Alternate Ending - Movie Review Podcast

Earlier this year, the classic sci-fi anime film Ghost in the Shell received a long-gestating, hugely unnecessary live-action remake. But hey, necessary or not, we're fans of stylish sci-fi around these parts, so it seemed like a good excuse to finally catch up with the new film. Better still, we're going to be taking a look at both versions of Ghost in the Shell, the 1995 masterpiece as well as the 2017 flop, continuing Rob & Carrie's slow but steady education in the ways of anime. In Worth Mentioning, Tim shares his thoughts on the horror feature Ouija: Origin of Evil and the whole crew dishes on Dunkirk.

So this weekend, the long-awaited The Emoji Movie finally opened and we're... well... so anyway, The Emoji Movie is definitely coming out. There was nothing any of us can do to stop that, but here at Alternate Ending, we're going to make the best of it anyway. We're celebrating movies that make us feel just all kinds of feelings: movies that make you

War! Huh! Good God, y'all! What is good for? Absolutely nothing, other than serving as the backdrop for some of the best & most famous movies in the history of the medium. And with Christopher Nolan's impending Dunkirk self-consciously bringing back the grand-scale production of the war epics of old, we've decided it's the perfect time to share our picks for the best war movies ever made. In the Worth Mentioning segment, Rob and Carrie finally get to Spirited Away, Carrie chats The Big Sick and Tim talks Merantau.

This past weekend, War for the Planet of the Apes made a trilogy out of one of the most unexpectedly satisfying and successful reboots of recent vintage. To get ourselves warmed up for this third round of nihilistic monkey business, the Alternate Ending crew revisited the first two films that got us to this point: 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. In worth mentioning, Tim discusses The Big Sick, which is one of Carrie's top 5 anticipated movies of the Summer. Meanwhile, Carrie and Rob return the favor taking on one of Tim's top 5 anticipated movies of the Summer with The Beguiled.

Spider-Man: Homecoming arrived in theaters, the third big superhero vehicle of the summer, and the fifth of the year. With all four of them making it onto the list of the year's six highest-grossing films to date (look for Homecoming to effortlessly join them), I think we can safely say that 2017 is shaping up to be just about the most superheroic year ever. So what better time for the Alternate Ending crew to share our picks for the best superhero movies ever made? In the spirit of superheroes, Tim brings in one of his faves Batman: Mask of the Phantasm to the worth mentioning segment, while Carrie shares her thoughts on the aforementioned Spider-Man: Homecoming and Rob talks about a Wisconsin born film in Feed the Fish.

The maybe-not-so-long-awaited sequel T2 Trainspotting hits DVD recently and we're letting curiosity get the better of us. On this Spoiler Alert episode, we're going to take a look at both T2 and its 1996 predecessor Trainspotting - and just to make things more interesting, it's going to be Carrie's first time seeing either film. In worth mentioning, Carrie discusses a family favorite with Big Hero 6, meanwhile Tim chats about the latest Netflix original movie to drop to streaming with Okja and Rob unpacks whether or not he thinks Baby Driver is worth the all the hype.

This week, Transformers: With King Arthur Now, Apparently? Whatever storms its way into theaters, and that's gotten the Alternate Ending crew excited to think about robots. Killer Terminator-style robots; romantic WALL·E-style robots; and all the robots in between. And that's why we're going to be sharing our favorite robots in movie history on our next podcast. From totally inhuman machines, like R2-D2 in Star Wars, to the more-human-than-human tragic killers of Blade Runner, robots of every shape, size, and function will be on our lists, and we'd love to hear you takes as well. During worth mentioning Tim shares Miss Hokusai, while Carrie catches up on one of her top 5 most anticipated movies of the summer with The Book of Henry and Rob finally caves into Netflix and watches War Machine.

Cars 3 is the 18th feature film released by Pixar Animation Studios, and quite possibly the least-anticipated one yet. That said, we're still going to celebrate, by sharing our picks for the five best films in the studio's 22-year history; a harder task than it seems, given how many of those 18 put in a claim to being among the best animated films of the modern age. In addition, Tim brings Train to Busan to the worth mentioning segment while Carrie and Rob catch-up with Beauty and the Beast (2017).

Universal is making a second Hail Mary throw at establishing a cinematic monster movie universe all in one go, with The Mummy. And this would seem like an obvious bad move, except that somehow, The Mummy has picked up one of the last of the great Movie Stars to headline it, Tom Cruise. Whatever you want to say about the man, there's no doubt that he picks unique projects more than any other actor in his price range, and with his exclusive focus on tentpoles. So to celebrate The Mummy, we're going to share our picks for the best Tom Cruise vehicles, from his early films to his 1983 breakout Risky Business, right on up to last year's Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The gang also makes good on their commitment to see Wonder Women and each of them share their thoughts as part of worth mentioning. Don't forget to listen to the podcast every week to see if you've won our free Amazon movie rental!

