Weird Mind News Room episode 77: August 12th - 18th

 *in space no one can hear the music*

Hello everyone and welcome to the newest episode of Weird Mind News Room where this week is a bit of a quiet week once again with a small selection of new releases, some handful of trailers and a small selection of News stories for this week. So without much time to waste about lets get to talking on what has come out this week.

New releases: the ultimate lifeform

Movies

Alien Romulus

So starting off the week of new Releases with the big new film overall that is showing that in Space no one can hear you scream as Fede Aleveraz has come along to provide a new take on the near 50 year old series with the newest entry of Alien Romulus. Set between the original and Aliens the film will follow a group of Space colonizers will find themselves coming face to face with the ultimate life form as they scavenge a derelict space station that they hope to use to escape their old lives and soon lead to a fight for survival. Reception for this film has been very well recieved with praise to the performances, the production design, effects, tension and love and respect back to the original duology of films wit some critique on the divide of the end and some pacing issues in the middle part of the film (and some elements of some saying it is too close of nostalgia apparently) but if you want to see the most terrifying creature from the cosmos then you can catch this new film out now in cinemas.

The Union

From sci-fi horror to action spy comedy thriller as we jump to the streaming films for the next release with a odd pairing of characters for the new action comedy of The union. The film follows Mike (Mark Wahlberg), a down to earth construction worker, is thrust into the world of super spies and secret agents when his high school sweetheart, Roxanne (Halle Berry), recruits him on a high-stakes US intelligence mission. Reception to the film has garnered some ok reception with praise to the performances of the main leads and for being a simple mindless fun flick though the concept has been critiqued for being squandered when it had plenty of potential to be great, but if you want to check it out for yourself then it is available to stream now on Netflix.  

Jackpot!

The last of the films for this week will ask the question of how far will you go to obtain a massive amount of money, well that is probably what this next new film will tell us in the newest film from Paul Feig in the form of Jackpot!. The film is set in the non too distant future of 2030 and will see a "grand Lottery" being set up in the state of California, however there is a catch as all of those who lose in the lottery have the chance to claim the cash for themselves by hunting down and kill the winner before sundown to claim the multi-billion dollar jackpot for themselves and this is where Katie has found herself being the target of everyone when she unknowingly wins the jackpot and must survive until the end of the day with the help of a lottery potection agent. Reception to the film has been a bit mixed and underwhelming with praise for the concept though lacking in much exciting action and comedy but if you want to check it out for yourself then you can catch the new film out now on Amazon Prime.

Games 

Sam and Max the Devil's Playground remastered

The last of the new releases for this week is a return to a classic from the past with an all new updated remake design and a mystery to solve as we have the new remaster to the classic Telltale game of Sam and Max The Devils Playground. The story of the game will see the dynamic duo detectives in the last of the trilogy of season investigations where they will discover a toybox belonging to the man downstairs that will grant Max with new psychic powers in order to stop the forces of ancient pharos, aliens, mole men cults and much more in this wacky new adventure. Reception to the remaster has been well recieved similar to the original with the faithful restoration, great characters, plot and puzzles and if you want to try it out for yourself it is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Trailers full of animals and mystery

Only Murders in the Building season 4

A mystery is a foot once again of the most likely trio of amatuer sleuths (though at this case have helped to solve 3 murders) in the most likely place you will find a body as Charles, Oliver and Mabel are back once again with a new trailer for the 4th season of Only Murders in the Building. This time around, the podcast trio is hitting Hollywood as a massive studio is looking to turn their podcast into a full length motion picture with some big name stars in their roles. But while that is happening it is also a case of trying to figure out the mystery and mysterious murder of Charles best friend and stunt double from Brazzo's and must solve the case before the film falls apart and killer goes for the person they were probably trying to kill. So I love watching this series and every new mystery is always so intriguing to try and figure out over the course of the 10 episode season (plus the last season helped when dealing with a rough time) and I am all for this much bigger season and wondering all ready of who is most likely trying to take out Charles, but I guess we do not have to wait too long as the new season will be dropping onto Disney+ in just under 2 weeks time on August 27th.

Kraven the Hunter

On the next of the trailers, we will see the hunt is about to begin and will be quite a hunt indeed as blood will be spilled and the greatest hunter will be born as we have recieved a new trailer for the upcoming Sony Marvel film of Kraven the Hunter. The film will follow young Russian Immigrant Sergei Kravinoff, as he sets out on a mission to prove to be the greatest hunter in the world and also the most feared and take back his life and get revenge against his ruthless father Nikolai. SO this movie was actually supposed to have already been out by this point as the last time I talked on this film in this section was back in June of 2023 when the first trailer dropped and since then we have had 2 delays and a confirmation that this will be the first R rated film in the sonyverse films and I hope that it will earn that moniker as it would fit the character and so far it does look pretty decent (and also the case that a certain other Spider-Man villain gets his proper design look in this as well) and I will give this a look when the hunt arrives into cinemas on December 13th.

