Weird Mind News Room Episode 81: Sept 9th - 15th

 *Speak no evil to the music being played*

Hello to all of you amazing wonderful people to the newest weekly edition of Weird Mind News Room where this week we will be delving into all of the content of media from the week including some new releases, a few trailers and news stories of a mixed variety, so without further ado about nothing, lets get to talking all things media of this week.

New releases worth keeping quiet about (presumably)

Movies

Speak No Evil

The first of the new releases for the week is taking a page from a european country perspective and show the fear to a lot of people: British People, as Blumhouse is taking us on a bit of an eerie new holiday location as we have a new take on a German film with the new thriller of Speak No Evil. The film follow an American couple who on vacation in Italy come into contact with another vacationing family from the UK who invite them back to their idyllic Family estate for the weekend in the British Countryside, but soon that peaceful weekend getaway turns into a living Nightmare as this family is a lot different then they first seem to be. Reception to this new film has been well recieved with praise to the performances (particularly of James McAvoy), the concept and the tension of fear that this could happen to anyone, but if you want to have a nice vacation away, then you can check out this new film now in cinemas.

Games

Funko Fusion

Have you missed having a new form of a fun family game of Lego minifigures based on popular ip's and wish for more of them in the current day. Well this is not that type of game but it is close in concept as those figurines with the big eyes (and the big prices) have joined forces to bring you this new family adventure game of Funko Fusion. This title will have you play as many different Iconic characters from the media of film, TV and video games from Jurassic world to Hot Fuzz, to He-Man, Mega-Man and Nope as you restore the worlds and save the lands from the corrupted power of the vinyl figures. Reception to said game has been met with a mixed appeal as praise for the design and look to the game, the thin plot, countless bugs and lack of appeal seems to stem to the critiques but I am sure will tide over the young ones and the families until the eventual New licensed Lego Game Comes along (I wonder what Traveller's Tales has been up to since Skywalker Saga and are we getting something new from them soon) but if you want to play it for yourself then you can do so on PS5, Xbox series X/S and PC with a PS4 and Switch port releasing on November 15th.

Marvel Vs Capcom fighting collection (digital form)

We're gonna take you for a ride for this last new release for this week as it is time to duke it out and see who is the best from the world of fighting games and superheroes combine with a massive brawl with the new Marvel vs Capcom fighting collection. This new collection will bring a bundle of some of the best games from the gaming company of Capcom with MvC 1 and 2, Marvel Super Heroes, The Punisher, X-men vs Street Fighter, X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel vs street fighter and play as hundreds of your favorite fighters and heroes to see who is the best overall. Reception for the collection has been very well recieved with praise to the transition to the new generation consoles, the abundance of option and plenty of fun for you and your friends of timeless classics and if you are up for a brawl then you can play this now on PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC in digital form, with a physical release in November and on Xbox One sometime in 2025.

Trailers to get in the mood for Fall

Saturday Night

Live from Dublin, Ireland its new trailer time as we will be heading off to the big apple and going back in time to almost 50 years to the day as we recieved another new trailer for the new biopic film of Saturday Night. This film will tell the story of the night of October 11th 1975 where Lorne Michaels was getting everything ready to record the first ever live show of SNL where everything can go wrong, will go wrong from fights, faulty gear, drugs and tension and all taken place with 90 mins before cameras start rolling. So I have dabbled in watching clips from this long running series and some from the past now and again that appeal here and there and I can sense that this could've been too big to fail but it seems it worked out to some extent from it all and still runs to this day and I have heard some pretty good reception to this film from the recent festivals so it will be worth a viewing when possible. It currently does not have a release date where I am from but it will be releasing in the US on the 49th anniversary on October 11th.

The Wild Robot

The next trailer for this week is a film that had me invested from the very first look at it and will show the world that a item built to serve can find themselves in amongst the circuits and circumstances as we have the final trailer for the upcoming animated film of The Wild Robot. The follows a robot ROZZUM unit 7134 or Roz who activates on a deserted island after becoming shipwrecked from an unknown form and soon must learn to adapt to its new surroundings, building relationships with the native animals and soon becoming a motherly parental figure for an orphaned gosling. Soon when the company discovers about her activation and tries to get her back, she will learn to find herself and defend her newfound home for her and the animals. So Dreamworks is an odd company that can come along at points and release classic and animated masterworks and then others get weird fever dream concepts like Boss baby or Megamind 2 but this has invested me from beautiful animation, a charming story concept and even to the case of feeling emotions and like this is their equivalent to Pixar's Wall-e and hearing nothing but universal acclaim for it has me even more excited and you can check it out when it releases into cinemas from October 18th. 

