thanks to Patreon subscriber Not Fenimore, who has left us with an intriguingly open-ended topic: our top 5 movies for parents. Whether this means the top 5 movies for parents who have been conscripted into watching movies with their kids, the top 5 movies for parents to use as teachable moments about life or morality or such things, the top 5 movies for parents to learn how to handle their children, or something else entirely, has been left as an exercise for the list-maker. Tune in next Monday to find out how the three of us all defined that phrase, and learn what two people who are themselves parents, as well as one avowed child-hater, think makes for good parenting media.
In Worth Mentioning, we cover A Quiet Place, Part II, Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Paper Tigers.
This week on Take 2, Tim joins Brennan to break down everything Conjuring, Annabelle, Nun, Llorona, and whatever the hell else James Wan and company throw at the wall to see if it sticks!
Join us for our ranking of all 9 films, the struggle to figure out the series timeline, and the Greatest Showmanization of Ed and Lorraine Warren!
Well, we successfully rallied together to compile our Summer Movie Preview 2021 pull ourselves from our pessimistic trenches and look forward towards a new year with new theatrical possibilities! We know you may not share our optimism, just yet, but with the possibility of seeing A Quiet Place Part II together in a theater on the horizon, nothing can crush our spirits. For fun, we even went back to our last Summer movie preview and it's hard to believe that was TWO YEARS AGO.
Personally, I think we've come up with some very fine lists, most of which I'm excited to see (except F9, because Tim's the last person that actually watches those). While it certainly doesn't feel laden with masterpieces, there's enough to keep us interested taking our freshly vaccinated-selves to a well-spaced theater.
Throughout the Summer, we'll each pick away at each other's lists until we've seem all of the films we've discussed on the episode. When all is said and done, Tim will lock himself away and crunch the numbers to see who collectively had the best list of the year.
On this episode's worth mentioning we cover two patreon requests (and also two of Tim's favorites) F is for Fake and House (1977), as well as, Army of the Dead.
Our next Movie Club meetup is coming!
Movie Club Movie Meetup is Thursday, May 27th – Mark your calendars! If you're not a Movie Club member, you can sign up here!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
There was a tie in the poll for this month’s Bride of Alternate Ending, so Tim and Brennan are moving one of those fateful picks on over to the main feed and picking up a Carrie along the way! That’s right, we’re talking CASPER and the mass Devon Sawa sexual awakening that struck America’s tweens in 1995.
With the 14-month freeze at the North American box office starting to melt over the last few weeks, and looking to melt even more over the next few weeks, the Alternate Ending crew thought this would be a great time to celebrate the theatrical experience. Our next episode is dedicated to our picks for the top 5 movies to see on the big screen, the kind of film where watching it even on your fancy 4K home theater rig just isn't enough, whether because of the sheer scale of the images, the need for a raucous, enthusiastic crowd, or the chance to give strangers handjobs in the dark.
In Worth Mentioning we cover Stowaway, Things Heard and Seen, and The Kid Detective.
As a followup to Alternate Ending’s Oscars recap episode, Tim is joining Brennan this week to discuss EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA, the Oscar-nominated song “Húsavík,” and the state of the Best Original Song Oscar in general!
The Oscars are over and I think we can say a collective "well, that was weird". The location, the speeches, the music trivia? On this 93rd Academy Awards dedicated episode we cover all of our Oscars 2021 reactions. We take a look at the best and worst moments, out thoughts on the upsets and the usual end to the whole affair. To be fair, it's not all bad. In fact, we find a whole handful of things that we really enjoyed. Most notably, it seems highly probable that somebody phoned in the 75+ humor troop, but I digress.
I should mention that there is a glaring miss on talking about the best dressed, so to be clear it was of course Viola Davis. **sizzle**
I would be remiss not to mention the Oscar Predictions contest! The rankings among us came in where you might expect, but with Tim bringing in 17 correct predictions that left Rob and I only 2-3 behind! That said, there are wiser (or better guessing) humans amongst us, so with a 19 correct answers, we announce the winner(s) of the 2021 Oscar Prediction Contest! Thanks for playing along with us!
