Weird Mind News Room episode 24: August 7th-13th

 *Only theme songs in this news blog*

Well hello again to you one and all for the newest episode of the Weird Mind News room where I will be talking on some of the newest releases that have come out this week as well in the form of trailers and the news of the week too. So lets not sit around doing nothing and lets get to talking on this weeks content

Releases of supernatural proportions

Movies

Gran Turismo

So we are feeling the need for speed with the first of the big film releases of this week comes to us with the video game adaptation of the popular PlayStation game series of Gran Turismo. This will focus on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player who enters into a competition with the game and soon became a professional Race Car Driver. Now the reception has been seen as quite mixed as while the performances and race set pieces have been well recieved, most feel this is trying way too hard to be an advertisement for the game it is based on and the brand of PlayStation. Now I am sure it sounds interesting and I will give it a watch when I get the chance to do so.

Haunted Mansion

Now to visit something a bit more supernatural as we head to a new spooky mansion, A haunted mansion in particular. Based on the ride from Disneyland, this new film will see a single mother and child move into a new home that seems to house a 1000 spirits and soon gathers an array of priests, psychics and investigators to help them rid the manor of spooks. Now the reception for this film has not been the best with most of the praise going to the all star cast for the film and some of its visuals, while the sense of spooks and humour are not that strong. I am sure that it something worth checking out when you can if you want a bit of a hauntingly good time.

Heart of Stone

For the last of the films from this week we have an all new action film from Netflix with the newest action film starring Gal Gadot known as Heart of Stone. This new film will see Gadot's character of intelligence officer of Rachel Stone must protect a special McGuffin of "The Heart" from falling into enemy hands. Now the reception for the film has been quite mixed with the like of Gal's performance well recieved but is affected against the poor story, character development and action but I am sure it will do well with a big name in the title and you can check it out yourself right now on Netflix.

TV Shows

Only Murders in the building season 3

A mystery is a foot once again as the all star trio of true crime podcasters are back again with the 3rd season of Only Murders in the Building. This new season is going bigger with a focus of a sudden death of the main lead to Oliver's Broadway return on Opening night and it is soon up to the trio of Oliver, Charles and Mabel to solve the mystery and find out who was responsible for the death of the leading man. Now the series has been very well recieved as the other 2 seasons and this series has 2 big named cast members joining this season with Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep joining the cast this time around. I have watched the first 2 episode premiere from this week and it did put a smile on my face and a thoughts in my head on guessing who is the one responsible for the new death this time around and you can check it out yourself on Disney+ now with a new episode releasing every Tuesday.

Strange Planet

Now if you want to experience human things from another perspective then you can check out the series of Strange Planet on Apple Tv+ that is based on the popular web comic on the blue alien creatures living on a planet similar to earth and learning the ways of what us human species do. Now reception has been well recieved and really brought the charm and heart of the comics to the world of moving animation and if you want to check it out then you can observe the first 3 episodes with your optical lookers now.

Futurama Reboot episode 3

Just a quick reminder as well of the 3rd episode to the new Futurama reboot is now available to check out on Hulu/Disney+ and this one will see them head to the old west of Bitcoin country to pay off the debt against the Robot Mafia. I will not say much else and you can check it out now on the streaming service

Check the trailers for the clues

I am Groot Season 2

The first trailer for this week technically did release last Sunday but I will add it here cause it was after I filmed the previous episode but we have gotten an all new announcement on National Tree Day that we are getting a 2nd season of the short collection of I am Groot, which will follow Baby Groot once again on some more misadventures from a snow day, intergalactic travel to obtaining a frozen treat from the ice cream truck. Now the original batch of shorts were simple and adorable and I am sure these will be some nice to check out (as well as discuss a certain character that appears in the trailer) and you can check out the array of shorts from September 6th

Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (2023)

Alright team it is time to gear up very soon as we have been officially been given the announcement of what is this years installment in the long running Call of Duty franchise and this is a follow up to last years Modern Warfare 2 and will see Captain Price and his team go on a mission to take down one of the popular antagonists of the series in the form of Makarov. Now I need to catch up on playing the previous installment before this new game drops onto consoles on November 10th.