The Apprentice

So this next one could be possibly political or maybe just a form of a biopic that I know has a story but relates to someone that has not left the media landscape for the last 10 years but we have recieved the trailer for the upcoming bio film known as The Apprentice. The film will tell the year career of one Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) with it being set in the 70s and 80s and follow his relationship with Roy Cohn, a fixer and New York Prosecutor known for working with Senator Joseph McCarthy and takes him under his wing to mold him into the businessman he is known for today (besides other things). So this seems to be timed with the likes of the big US election coming up and I have heard a fair bit of stuff since the film festivals earlier this year from backers being mad that its showing the real person he is, to some dark stuff brought up from past relations and all other sorts of things (and in some case of a personal aspect, I nearly was at a test audience screening for this but missed out due to some unforeseen reasons) but am intrigued to see the outcome of this but I guess we will find out how it will all come to be when the film releases on October 18th.

Venom the Last Dance

Now I am pretty sure this new trailer will either provide some form of appeal or else they question this is a lot taller then 19 inches as everyone's favorite alien human odd couple is back for one last hurrah from the Sonyverse as we have recieved the final trailer for the upcoming film of Venom the Last Dance. The film will see Eddie Brock and Venom becoming wanted fugitives and go on the run across the globe to escape from the powerful militia looking to capture them and the army of symbiotes from Venom's home world looking to take him home or kill them all under the command of the creator of the Symbiotes of Knull. Now I had heard rumblings about this main villain of the film and in all sense if anything, this is the series of Sony-verse films that have the appeal over all of them that even if they are not the most well recieved of projects, they are the most entertaining and this one looks like a fun time and worth a final adventure with this odd pair (and the rumored creation of a post credit tease with a certain Wall crawler) and we will see how it all comes together when the film hits cinemas from October 25th

Salem's Lot

The last of the trailers for this week is a film that I can only describe as an about tie this is releasing as after delays and known confirmed release dates, they have finally released a trailer for the upcoming re-imaging of the classic Stephen King novel of Salem's Lot. The film follows Ben Mears, a writer who returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem's Lot in search of some inspiration, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a vampire, leading him to band together with a ragtag group to take them down and restore peace to the town. So I said it is about time as it seemed like every year they specify it was coming out that fall in September or October and then never give any updates or progress on it but suddenly it dropped earlier this week in trailer form and it seems like it has been made and what I have gotten from the trailer it does not look too bad and may be worth the wait hopefully but I guess we will find out when the new film releases on HBO Max in the US on October 4th and in cinemas here on October 11th.

News to get tangled up in

Many Spidey News stories in the Spider's web

So the start of the short amount of news stories for this week is similar in tone to the likes of the first story aspect of last week where we were talking about a category in the realm of superheroes, particularly talking on the label of DC comics with the likes of updates to Batman, Joker and Green Lantern. Well this week we are heading over to the other side with the Marvel label and it is not for the likes of a multitude of superheroes, but rather all of these stories are relating to one in particular and that is with everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man as this weeks we got 3 different stories relating to the character that will be a focus of upcoming projects from both the MCU and Sony and in the realm of Film and Television, so allow me to swing in and talk on what has been announced from this weeks superhero news.

so the first of the news stories relates to the next solo outing in the MCU as it has been a given that the massive success of the last 3 Spider-Man movies for the MCU is nothing to just leave as is cause people want more from him and it looks like we will be seeing a 4th solo outing. Now the last time I mentioned about this was the whole debacle between Sony and Marvel where Marvel wants him more of a street wise hero and then Sony wants another Multiverse team up with the other 2 Spider-people and it seems like it may be going with the latter which just feels a bit underwhelming when it would fit the tone for a street level hero with how No Way Home ended but I hope that the news for this week will change it as we now have a director in place for the 4th film and it is a little bit of a change in scope as it was confirmed on Monday that Shang-Chi director of Destin Daniel Cretton will be helming the 4th movie. So in most case I think its a great choice cause Shang-chi is such a great Marvel film and I can sense the Fight scenes will be given a flair of rhythm and movement to it all for sure. I just hope as well that in between the director and the working on the concept that they go with the street level hero and then build into leading into the whole Multiverse aesthetic with Secret Wars and Doomsday to bring those other web heads back and make it more worth it but I guess we will learn more on the project and concept as the development of it progresses for a supposed planned release for 2026 but we will see how that turns out.