In worth mentioning, we share our thoughts on the newest installment of Mortal Kombat and it's own highs and lows. Tim brings his "I'm not going to commit that it's the best film of the year, but I think it's probably the film of the year" pick with Twentieth Century.
Our next Movie Club meetup is coming!
Movie Club Movie Trivia is Friday, April 30th – Mark your calendars! If you're not a Movie Club member, you can sign up here!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
We made it to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier SEASON FINALE and we're feeling pretty proud. I guess the old adage is true "misery loves company," because I was feeling pretty solid about the collective AE jabs at the cheesy writing and blatant social commentary. Though, I overheard a gal tell Rob on a work call that she is "absolutely loving The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," that it's her "favorite Marvel series" and that she "loves it way more than Wandavision. Of course all of this feels completely absurd, but to each their own.
As I've mentioned (so many times) this show has led us down so many different tangents. We've met so many characters and only somewhat understand their motivations and we're left conflicted about what would even be satisfying for us at the point. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier SEASON FINALE ends up attempting the not-so-small feat of tying up every possible loose end. To add to the intrepidness, they roll all of this into the last 10 minutes of the episode.
To focus on the positive a bit, we do see that The Falcon has emerged anew, which some slick new gear. He is in fact, no longer The Falcon, but instead a flying Captain America. I have a whole set of issues with this, but you can listen to the episode to see if you agree.
All in all, would we personally recommend this series? Well, we'll talk about that on the episode too!
In our shows Worth Mentioning segment, we get a little personal comfort food, if you will. Brennan brings his thoughts on one his his childhood favorites, Animorphs. Rob talks about a new docuseries This Is A Robbery, that he's been watching when I fall asleep at 9pm. I cover the first episode of My Love: Six Stories of True Love, which I feel embarrassed about even as I type (but I'm probably going to keep watching on the ole' Nordictrack).
Share your thoughts on the episode in the comments or pre-submit your thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode we're covering to contact@alternatenending.com to get in on the discussion!
Episodes in this series:
New World Order S1 E1
The Star-Spangled Man S1 E2
Power Broker S1 E3
The Whole World Is Watching S1 E4
Truth S1 E5
Episodes will be released every Wednesday!
Next Up! By Patreon request, we'll be diving head first into the first season of The Nevers. We hope you'll watch along with us!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
5 episodes down, 1 to go! The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E5, brings us... honestly, it's hard to remember. We recorded the episode 3 days ago and it's already a blur. If I'm remembering the high points correctly, it went something like: The fake Captain America gets relieved of his hero status and they ask nicely for him to return his shield whenever is convenient for him. Then the Falcon decides to pass off his wings to Torres, begging the question of whether or not this will make his Super Hero name awkward (maybe Wingless Wonder? Un-wing? We'll keep wordsmithing it a bit more). We get a random, but always welcome, cameo from "Elaine-from-Seinfeld" which only adds to the open questions that need to be resolved in this week's final episode. We were excited see Isaiah Bradley again, who provided some sage advice to The Falcon. These keen insights from his experienced mentor are completely disregarded, leading to a strange (and very lengthy) training montage that indicates Captain America's shield can be easily wielded by, just about everyone. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E5 has continued to bring us new characters and at this point we think it's best bet for ending would be to conclude like The Bob Newhart Show. We shall see!
In our shows Worth Mentioning segment, we get a little personal comfort food, if you will. Brennan brings his thoughts on The Office (which is probably retro for him, while Rob and I watched them "live" back in the old days). Rob talks about this super fun show Mythic Quest, which is basically the equivalent of The Office for gamers. And my show, well, I don't want to talk about it.
