Weird Mind News Room Episode 42: Dec 11th - 17th

 *Music with a side of Nuggets*

Hello again to each and everyone of you wonderful people to the 42nd episode of Weird Mind News Room where this episode was hand crafted to talk on all of the new releases, trailers and News stories from the last week of what to check out and become interested in from this recent week of media content. So without anymore waiting around, lets get to the news.

Clucking mad New Releases

Movies

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

So we start off the new releases with a sequel that is 20+ years in the making as after a lot time making it all in painstaking detail we have gotten a long awaited sequel to Chicken Run with Dawn of the Nugget. This new film will see the chickens of Tweedy's farm living peacefully and happily on a simple island sanctuary after escaping from the farm and with a new chick named Molly, Ginger and Rocky have their happily ever after. But when their kid goes over to the main land and gets taken to a new high tech farm that threatens all of chicken kind, they will need to break in and stop this new threat to their kind and save everyone from being turned into nuggets. Now the reception on this film has been very decently recieved with the charm and appeal of the original with some critiques going towards a little bit of the generic story feel but if you want to check out the newest poultry in motion you can check it out now on Netflix.

Godzilla Minus One

As for something on a more titan scale for the new release that might appeal to you more, we are returning to the studio of TOHO as they are bringing their famous giant Kaiju back again to the big screen in the all new film of Godzilla Minus One. This new film will follow and disgraced Kamikaze Pilot return back to his home in a post war Japan and must soon survive with his family when the Kaiju appears and causes fear and destruction across the land. Now the reception on this film has been majorly praised for its concept, visuals, story and being one of the best Godzilla films in recent memory and if you want to see him cause mayhem and destruction then you can check it out now in Cinemas. 

Tv Shows

Preacher Season 2

Now for a return to a man who takes the law into his own hands we are back for an all new 2nd Season for Reacher. This new season will be based on the 11th book in the Tom Clancy Jack Reacher book series and see Reacher in his huge muscular stature, must continue to try and clear his name for a murder he did not commit and bring justice in any means necessary. Now the reception for this series like the first season has been very strongly recieved and continues the popular series and if you want to check it out yourself it is now available to catch on Amazon Prime.

The Crown Final Season Part 2

and to wrap up the new releases of this week we have the final part of the final season for the long running series of the Crown with these last 6 episode tackling some of the other aspects such as the marriage of Charles and Camilla, The new Prime Minister of Tony Blair, the scandal of Harry in a certain Uniform and the early relationship of William and Kate which will cover mainly the 200s era of the monarch. Now the reception on these last few episode like the first part were a little mixed with some feeling it is a little underwhelming of a finale. I am sure that I think they could add one more season to it and cover the 2010s up to the end of her reign but I guess it will not be the case but if you want to see how the series wraps up then you can check out the final 6 episodes on Netflix.

Trailers of a Titan Scale

Dune Part 2

So we start off this week with an all new trailer for a huge epic with the release of a 3rd trailer for the upcoming 2nd part to the legend of Paul Artredis with Dune Part 2. Now this will follow on from the end of Part 1 with Paul and his mother Lady Jessica came across Chani and the Fremen who will unite to seek revenge against a common enemy who destoryed his family and facing a choice between love and the fate of the Universe, he must prevent a terrible future for only he can forsee. Now I remember watching the original when it came out in Imax and thought that the film was pretty decent and visually stunning and hopefully this will be even more action packed and on the level of visual brilliance this director is known for and I am sure we can find out when the film releases in March of next year (it is either March 1st of 15th as I am getting 2 different dates on them.

Kung Fu Panda 4

Now for a series that initially had a name from its original that people thought would fail but turned into one of the all time best from the studio, everyone's favourite Dragon Warrior Panda is back as we got the first trailer for the 4th entry in the Kung Fu Panda series. Now in this new film, PO has been tasked to find the next Dragon Warrior as he ascends to become the next spiritual leader of the valley. But when a new threat of the Chameleon brings a new power of bringing back old foes like Tai Lung, he must gather a new army of fighters to stop her reign and save the lands once more. Now I love this trilogy and I think that this film will be another surefire hit for this series (the only question I have from watching the trailer is if the Furious Five is in this as they do not appear) but I will be checking this film out when this new film releases on March 8th.