The Alternate Ending gang tackles a Spoiler Alert: Dark City episode. The sci-fi film noir directed by Alex Proyas. Roger Ebert's pick for the best film of 1998, Dark City is a dazzlingly designed mystery in the spirit of Blade Runner, and it anticipates much of the landscape of sci-fi movies in the years that followed. We're watching this film thanks to a donation from Caleb Wimble, who subscribed to one of our high-level Patreon packages. If you'd like to select the subject for our podcast one week, take a look at the offers available on our Patreon page! For worth mentioning, Tim goes with the flick 31, Rob picks The Dressmaker which Amazon has been pushing and Carrie rounds it out with Caleb's pick of Paprika.

Being on the cusp of a pretty big summer release in the form of Wonder Woman - Carrie's most anticipated movies of the summer, as you might recall - we're celebrating history's most famous female superhero making her big-screen solo debut by discussing a very different kind of strong woman role model with the our top five businesswomen. As for what exactly makes a great movie businesswoman, that's going to be a matter of some debate. Carrie shares a gem in the Worth Mentioning segment with What If while Rob bring Denial to the table.  

One-third of the Alternate Ending cohort had never seen any of the movies in everybody's favorite sci-fi//horror/action saga, the Alien series. To rectify that terrible oversight, and also to help all the rest of us get ready for the impending release of Alien: Covenant, we take a closer look at all the films in the classic run of the franchise: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986) Alien³ (1992),  Alien Resurrection (1997), Prometheus (2012), and Alien Covenant (2017) with our Spoiler Alert: The Alien Movies episode. Who's the real master of the xenomorphs, Ridley Scott or James Cameron? Just how damn great is Sigourney Weaver in these films, anyway? How do we feel about the genre-hopping across these movies? Is Resurrection really THAT bad?

In celebration of Mother’s Day, the crew discusses their picks for Top 5 Moms. And while perspectives on what qualifies as a great Mom movie are drastically different, they all share the common thread, that there is in fact a Mom…in the movie. You be the judge on whose Mommy issues shine through the brightest. Additional coverage includes Carrie’s education on the proper way to consume a Zima and Rob shows off his opera pipes, to the dismay of pretty much everyone. We would be remiss to not call out our movies worth mentioning this week. Carrie continued her quest to watch every Tom Hanks movie ever made with, A Hologram for the King. Tim picks up a romantic little flick, TiMER, for which both Rob and Carrie can commiserate. And Rob, pulls it in with a the in-theater review of Colossal.  

What happened to Carrie and what did it have to do with the Kentucky Derby?! This week, a very special double-feature episode of Spoiler Alert. To celebrate the recent DVD & Blu-ray release of La La Land, Tim and Rob take a second look at the Oscar-winning crowd pleaser, our collective pick for the best film of 2016. But at Tim's insistence, we're also going to take a look at one of the films that most directly influenced Damien Chazelle in concocting his film: the 1964 French masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the best-known film by the great Jacques Demy. In worth mentioning, Tim and Rob both had a chance to take-in Rob's #1 most anticipated movie of the Summer Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The summer movie season is upon us and so is our Top 5 Anticipated Summer Movies 2017 episode. Starting this season off is Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and we can't wait to see what the highlights (and bombs) of popcorn cinema are going to be. What's going to be the best and biggest movie of the next four months - Christopher Nolan's WWII epic Dunkirk? The third in the surprisingly successful Planet of the Apes prequel franchise? Or will all comers have to settle for second place behind the mighty power of The Emoji Movie? In worth mentioning, Tim actually watches a movie with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), while Carrie barely cracks Texas Heart (2016) and Rob shares what should be a summer movie with Fate of the Furious (2017).

In honor of Earth Day, the Alternate Ending team is celebrating movies about the environment and the marvelous, fragile planet we all share with a Top 5 Environmental Movies episode. In the Worth Mentioning segment, Carrie brings Split to the table while Rob shares another James McAvoy flick Victor Frankenstein.

During the Top 5 Religious Movies last week, the audience had a clear cut favorite at number one which Carrie hadn't seen and Tim hadn't reviewed, so we turned it into our Spoiler Alert: Dogma episode. In worth mentioning this week a couple of big trailers dropped, Carrie brings in Mr. Right, meanwhile Rob spills on Deepwater Horizon.

Just in time for Easter the gang weigh in on their top 5 religious movies. In addition, Rob share his thoughts on the 2016 blockbuster Suicide Squad, Carrie catches her book club book on the big screen with A Man Called Ove and Tim brings a Wisconsin Film Festival pick to the table with The Gold of Naples. 

Tim and Rob put Carrie's recommendation of I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore to the test by making it a Spoiler Alert episode. Rob brings Hunt for the Wilderpeople to the table for worth mentioning, while Carrie talks Demolition and Tim shares the little known Kedi.

While not a formal spoiler episode, Carrie and Rob reveal their top 5 twists. Along the way they discuss kid tantrums and both pick Everybody Wants Some!! along with Rear Window as worth mentioning picks.