We are literally a week away from the Oscars and we're all (just Rob and I, actually) scrambling to see as many Oscar nominees as we can, in advance. Like all good procrastinators, we're taking our time to look back at years past at the best awards winners in the Academy's history, with our picks for the Top 5 Acting Oscar Winners!
For an added treat, Tim also drops in his bottom 5 acting Oscar winning performances. We all breathed a deep sigh of relief when Jessica Tandy narrowly escaped his list.
We had a lot to catch up on and lots of news to share! In worth mentioning, Rob reviews The Sleepover, Tim shares his big feelings on Chaos Walking and the crew decides to gang up on Carrie for her lack of film watching, while she was away at her Grandfather's memorial service this week.
Our Amazon movie rental winner for their Top 5 Acting Oscar Winners submission was Snad321, yay you! And, we are ever-so sorry for making it weird and accidentally calling you Snads. Rob needs more sleep.
Movie Club Movie Trivia is Friday, April 30th - Mark your calendars!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
Well, we're still here. Here at Alternate Ending, we're nothing, if not resilient. I'm sort of joking, but as we make our way through The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E4, the lingering feeling that this show was made solely for my Dad, is growing. I know we mentioned on our last episode that there were quite a few plot points to wrap up, but this episode has chosen to only unravel the spool more.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E4 brings us my favorite Marvaleers - the Wakandans are in town and they are NOT happy with Zemo. Ayo gives Barnes eight hours to use Zemo before the Wakandans take him. Zemo helps find sweet, innocent Carly Morgenthau at a funeral for her adoptive mother. Wilson speaks with Morgenthau alone and attempts to persuade her to end the violence, but because he sucks and nobody wants to listen to him, a fight breaks out. Lots more fighting, lots more wanting the super serum and yada yada. Morgenthau accidentally kills Hoskins and yada yada. THEN Walker wigs out and that's pretty much the episode.
We still don't know who the Power Broker is, Captain Underpants, I mean Walker is rogue and Zemo is just meandering around giving kids candy. It really does force you to ask yourself, how can this possibly resolve itself and more importantly, do we even care?
In our shows Worth Mentioning segment, things get a little weird (and it's always my fault) as I bring to the table docuseries about essential oils and the tantra (tAHntra? taaaantra?) to the dismay of everybody. Meanwhile Brennan brings something that sounds much more interesting with the show Money Heist and Rob shares a bit of insight into his odd obsession with youth sports with his review of the Netflix series Last Chance U. OH! And Rob and I are also pretty deep into Made for Love, the new hit on HBO Max, and we're really into it!
Share your thoughts on the episode in the comments or pre-submit your thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode we're covering to contact@alternatenending.com to get in on the discussion!
Episodes in this series:
New World Order S1 E1
The Star-Spangled Man S1 E2
Power Broker S1 E3
Episodes will be released every Wednesday!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
As a followup to Alternate Ending’s Top 5 Rivalries episode, Brennan is sitting down with Take 2 virgin Rob to discuss TWILIGHT, how it ended up on his list, and why he took it right the hell off!
Well, we made our way through The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E3, we're half way there! This episode brought a few fun surprises, a flurry of new characters and a hefty smattering of loose ends. There is absolutely no way that this show can resolve itself in any sort of satisfying way, in only 3 more episodes, but godspeed to the writers.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E3 provides us more insight into the motivations of the Flag Smashers and leaves us grappling with who we really should to be rooting for (not a point that we entirely agree on). We also meet a few powerhouse ladies and dive into the different aspects of representation Marvel is infusing in each episode.
In our "shows worth mentioning" segment, Brennan brings a recap of all of the Animated Oscar Shorts and I brought my perspective on this terrible little mini-doc The Last Cruise.
Share your thoughts on the episode (or shows that you're loving!!) in the comments or pre-submit your thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode we're covering to contact@alternatenending.com to get in on the discussion!