Beverly Hills Cop 4

Play that Jazzy theme song as Beverly Hills top officer is back once again after the last entry being 30 years ago and are back with the fourth entry with Beverly Hills Cop Axel F. Now this will see Axel being brought back into the force when his estranged Daughter and her boyfriend's lives are threatened and with a help of a new partner will delve into solving a conspiracy in the BHPD. Now it has been a while since I watched the classic trilogy and I think this looks pretty good so far and hopefully it turns out a good watch and we can find out when this film releases on Netflix next Summer. 

IF

Now we have all at one point when we were much younger had that friend that only we can see, but what happens when we grow up and forget them, well that is what director and Actor John Krasinski is bringing up as he has released a trailer for his new film of IF. Now this will see the character of Bea, a young girl who has the ability to see the imaginary friends of those that were left behind by their kids who grew up and with the help of the Man Upstairs will find a way to help all of those that were abandoned and find a new home and a new friend. Now I like the concept and the designs of the Imaginary friends seem interesting and it is giving me some Foster Home for Imaginary friends sort of vibe but I am sure we can see how it all plays out when the film releases on May 17th.

Hazbin Hotel Season 1

And to wrap up the trailer for the week, let me take you back about 4 or 5 years ago when a Youtube animator known as Vizziepop dropped a pilot for a new series she created that focused on second chances, even if it is set in the underworld. Now to this week where we have gotten the first full length trailer for the official first season of Hazbin Hotel. Now this will follow Charlie Morningstar, the princess of Hell, who creates an establishment hotel for Demons to be rehabilitated so they could have a chance to go to Heaven and with the help of some rag tag group of demons and some Hijinks it may all work out or end in flames. Now I think the concept is unique and I do enjoy Vizziepop's content and if you want to check in yourself you can find the pilot epiosde (as well as her other series of Helluva Boss) on Youtube and you can check out the full season when it releases on January 19th on Amazon Prime.

Dawn of the News

Where do I put these Golden Globes

So we start the week of news with yet the announcement of another release of some awards and nominees as it was announced on Monday of all the nominees for this years Golden Globes were revealed and some of it gives some possible idea of what might be the big nominations for the Oscars in March. Now I will not delve too heavily into the awards in each category (as I will do so in a separate piece to this nearer to the time if I am interested in doing it).

So on the film side of things, the film with the biggest nominations is looking very Pink as the Barbie movies takes in the most nominations with 10. Its runner up is coming to us with Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer with 8 Nominations and followed closely behind with Scorsese Killers of the flower Moon and Yorgos Lanthimo's Poor Things with 7 Nods. Many other films have recieved some nominations like Anatomy of a Fall, Zone of Interest, Saltburn and even some more known big money makers such as John Wick, Mission Impossible, Spider-Man Across the Spider-verse and many more.

As on the TV side of things, the 3 big front runners come in the form of Succession taking the top spot with 9 noms, the Bear taking 6 and Only Murders in the Building rounding out the top 3 with 5. The biggest surprise for me was the minimal amount of nominations for The Last of Us as it only came in with 3, one each for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and the other for best Drama series but I get it is more a mix of film and tv with this award show so I expect some things would be affected. Now it is all well and good and I may try and have a full breakdown piece for this by the time the event goes live on January 7th but I will see when it gets closer to the date and I get some ideal of what I see as a winner for each category.

But what are your thoughts on all of these nominations and were you surprised by some of the nominations or snubs of some of the others? Let me know what your winners and predictions are down below in the comments.

