We've been sitting on this idea for a while, but with Chloe Zhao's Oscar hopeful Hamnet opening this month, it seemed like as good a time as any to finally move forward with one of the biggest topics a film podcast can tackle: big-screen adaptations of the work of Elizabethen/Jacobean playwright William Shakespeare, the most-adapted writer in film history on top of being the most famous name in the history of both English drama and English literature. Such a grand subject deserves a bigger crowd, so this week, Tim is joined by no fewer than three Alternate Ending regulars: Gavin McDowell, Brian Fowler, and Caleb Wimble. Together they discuss what makes a good Shakespeare movie, what we should do with adaptations that discard the original text, and why there are such a disproportionately high number of good Macbeths. Before the main event, our regular movie roundtable covers a wide range of movies, as wide as the number of genres good old Billy S. touched on his career: Brian has caught up with Black Phone 2, Gavin celebrates Armistice Day with nice, pleasant WWI/Armenian genocide movie, 2016's The Promise, Caleb has checked out the brand-new Predator: Badlands, and thanks to Patreon supporter Robin Zimmerman, Tim is here to discuss 2015 cult film Turbo Kid.
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Shakespeare on Film
We've been sitting on this idea for a while, but with Chloe Zhao's Oscar hopeful Hamnet opening this month, it seemed like as good a time as any to finally move forward with one of the biggest topics a film podcast can tackle: big-screen adaptations of the work of Elizabethen/Jacobean playwright William Shakespeare, the most-adapted writer in film history on top of being the most famous name in the history of both English drama and English literature. Such a grand subject deserves a bigger crowd, so this week, Tim is joined by no fewer than three Alternate Ending regulars: Gavin McDowell, Brian Fowler, and Caleb Wimble. Together they discuss what makes a good Shakespeare movie, what we should do with adaptations that discard the original text, and why there are such a disproportionately high number of good Macbeths. Before the main event, our regular movie roundtable covers a wide range of movies, as wide as the number of genres good old Billy S. touched on his career: Brian has caught up with Black Phone 2, Gavin celebrates Armistice Day with nice, pleasant WWI/Armenian genocide movie, 2016's The Promise, Caleb has checked out the brand-new Predator: Badlands, and thanks to Patreon supporter Robin Zimmerman, Tim is here to discuss 2015 cult film Turbo Kid.
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Your Movie Rocks - A Minecraft Movie
Welcome to Your Movie Rocks, an Alternate Ending podcast hosted by Mandy Albert. For every episode, Mandy will watch a movie assigned by her guest host, followed by a lively discussion. There's only one rule: no matter what the movie does to her, Mandy is only allowed to love it. For November's episode, Mandy invites her colleague Inara on to discuss a subject about which Mandy knows practically nothing: cube-based videogame Minecraft. And more importantly, what happens when filmmakers try to convert those cubes into characters for the feature-length A Minecraft Movie, which remains at the start of November the highest-grossing film of 2025 at the U.S. box office. Come for Mandy's bafflement at what there is to this universe beyond "cubes", stay for her emerging theory of good stupid vs bad stupid in art.
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November 2025 Movie Preview
The last Tuesday of the month means it's time for our previews of coming attractions, and to greet the first month with actual for-real blockbusters in a long time, Brennan is joined by Andrew Milne and Gavin McDowell. And while Wicked: For Good and Zootopia 2 are destined to be two of 2025's biggest box office successes, what the team really wants to do is go long on Hamnet, and the nature of making films about William Shakespeare's life and art. Those and other November releases are all covered in the episode, but before that happens, the trio shares their catastrophic picks for a movie roundtable: Gavin with the racist, sexist, and homophobic 1968 crime picture The Detective, Andrew with both parts of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon in their extra-length director's cut form, and Brennan with the brand-new comic disappointment Good Fortune.
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Bride of AE - Popcorn (1991)
As the Autumn of Blood continues, Tim and Brennan munch on 1991's POPCORN! Donate to Brian Fowler's GoFundMe here! Love the Podcast? Leave us a review! Follow Brennan on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd Follow Tim on Letterboxd Support Alternate Ending and check out our member perks, including voting for the films we cover on this program, via the Alternate Ending Patreon page!
Alternate Ending was formed when three friends realized they all shared a passion for movies. Our goal is to save you time and money by sharing our thoughts and recommendations on which movies to race to theaters for, which to watch at home and those to actively avoid.
What makes Alternate Ending different from other film podcasts? Well, we're not 5 dudes in a room talking about our passion for Fight Club and Braveheart. We're two dudes, and a lady, of which our tastes are quite varied. Rob, the film-school dropout, has seen an absurd amount of movies, and if we're being honest, rounds out our Fight Club fan-base. Tim Brayton, our seasoned film critic, shares a more critical view of film, an appreciation for vintage cinema and perhaps limited-release movies that we might otherwise miss. Carrie, our casual movie-goer, reminds us all that cinema is in fact supposed to be fun and entertaining and that sometimes, just sometimes, happy endings are good.
Too many film sites cater to the same kind of audience, with one overwhelming voice in the writing, but what we treasure at Alternate Ending is diversity: diversity of opinion, diversity in belief about what film should do and how it should do it. We want to celebrate our different opinions, and celebrate yours as well.
This isn't a podcast for people who just want to talk about the latest hot new movies in theaters right this minute. This is a place for people who can't get to the theater until the third week a film is out; a place for people who just want to find something great to stream online after the kids have gone to sleep, a place for people whose favorite pastime is to grab a bunch of classic films on DVD from the library and watch them all weekend. It's a place that believes that every great movie is a wonderful new treasure, whether you see it the night of its premiere or fifty years later. It's a site about discovering good movies... one bad movie at a time.
Join us for our weekly review of movies worth seeing, worth avoiding and our Top 5 lists – and don't forget to play along at www.alternateending.com.
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