Episodes in this series:
New World Order S1 E1
The Star-Spangled Man S1 E2
Power Broker S1 E3
Episodes will be released every Wednesday!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
With Godzilla squaring off against King Kong (for the second time!), we've turned our attention to some of the best versus-es in cinema history. We're getting ready to fight about the top 5 rivalries in movie history, the antagonism and fighting and lifelong grudges and discovering that you both have mothers with the first name "Martha", and all of it.
In Worth Mentioning, we cover Godzilla vs Kong, Assassin 33 A.D. and WeWork.
I'm calling it now, I don't think this is going to be my favorite show of all time (we can't all be Friends), but nevertheless, we're back with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E2, because it's fun to commiserate about the flare and flaws that come with millions of Disney's dollars.
Admittedly, we were feeling the love (well more like, a solid first date where nobody does anything creepy) for episode 1. I don't know if the high just wore off a bit, but we collectively were feeling a bit blaahhh about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E2. If you've seen the episode, you be the judge if our thoughts jive with yours or if we just were feeding off of each others pessimism.
In other good news, my Dad reached out this week and after 3 short months of Rob telling him about Wandavision being on Disney+, he called to confirm how to login to his TV and wondered how to find WonderWanda. So what I'm saying is, this TV advocacy is really paying off.
We hope you'll share your thoughts on the episode (or shows that you're loving!!) in the comments or pre-submit your thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode we're covering to contact@alternatenending.com to get in on the discussion!
Episodes will be released every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks.
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
As a followup to Alternate Ending’s Top 5 Belated Sequels, Brennan is sitting down with Carrie to discuss a movie both of them just watched for the very first time… ROCKY!
Join us as we discuss the moments in the film that haven’t aged quite so well, Carrie drops a bizarre truth bombs about the biology of empathy pain, and we generally just have a conversation that certainly won’t make anyone mad under any circumstances!
As soon as we hit 4 content feedback survey submissions and with 50% of those saying they were interested in a podcast dedicated to television, Rob deemed it necessary that the Alternate Ending community know our immediate feelings on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Unlike Tim, who after a long, stressful day unwinds with a little Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, sometimes Rob and I just won't make it through a 2-hour-and-something movie, by the time the kids have come down 17 times to tell us their thirsty or remind us that they hate school. So instead, what usually happens is we have a mini-marital spat about "somebody finding something good" (it's actually not that mini, it's one of our biggest rage-triggers) and one of us ends up wielding the unwanted power of finding something interesting for the next 45 minutes before we drift off.
So we'll just say it in hushed voices. We love TV. There. It's out there. We love movies too, but we also love what TV has to offer our fatigued-parent lives. The other thing is, we love talking about TV too... we bore our friends and neighbors with all of our favorites. It's fair to say that Rob is desperate for TV community... even my Dad is ghosting him...
All that said, the only way Rob could get me on board with starting a pod spin-off is to call this what it is, this is a podcast pilot. A 6 episode pilot - A Worthy Binge, where Rob and I will be joined by Brennan Klein to pick our way through the first season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier!
Episodes will be released every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks.
We hope you'll share your thoughts on the episode in the comments or submit your questions our pre-submit your thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode we're covering to contact@alternatenending.com to get in on the discussion!
In Worth Mentioning, we cover Search Party, Servant and BrainDead.
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter
Brennan Letterboxd – Rob Letterboxd – Carrie Letterboxd
With a big thank you to Patreon subscriber Carter, we officially had the most fun we've had in a LONG TIME covering our Top 5 belated sequels. Despite having more overlap than we've had in awhile, we still manage to find ourselves carefully belittling each others picks. You know, like real friends do.
We had a lot to catch up on and lots of news to share! In worth mentioning, Rob reviews Flora & Ulysses and Carrie brings her loving feelings for I Care A Lot. Tim shares is not so loving feelings on Cherry but is able to rebound with much admiration for the Across 110th Street, in celebration of the life and many great performances of Yaphet Kotto. Tim and Rob both commiserate on Zack Snyder's Justice League Parts 2-3, while Carrie briefly naps in her chair.