Plenty of variety for the new releases

So this next story is to do with some announcements and some release dates which come from 2 horror films from this year getting some sequels, 2 popular series getting a release date announcement for a new season and one of the most renowned developers making an announcement of a project based on one of his games and I will also mention one piece of disappointing news for another project and will give them all a quick run down here.

So starting with the horror films, in the last 3 months we have recieved the released of 2 horror films that garnered some pretty strong reception in positive reviews and decent box office, well now it is not the end of them as it has been confirmed that within the next 2 years we are getting a new sequel in the Saw franchise and a sequel to Eli Roth Holiday slasher of Thanksgiving with Saw XI releasing in September 2024 and Thanksgiving II releasing in 2025. Now hopefully these creatives and teams can learn what worked for their projects that made them successful this year and make their follow ups on the same level of appeal.

As for the series, it has been confirmed that Netflix has given the official release date for the 3rd series of their popular Period drama series of Bridgerton and that similar to some of their recent series has split them into 2 parts with the 1st Part releasing on May 16th 2024, and the 2nd dropping on June 13th 2024 and will most case wither be half and half, 6 and 4, 8 and 2 or however many episodes their is in the series but for those that have wanted to find out what happens next then you will not need to wait too much longer to find out.

As with the other series, the inhabitants of Heaven and Hell of everyone's favourite odd couple rejoice as Aziraphale and Crowley are confirmed to be coming back for a 3rd and final season of Good Omens. Now it is unclear of when we will get this new season given the gap of release between season 1 and 2 was about 4 years but I am sure we will get a release probably late 2024 or 2025 at the latest but once I hear any word I will provide an update to that for you of when you can expect it releasing on Prime Video.

The last of the positive announcements is coming to us in the form of a new video game adaptation and this will be in the form of the game of Death Stranding. Now this new film will follow the concept of the original game (and maybe some elements of the upcoming Sequel) which is set in a post apocalyptic US after a cataclysmic event caused strange creatures to roam the earth and follow courier Sam Bridges of delivering supplies to isolated colonies and reconnecting them with some wireless communications network. Now this will have the games creator Hideo Kojima on board and this film is also going to be developed by A24 which could bring some unique artistic element to the whole ordeal. No word on when this will be releasing but I am sure we will get it within the next few years.

and lastly on the more disappointing news, initially planned as a add on to the release of The Last of Us Part II in 2020, the long awaited Online Factions mode has been announced to have been scrapped. the reasons for doing so mainly came down to them not wanting to be bogged down by the concept of running a live service game and much rather focus on their award winning single player narrative experience. Now I understand the approach that they were going for by doing so but I mean they could've still made it similar to the upcoming No survivor mode in the Remastered version coming out in January and just kept it up as a server instead of focusing all of the attention on it but I am sure it will make some form of a return in the near future but we will have to see how it all plays out by then.

But what are your thoughts from all of these announcements and are you excited for any of them in particular? Let me know what you below and lets discuss them all as well

Marvel going more animated next year

Now for a bit of news talk on the upcoming superhero Fare and we are of course talking in Marvel superheroes, but not in the vein if the live action MCU but more in the case of the animated side of things as while that other side of things is getting restructured for next year, we do have some updates for the animated side with 3 shows coming to us very soon, 2 we have been aware of for the better half of 2 years and another rhat was just announced this week.

So starting with the 2 announced, we have been given confirmation the the 90s X-men series continuation of X-Men 97 and the now retitled Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man have both been confirmed to be releasing in the first half of 2024 on Disney+. Both of them have technically been made canon (well the Spider-man one initially subtitled Freshmen year would be as it focused on the one from the MCU) and the X-men will finally continue the story originally established in the 90s series but I am sure we will find out whenever these 2 series get a proper release date.

As for the newest addition, it was announced that we are getting an all new animated series based on the land of Wakanda with a series entitled the eyes of Wakanda. Now not much else is known but I am sure we will most likely see some of the cast from the 2 Black Panther films appear in some shape or form in this series and build upon that community that we have gotten a few glimpses at in the 2 movies. This series is projected to be releasing in the Summer of 2024 or by the end of that year but as soon as I hear any word on any of these series getting a release date then I will let you know in a future piece.