The Continental

Now it is time to go back in time and check in to a stay in one of the finest establishments in 1970s New York with the Continental, an all new 3 part limited series  that is based on the world created from the films of the John Wick Franchise. This new mini series will be set in the 70s and will tell the story from the perspective of the young Winston as he builds his way up to the top of the table and take over the continental from the kingpin of the hotel and his army of Assassins and Hitmen. Now the series is always and this looks dope and I am sure I will be checking out the new episodes when the show drops here on Amazon Prime from September 22nd.

Detective Pikachu returns

We now return to the wonderful world of Pokémon with an all new game based on the original handheld spinoff and popular film adaptation in the form of the wise cracking, caffeine loving Pokémon of Detective Pikachu. This new game will have Pikachu and his partner Tim Goodman investigate some strange goings on in Ryme City and with the aid of some Pokémon solve the mystery of the disappearance of Tim's father and Pikachu's original partner. Now I really enjoyed the film and had a good bit of time playing the original game and I am very excited to play this new game when it releases on October 6th.

South Park: Snow day?

For the final trailer from this week and just announced at the end of the week, we are heading over the quiet little mountain town of South Park with the announcement of an all new game in the form of South Park: Snow Day. Now not much is known on the basis of the game but it seems to be a 3d based game and is also confirmed as a 4 player co-op game of the Kids from South Park enjoying a snow day (which is a bit strange given that the town of South Park is always in a snow day everyday). I am sure this will be some enjoyable fun and you can play this game on any console or PC when it releases sometime in 2024.

The all forms of news

Journey to the Wild West.... On the go

Well Now, look what the gang dragged in. Yes after some rumours and rating system listing a possible return to the original game in the franchise, the first game in the Red Dead Redemption series has been announced to be coming to newer consoles in the form of the PS4/5 and the Nintendo Switch. Now this is not a full remaster or remake but rather it is a port of the original version with some slight upgrade most likely to fit some features of the consoles and will also come with the acclaimed add on expansion of Undead Nightmare as well too. Now this of course has caused a lot of debate online of people complaining about this feeling lazy and everyone being mad at Rockstar (a staple of modern day video games where everyone has to complain about something with these games) but I am honestly fine with it being more then a simple port then having a rushed mess of a remake (do you really want a GTA Trilogy remastered disaster again?) and the price point is reasonable for the game as while it is costing around 50 euro, it is cheaper then most other remasters, remakes or ports and buying a 2nd hand version of these games is around the price as well so I do not see much of a problem (Most complaint I would agree with is why they still are not porting it to the PC). I am just excited to play this on the go when it releases digitally next week on August 17th and in physical form in October.

But what do you think of this announcement and release, are you excited to play this game again on new hardware or do you feel this is a bit lazy on Rockstars part and felt it should've been a remake or remaster. Let me know what you think down below in the comments

Be Part of their world at home soon

This one will be a little brief but we have some release news. Now earlier this year we got the release of the newest Live action adaptation of a Disney Classic and that was in the form of The Little Mermaid. Now it was received decently and while it had some trouble in the box office it made a modest return of over $500 million (which has been a success in a rough summer of underperforming films). But if you missed out on seeing it you will not have to wait long as the film is releasing in a few weeks time on September 6th to Disney+ so you can see Halle Bailey become part of their world then. Now I did enjoy the film when I saw it a good while back and I will be doing a review for it in a little while but I would give it a watch again in the future.

But what do you think of this film, did you enjoy the film if you did see it or could you take or leave it. Let me know your thoughts and opinions on the film (and other live action ones) in the comments below and lets have a discussion

The Amazonian's return may have been misconstrued

Now for some superhero news and this is some follow up news from last week. I mentioned in the previous episode that there had been some discussion about Gal Gadot being in talks with DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran that the 3rd Wonder Woman film was still in the works for the New DCU. Well it seems that news was short lived as just a day or 2 ago it was announced that the film was not going ahead after all and it was just a discussion for the upcoming prequel series of Paradise lost that will focus on the Amazonians. It is not to say that a new Wonder woman film will not happen (as we already have a Superman film and a Batman film in the works and she would complete the trilogy) so I am sure there will be a moment for the Amazonian to fly high again.