Thanks to a hilarious "Tim's Sack" submission we all share our most horrifying movie date experience. Ahhhh sweet memories.
Our Amazon movie rental winner this week was Hunter Allen, highly recommend using it to rent Mary Poppins Returns.
Upcoming news:
Thanks to everybody who has already responded to our 2021 Feedback Survey! We've been overwhelmed by the thoughtful feedback and constructive criticism. Your thoughts will directly help us decide where to dedicate our time in Alternate Ending over the next year. If you haven't responded, the survey is open until April 5th!
Movie Club Movie Trivia is Friday, March 26th at 8p cst!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
As a followup to the Spoiler Alert episode discussing Kurosawa’s Kagemusha and Ran, Brennan is sitting down with Tim to discuss the Godzilla franchise, many of which were directed by Kurosawa’s compatriot Honda Ishiro! Join us as we discuss the various horrible forms that baby Godzilla has taken throughout the years, our top (and bottom) 3 Godzilla films, and even get a scoop on next week’s main feed episode!"
I love my kids. Though, between you and me, I also really loved my life before kids too. I've definitely sunken into all of the parenting cliches of glueing finger paintings all over my house, seeing my friends almost never and saying things like "because I said so" a million times a day. The thing is, I swear used to be fun. I never missed a party (like never ever, actually, I probably should have skipped a few). I traveled, hiked, biked, spiked... I was in a band for Godsakes! But having kids is like a constant battle, waged on your sense of self, and they usually win. I said I love my kids, right?
The thing about Yes Day...
I don't think it's a film for everybody. In fact, I know Tim is going to want to claw his ear drums out. But the thing about Yes Day is that I feel seen. Miguel Arteta and the writing team know me. They know that I used to be fun. They know that I thought I was going to be the "fun parent." They know I can't be because my husband is made of unset pudding and can't bear to tell the kids "no". They know that I'm the one that understands the importance of not wasting food. They know that I'm doing the right thing when I don't help them clean up all of their messes. They know that most of the time I feel like a terrible Mom, because trying to raise good humans sometimes means "saying no." **Deep inhales**
Talking with Miguel Arteta
I know I say this all the time, but gosh, what a nice guy. Miguel Arteta is a Puerto Rican director known for his independent film Chuck & Buck , The Good Girl and Like a Boss. It seems like directors are always so relieved when we love their movies. There was an audible weight lifted as we shared that our whole family gave Yes Day a big thumbs up. It's been hard for us to find family films that all of four of us connect with, so lately we've defaulted to some of the classics (DON'T re-watch The Mighty Ducks, DO re-watch Jumanji).
We hope you enjoy hearing more about Yes Day, from Miguel Arteta.
Yes Day is available on streaming March 12, 2021!
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
Real talk. The most common question I get from friends about Alternate Ending is, "how do you juggle it all, on top of jobs and kids and the rest of your life?" The motivational speech answer is, we juggle and take on too much, until one of us feels like we're on the verge of a panic attack and then the other person rises to the occasion, if the other breaks. Feel free to write that down in your wellness journal. On this particular occasion, Rob was on day 5 of the same pair of sweatpants and his face was twitching. And that, is the story of how I ended up going-it-alone on a press interview for Language Lessons with Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales.
So many questions about making Language Lessons
Without having participated in a press junket, I over-planned and prepped a million questions, because what if nobody else remembered to join? Or what if there were only two of us and the other interviewer underprepared and I had to carry the conversation? OR what if Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales realized at the exact same moment that we were destined to be best friends and we ended up talking for hours? As it turns out, real press don't forget about their interviews with movie stars or get confused with time zones and they come prepared with really great questions that make me question everything about my originality.