But what are your thoughts on all of these announcements and are you excited for any of these Marvel animated projects yourself? Let me know what you think of it all down below in the comments.

The Passing of a great Police Chief

Now for another sad tragic passing from this really rough year and one that did affect me like the last passing I mentioned but sadly earlier this week we lost a great icon in the actor of Andre Braugher. To some he was known for his role as Frank Pembleton in the series of Homicide: Life on the Street and for roles in films and tv such as Glory, She Said, Salt and Primal Fear but to many he was well known for his role as Captain Raymond Holt in the police comedy series of Brooklyn 99 and many fans grew to love and know hos character over that series for his dry wit and humour. He passed away earlier this week after a short battle with Lung Cancer at the age of 61 and he will be remembered for many years to come and may he rest in Peace. 

This Data Breach will make anyone an Insomniac

Now on a story that may have some serious repercussions but earlier this week, a serious situation took place that saw the studio of Insomniac Games, the studio behind the Ratchet and Clank and recent Spider-Man games was hacked. According to the group that did this they have obtained some personal details about some of the staff at the studio and the info from Yuri Lorenrhall, the voice actor for Spider-Man. Besides that they have also obtained some content of their upcoming Wolverine game as well as some information about some unannounced project (one being a possible game that is tying into the Spider-verse) and has demanded that they be paid $2 Million Dollars worth in Bitcoin within 7 days or else they will suffer the consequence. Now after this breach happened earlier in the week, not much else has been brought up since the breach but the company of Sony is investigating into the matter and trying to help as many as he can affected and possibly seek some legal action possibly but I am sure we will get any updates soon and when I hear anything I will provide info at a later time.

Now what are your thoughts on this whole situation and do you see this being a continous problem for the industry or will it fade out very quickly. Tell me all your thoughts down in the comments below.

The Day Before everything shut down and disappeared

And the final story that has been brought to my attention is concerning a game that I talk about in last week's New releas calander. Bow I mentioned the game that was known as The Day Before, a game made by an unknown studio that was the most wishlists game on Steam, had many delays for unknown reasons from copyright issues and other aspects and then finally released to the masses at the end of last week and people have played it but now it is no more. As after only 4 days of releases, the studio behind it of FNTASTIC announced on Monday that they were shutting down due to running out of money for this game and I am honestly not surprised that it would and there was many point it would but I didn't think this soon. So when it was announced it had shown these very detailed visuals and aesthetics and people gt invested and excited for the game but as more and more trailers and gameplay got shown the cracks started appearing with people seeing they were taking elements and scenes from other games and rescinding them such as The Last of Us and Call of Duty, the visuals took and major downgrade and everything went radio silent for months until it dropped last week and everyone agreed in one instance that this was one big scam that cost you €40. Now it was brought more to affect when scathing reviews from many sources giving it really low scores and even some known big YouTubers even refunding the game cause it was so bad and broken and people started looking at their other selection of games in the process too and noticed how they have made games, made big fanfare and then drop it very quickly and from doing all of this it has bit them in the ass. Now could've this game got a chance of being good, it's a long stretch but maybe it could've been a No man Sky outcome but we know now that isn't going to happen now from the whole outcome and this Zombie survival MMO will be lost to time.

But what are your thoughts on this game and if you had played it yourself, is it that bad (I may make a video on this game and talk about how it all became an absolute mess) but let me know ow in the comments below of all your thoughts on this game.

And with all of that, that brings us to the end of episode 42 of Weird Mind News Room and I do hope that you enjoy listening to all of these new released content and I would love to hear your thoughts on all of the things discussed this week if you have seen any of the new releases and thoughts on the trailers and News and as always stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday doing many great things and I'll see you all in the next piece :)

Signing off

Sam H