So the next story is a little bit of a rumour right now but may have also been confirmed but we are talking on a spin-off series based on a character from the acclaimed Spider-verse films and that is with the upcoming series based on Spider-Noir. Now things have been quiet about this series since it was announced to be in development all the way back in May of this year with the only confirmation that the creative Duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller were involved with the project and Noir will be played once again by Nicolas Cage in a live action format this time. Besides the whole set up (and some supposed rumoured tension and clashing in the development process) we now have another casting rumour in the information superhighway going around and it seems like acclaimed Irish Actor Brendan Gleeson has been in talks to be in the series and will play a main villain role in the series with that character currently unknown. It is a case that I always enjoy seeing Gleeson in all of these projects and roles and it seems to have a lot of fun with them from the serious (banshees of Inisherin) to the goofy (Paddington 2) so I am intrigued to see who he will be in this series and hopefully more and more big name stars will appear in the show and it sees the light of day and let this creative duo make something on level as their Spider-verse films. Speaking of.

We have some updates in regarding the upcoming conclusion to the Spider-verse trilogy with the highly anticipated Beyond the Spider-verse. Initially it was supposed to be a case that we would've had the finale already released for this back in March of this year but due to the likes of time constraints, behind the scenes issues and the ongoing strikes at the time last year, the project saw the film be delayed from its initial release date with an unknown date to follow it. So most was quiet for a bit with this version of the character (besides the Spider Within earlier this year) and many wondered if we would get any indication of when we would see the series and it looks like through a messy timeline of reports and rumours we may have an idea of when. According to some sources, the finale of Spider-Man Beyond the Spider-verse is looking to have a release sometime in 2027 at the earliest or latest. Now you think that does not sound too bad, I myself am fine with that to give all of those animators and creatives plenty of time and work to make it a masterpiece like the last 2, but this is where things got a little messy. These same reports were indicating that Sony has actually scrapped a large amount of work that was already done on the project so far and made to start again as some form of possible tension between them and Lord and Miller possibly and explained the delay. This caused a bit of concern and also a lot of disdain towards Sony (a statement that we will touch on in a later story) cause it has been shown that Sony does not know how to handle the character as of late with their films on the rogues gallery and spidey heroes. This was the discussion for a few hours on Late Monday / Early Tuesday before the rumour was debunked by both the films composer Daniel Pemberton and from Chris Miller himself with Miller stating that the reels are coming along nicely, so that brings some sense of ease to the whole ordeal. Now the likes of a 2027 release seems like a fair release window given that it was a 4-5 year gap between Into and Across so I am all fine on this time gap cause I know there is so much love and care that goes into this series and I feel they will want to make it the best and all I know is that I have hope that this will be another masterpiece in the making and be a perfect trilogy for sure.

But what are your thoughts on all of this Spider-Man news, do you think its a good director choice, who do you see Gleeson playing in the Noir series and when do you expect to see Beyond the Spider-verse release? Let me know your thoughts and opinions down below and lets discuss them there.

Birds, Ice Creatures and Lanterns

So this next story is going to e a little bit of another hodge podge collection of stuff of topics from this week that were announced or a surprise announcements from the week and I felt best to add them into one story compilation, so we are not going to waste a lot of time in the messy details and we will get into the topics at hand.

the first part of this story is just a little update to the first story from last week but we have a little update on the casting for the upcoming Lanterns series as it has now been confirmed that Josh Brolin has now declined the role of Hal Jordan in the series. So the likes of the other 2 choices may still be on the table or some more new choices may be made overtime but if any more updates come to light I will update in later episodes.

Now for a story that was something I would never thought I would hear make a return but we live in strange times but around a decade ago there was a massive addictive game on phones and tablets that involved you guiding a small little creature through an endless array of pipes and challenging your friends to see who is the best overall. After a short while the game was taken off the app stores cause the creator could not deal with all of the sudden success and many created clones (and even sold their phones with the game still installed on the device) and all seemed to end there..... until just this week as it was announced that we will be seeing the return of the addictive game with Flappy Bird coming back sometime in 2025. Now the likes of this new version will see new forms of the weird looking bird, new locations, a possible progression and story level system and all that other good stuff and I honestly didn't expect to see it return. I think I have an old phone with that still on it somewhere or a clone version of it and am not sure if the phone still works but in all sense I may give a look at the new form of the game when it releases in 2025 but I guess we will see how it turns out.