(also in a bit of a side note with the DCU, the other film that had the big fan campaign behind it besides the Snyder cut was the Ayer cut of the 2016 Suicide Squad film and Gunn has made mention that he plans to have that version released to the public and have its moment to shine soon enough).

But what do you think of these discussion of these 2 DCU stories, are you disappointed in Wonder Woman 3 not happening or do you prefer a fresh start and are you excited for seeing the Ayer cut in the future or could you take or leave it. Let me know what you think down in the comments below.

Strike News: Unionizing, AI's, Passwords and Awards shows

Now for some of the updates that is coming to us from the ongoing strikes in Hollywood with a varied mix of topics discussed and since there was a few of them this week, I wanted to lump them all together into one topic. So starting off with.

Unionizing: There has been an announcement at the start of this week that the closest aides to the VFX of the Marvel Studios films have announced they have decided and are planning to unionize as from the stories for the last year that they have some of the worst track record for VFX demands and requirements as they are underpaid, overworked and given very confusing requests that may get done and then have to change a lot of it when the deadline is much more nearer and I think that it is a reasonable thing for them to do and I am not surprised that the other big VFX studios haven't done so either (I mean sometimes a lot of them get uncredited for their hard work, as what I have heard with Oppenheimer that 80% of the team from a VFX studio were not credited in the film) and I do not blame Marvel for this but more their Parent company of Disney. Speaking of.

Disney missing the point: Now Disney is one of the main studios being fired at by all writers and actors recently as they are one of the biggest companies as they nearly own most big production companies. Now CEO, Bob Iger has stated they wants to help and make the strikes end but then has also missed the point of why a lot are striking as job listings for the company have announced the opening of a department for the developments and work with AI, a factor that everyone in the industry has been striking against and really are tone deaf with thinking this is what people want

Price rising: it is also in that aspect that some news has come along recently that Disney is pulling a Netflix and plans to raise the price on the Streaming service of Disney+ and Hulu and that by the end of next year plan to do a crackdown on password sharing and will probably charge more to people for them doing so which I think any studio that does this will see a lot more people being charged insane amounts a month for streaming services or many unsubbing and returning to an age of Piracy.

Awards come later: and the final aspect that was announced this week was in relation to the upcoming release of the 75th Emmys as it was announced on Thursday that the Emmy awards have delayed from its initial release of September 18th 2023 and not airing until January 15th 2024, due to the ongoing strikes which I was expecting it was going to be something affected with the awards. Whether this will affect the Golden Globes, Film Festivals and the Oscars is going to have to be seen if it does.

But what do you think of all of these announcements of the strikes news. Let me know all your thoughts down below in the comments

The Trickster God meal deal

and the final story that is coming to us from a marketing brand of all things and is going to be tying in with another upcoming release. Now if you have been following along or checked out the trailer last week for the 2nd season of Loki, you may have seen brief glimpses of the variant Sylvie wearing some very vibrant and bright clothing or more from some behind the scenes photos from filming. Well it turns out it is in relation to a segment where Loki will find her working in a mega chain fast food establishment in the 1970s and will be tying into that restaurants new promotion. Starting from Monday August 14th McDonald's is doing a new campaign known as "as featured in" and a part of it will be connected to the upcoming series with a part of it being some new sweet and sour sauce item. It is unknown if there will be anything else but it could be similar in style to the Spider-verse Whopper from Burger King or the Grimace Shake from the same restaurant as this new promo (and hopefully this is actually a worldwide promotion and bot always a US only thing cause it is so stupid and I wanted to try both items when they were popular)

But what do you think of this promotion and do you wonder what the meal offer will be and if it is a worldwide thing as well. Do let me know your thoughts down in the comments below.

And with that, this will bring us to the ending conclusion of this week's Weird Mind News Room and I do hope you have enjoyed my ramblings for the past short period of time. Let me know your thoughts on all the things discussed here today down below and let us start a discussion. But as always I hope you all stay wonderful people and I wish yous all a great day :)

Signing off

Sam H