Why You'll Love Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales
Few movies focus on true platonic friendship. There always seems to be an underlying romantic intent, but in the case of Language Lessons it's ends up being so much more about how our need for human connection and how our empathy drives us forward. I should mention the the film is almost entirely captured on ZOOM, but the screens that separate them do not detract from the characters chemistry. The film's premise is that Adam (Mark Duplass) has been gifted Spanish lessons from his partner Will (Desean Terry) with a young Cuban woman Cariño (Natalie Morales). The film takes such unexpected gut-punching turns that make "another ZOOM" movie uniquely fresh.
Read the full Language Lessons review here from Brennan Klein
*****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
Our next podcast topic comes courtesy of Patreon subscriber Andrew, who had a simple request: watch and discuss two of the richest, most exhausting costume dramas ever filmed. It's a Spoiler Alert this time around, as we dive deep into the late epics by the legendary Japanese director Kurosawa Akira: the 1980 Palme d'Or winner Kagemusha, and the monumental King Lear adaptation Ran, from 1985. That's almost six hours of the most sumptuous pageantry Japanese cinema (or world cinema, for that matter) has to offer, and six hours of the most morally complicated anti-war fury as well. It's no small task to undertake both of these movies in one go, but we're up for the challenge!
In Worth Mentioning we're cover Tom & Jerry, Coming 2 America, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Raya and the Last Dragon, Language Lessons and Yes Day.
At the Ready premiered at Sundance 2021 and I was super excited about it. It appeared on my most anticipated films of Sundance list, in fact. The headline reads "a group of seniors train to become border control agents at El Paso's Horizon High School, near the US/Mexico border." I surmised that the film would feature stupid kids that don't have a big-picture view on humanity. Then, over the course of At the Ready I was going to feel all warm and fuzzy as these kids are given an education on empathy and how we treat other humans. Well, I was wrong. The the small-minded view on humanity, instead fell on me.
A bit about At the Ready
At the Ready is a documentary that aims to show the world "in the gray". Immigration is such a polarizing topic and the last several years have pushed us into very tightly woven perspectives. At the Ready focuses on El Paso, Texas because its demographic is predominantly hispanic, so the officers who police the border are largely of Mexican descent. At the Ready focuses on the lives of a handful of students that are a part of this "border control" training program so that we can better understand the perspectives of why in the world this job would be appealing. I'll offer a bit about the gray parts (but I encourage you to see At the Ready for yourself). Not to mince words, these jobs are very well-paid and offer solid benefits. Beyond that, in El Paso, border agents are seen as jobs that actually are a service to not only the US, but also to families coming to the border. In fact, the perspective is as a border agent you are helping to guide and provide needed services. The job is respected and valued in the community. Admittedly, with my 2000 mile away view from Madison, WI, I just always pictured a bunch of dudes with buzz cuts, that got picked on in high school and decided they wanted to exert control over people in need. But see, there's that small-minded view.
Sitting down with Maisie Crow
I told Crow right out of the gate that I see the world in black and white. Then she told me she sees the world in the gray (which is the accurate way to see the world, btw). So what I'm saying is, the interview went well. Crow shared how her background in reporting enables her to share the origins of perspectives she may not sure. I asked her if it's difficult to not feel the frustration of documenting the adults and educators who express ideologies incongruous to her own. She said no, it's not hard. Because she's a documentarian and not an emotionally-charged psychopath like me. Well, she didn't say that last part, but she thought it for sure.
****************************************************************
Love the Podcast? Leave us a review!
Other places to follow Alternate Ending.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of Take 2, a sideshow hosted by AE contributor Brennan Klein, where every other week we will dive deep into a movie mentioned on the previous episode.
As a followup to the Top 5 Love Scenes episode, Brennan is sitting down with Carrie to discuss a movie she had never seen before: 2005’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN!
Join us as we discuss our differing opinions on who is the more frustrating partner, Carrie goes to great lengths to make sure she can see every detail of the tent scene, and Brennan teaches her about a LOT of gay sex stuff!