Lord of the Rings The Rings of power season 2

The last of the new trailers for this week will be taken us back to the world of J R.R Tolkien once again to delve into the world of middle earth but set eons before those hobbits from the shire went on a journey with the fellowship as we have a trailer for the 2nd season to the Rings of Power. This season in particular will be focusing on the ever-growing and looming threat that will be coming from the all powerful Sauron as well as the power shift dynamics between the characters and the eventual creation of the rings that Sauron will use for total control. So truth be told I have yet to watch this series but I heard from some people that have watched it say it is not bad (though that is probably a small majority online as it was the case of getting ridiculed online like everything is) but I am sure it is not too bad and worth a watch and for those that are looking forward to it do not have to wait too long as the new season will be releasing on amazon Prime from August 29th.

News of varying sorts

Games and adaptations news abound

On the first story of the week is just going to give a brief update to some announcements of dates or starting of productions with mainly based on 2 game properties with one have a few little extra bits to talk about in there but it relates to different concepts and I will discuss the aspects here.

first is the announcement of a release date for a game in a series that has some sense of popular appeal and some mixed entries in the bag and that is with the newest game announced for the Dragon Age series with the Veilguard. Now this game I believe was unveiled earlier this year at summer games fest with a planned 2024 release and it has been quiet for a bit of time, until just this week as it was announced that we now have a release date for the game and a very spooky one at that as this new entry in the long running series will now be releasing on Halloween on October 31st this year. I myself have not delved into too much of the series but I know a good friend of mine enjoys it a whole lot and I am sure that it will be worth trying out the series in due time and see how this whole game turns out come Halloween.

Next on the release date announcements was with the update reveal of the remaster or remake of the 2015 survival horror QTE game from the PS4 of Until Dawn as this game was also unveiled earlier this year and was planned for a release by the end of 2024. Thankfully this game was also recieved a new trailer for this week with a confirmation of the release date for the game hitting PS5 and PC on October 4th where this trailer showed off some new comparison to the original PS4 version (even though the game actually started as a move title on the PS3 and you can find these old demos of it online) and in some sense this game did not need a massive full remake as the original still looks fantastic nearly 10 years on. It does seem to have some added environment fixes and a changed opening of the game and I do hope there is some added elements from the original (such as one character having some more gameplay segments as they seem to just disappear after the mid point until the 2nd last section of the game (if they survive) and some others getting more playtime as well) but I guess we will have to find out about it all come the release of the game in early October.

This is however not the only bit of news based on this horror game that we have as we have a little bit of some updates to the film adaptation as it was confirmed that the film has now entered production as of last week and also the case that the film has rounded out its cast with 3 extra cast members with the new editions of Maia Mitchell (Teen Beach Movie), Belmont Cameli (saved by the bell reboot) and the last is a returning actor of Peter Stormare who played the character of Dr Hill in the original game so in most case he is back as that character or maybe as the flamethrower guy. This does have a bit of uncertainty as there is a noticeable number of missing cast as the game consists of around 12 characters (8 playable characters, 2 characters that set off the story, a Dr. that is part of the intermissions of the game and the flamethrower guy) but there is only 7 cast members listed, so unless the other 5 are secretive until the films release or else it is a different group will be anyones guess but I guess we will see how it turns out come its release in the future (hopefully the creatures will be unsettling and scary as well).

But what are your own thoughts on all of this cast announcement and are you excited for a new Dragon age and Until Dawn remake and what are your thoughts on the cast for the film? Let me know your thought on it all down below.

Remakes from the black Lagoon and creatures of plasticine too

On the next of the stories of this week is with a little update in the realm of the film industry and both of these films that will be discussed will be a focus on things involving creatures with one being a classic from the past getting a possible rework and the other is a new film from a studio that has been quiet for well over half a decade that has finally unveiled a new look at the next film in their catalogue, so lets delve into what was the focus for this piece.

The first of the announcments is that we are seeing is a return to a realm of a series that died at the very first film and that is the concept of the Dark Universe, a series of films based on the most iconic monsters in cinema and one of those characters that was hinted at or teased in that series that may have been a possibility was a film based on the Missing Link or otherwise known as The Creature of the Black Lagoon. We have not seen this character appear in much since their b-movie monster film all the way back in 1954 and the only mutterance of the Missing Link I can recall was a character from the Dreamworks film of Monsters vs Aliens in 2009 (probably closest to this creature I would also compare is the Oscar winning film of The Shape of Water). Since then there has been no sign of this funny looking fish thing until just this week as it was announced a new big budget remake of said film creature may be in the works and will be helmed by horror director of James Wan. Now Wan of course has dabbled in the realm of monsters and creatures with the likes of his Conjuring film saga, but he has also dabbled in the underwater affair as he is also the director of the 2 Aquaman films for the short lived DCEU and in all sense I can see this work in some regard of giving it a full upgraded look and feel and I am sure it will be worth seeing how this will play out and give it a chance down the line.

The second film announcement with some creatures is not from the Black Lagoon or from the monsters of old but rather is found from deep in the dense thick forests as after a 5 year silence from said studio after the underwhelming box office of their last film, the studio of Laika, who have been hyping up the 15th anniversary re-release of Coraline that came out this weekend showed off a little sizzle reel above that has been teasing their new dark and spooky tale they are crafting by hand in the form of the new film of Wild Wood. This new film that the studio is making is based on a 2011 novel of the same name and will be telling the story of a girl named Prue McKeel and Curtis Mehlberg as they will attempt to save Prue's little brother Mac from the evil crows led by Alexandra, while they also become drawn into a deep magical forest. The film is boasting quite a massive cast including Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Trembley, Awkwafina, Mahershala Ali, Carey Mulligan, Charlie Day, Amandla Steinburg and many more in this fantastical adventure on the way. Giving this film has been in development in concept since 2011, the likes of this has a lot of potential and a lot of Laika films, similar to the likes of their Stop-motion relatives of Aardman, this has some great potential and I look forward to checking it out. No release date has been made yet but we will be taking a trip into the wood sometime in 2025.

But what are your own thoughts on both of these film announcements, would you watch a new film take on the classic Missing link character and are you excited for the new film from Laika? Let me know your own thoughts on this down in the comments and we shall discuss them there.

The streaming giant has been breached

The last of the stories for this week is a little bit of a breaking news story that was first brought up last week but I forgot to bring it up and that is another form of a new hack that has happened to a big media company. So in the past I have addressed the concept of some other companies of recent memory that have recieved some big hacks with the form of the first going to the game studios of Rockstar Games about 2 years ago and Insomniac Games back at Christmas and the last one I brought up was just about a month ago with the big hack to the company of Disney of around 1TB of content taken but since then there has been no follow up on all of that since the breach. Now we have the confirmation of another company that has seen their own breach and it is in the world of streaming as the streaming giant of Netflix has seen their own form of a data breach. Now nothing massive like personal info has been obtained or taken but it has seen a breach of the taken of the content for the released of leaked content on some of the films, shows and essentially animated side of things with episodes or footage that has leaked of the upcoming Terminator Zero Anime, Arcane season 2 and some other Anime of DandaDan, Ranma 1/2, Jentry Chau vs the Underworld and Re:Zero. It has also leaked online the early full film of both Spellbound and surprise, surprise another Spongebob movie with this being The Plankton film (and from what I have seen online this one is miles better then the most recent Sandy Cheek film according to those that watched it). It wasn't the only thing that was threatened to be leaked as while some elements of the 3rd season to Heartstopper was leaked, the biggest threat of a leak was that they were supposedly or may still plan to leak the first 3 unfinished episodes to the Final season of Stranger Things online but as of writing this has not happened yet, so it will be worth to see if that is still going to be a concern. The reason as to how they were able to hack into the company and leak these shows and full films was that apparently it was due to some poor security systems on the likes of some of the other companies or studios that were making the content and they got in through one of them and were able to obtain these files from the database and how some amount of them were leaked online. Now it will be worth to see if there is anymore movement online from these data breachers and may have more content that they may leak or else Netflix may have taken swift action but I guess we will have to see how it all comes along as more of this story decides to develop.

But what are your own thoughts on all of this, do you think that more content from the streaming giant will be leaked online in the coming days or weeks or do you feel that it has been recovered and being handled by Netflix? Let me know what your thoughts are below.

Special segment: Kay.cos

This is not going to be that long of an announcement but I felt why not share it to help them out, but a good friend of mine of Kay has started a new Instagram page for their planned focus on Cosplay and so far they have just started their channel and upload one post of them and their partner being wholesome in their cosplay of Fern and Stark from the anime of Frieren and I am sure there will be a whole lot more being made in the future for that channel and I felt if you enjoy checking out some more cosplay channel (I dabble in bits here on the channel and may need to get back into it (and will do some for some gameplays and videos soon)) then I would say to check them out and give them a follow and even tell them Sam sent ya but yeah I hope for all the best with the new social page and look forward to seeing their journey overtime.

But with all of that this brings us to the end of episode 77 of Weird Mind News Room and I do hope that you will enjoy all of the content that was discussed this week in this somewhat short week in general. Let me know on all of the new releases if you've seen them, opinions on the trailers and news down below and even if interested to give a follow to the special segment piece I mentioned above. As always I hope that you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I will see you all in the next piece. :)

Take Care, Keep being you, signing off

Sam H :)