The last of the announcements for this week is a concept or series that I though was well and truly done but there is still frozen life left to thaw out. So there is a lot of series that has made an established franchise with more then a trilogy with such films like Toy Story, Despicable Me, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda just to name a few, but there is often always one other franchise that over the course of 2 decades have released 5 films in its series and this is with the franchise of Ice age Movies. Now since 2002 the former company of Blue Sky releases 5 full fledged films, 2 holiday specials, a couple of tie in games and a series of shorts involving the non verbal squirrel of Scrat and it was that series that was the last we saw of these characters and the final creation from the studio and it seems the franchise had gone extinct.... that was until just this week, as Disney announced they were in the process of making a 6th film in the franchise. The news was made from John Leguizamo, the voice of Sid (and also biggest complainer about being recast as Luigi for the Mario movie) who made the mention that the 6th film was in the works. Now in all sense I do has a guilty enjoyment of the series over the years but it is a point to myself where I think what else can they do with the series and it would not feel right without the company that made it a franchise it was. I know that their was a Buck Wild film made from another studio but it was not the same and was tolerable enough all the sense. Now in most case it could be a new reboot or else it will do something about the end of the Ice Age period into the new world but who knows but its a concern of what will come from it all and I hope its on the level of the other films but I guess we will see how this whole thing develops overall.

But what are your thoughts on all of this, who do you see playing Hal Jordan now, Would you play the new version of Flappy Bird and what are your thoughts on a 6th Ice Age and the series in general? Let me know your thoughts and feelings down below in the comments.

The PlayStation gets an "upgrade" if you can call it that

Now for some sense of a little bit of some tech news for this week and it was a focus of 2 group but I decided to gloss over the other one to one I know a fair bit more of with this one. The one I skipped over was the usual Apple event that happens every year cause in all sense its the usual same looking phone, same price with minimal changes with most of the new focus was the likes of AI features but every other company has made the same unveiling of the programs for their devices so I seen it with one I see it with all (will probably bring it up in the AI Audience Choice piece I am working on) but we are looking at the side of the gamers as we have some new tech that has caused quite a conversation. So we are aware that the console gaming is a massive thing right now with PlayStation and Xbox releasing next gen hardware back in late 2020 and Nintendo on the way with their new console next year (looking forward to that unveiling that's for sure) but we are focusing on the first mentioned company of PlayStation for this story. Now they have released different versions of their console from the original, special editions and recently a slimline version last Christmas and since then there was all rumblings for a more advanced pro edition of the console and after many rumours and even a tease in some celebration images, earlier this week Sony had a special tech showcase to unveil their new PS5 Pro. So it comes with the usual aspects that come with any new edition of a more pro version of a console with the likes of a more upgraded and faster GPU, More advanced Ray Tracing, a bigger Storage drive (heard something about 2TB's for the console) and like everything else will use some form of AI tech for improved upscaling and all that stuff.... but this is where I start to see the problems, as well as a lot of people online. The issue comes with the focus of comparing visuals on a normal PS5 to the Pro and there was so little in difference that it looks like there was nothing in detail difference which starts to question if its all a ruse or if there is so little difference. The other element is the price and lack of aspects with the console as going from the announcement is that the console is coming in at €800 which is way too expensive for a pro version and that is even without any disc drive or even a stand for the console which I find dumb for a price and that they can't put a stand in with it when there is plenty of space for one in a box (as someone who worked in the software section of a toy shop when the slim came out there is plenty of space for a stand to go into the console box) that it really feels like is it worth this price for a "pro" if there is really little change in difference and feels like it is just the same level of specs as the Series X at launch (cause it was found the New Xbox was more powerful then the PS5). They specified that the reason for the price was to do it cause Microsoft hadn't released one yet and will most likely come out with their own but in all sense this price is way too much with so little change to it all that a €50-100 more then the standard slim would make more sense, not another €250 for it that would include a €30 stand for the console and €100 for a external disc drive and then the whole €60-80 for a new game and all so I find it just way too pricey and I will stick to my original PS5 cause it works like a charm and I will save the money for the games and the new Nintendo console instead (or help get that important person to me their own PS5 before GTA 6).

But what are your own thoughts on this new Pro version, do you think it is worth that price and will you be getting one for yourself? Let me know your thoughts on it down below.

The passing of a legend

Now the last piece is a little bit of a somber story as we have once again lost another icon in the world of entertainment and it was someone that you may not recognize in some form but you will know his voice as earlier this week we had sadly lost the legend of Actor James Earl Jones. Now Jones was a well regarded and respected actor with films and roles like Fences on Broadway, Driving Ms Daisy, Field of Dreams and many more but most would recognize his voice as the Sith Lord Darth Vader or as the King of Pride Rock with Mufasa in the original and Live Action Remake of The Lion King and throughout his expansive career also became one of the few actors in the industry to receive the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) and was a well regarded and respected actor then, now and for many generations to come. He passed away earlier this week at the age of 93 surrounded by his family and I hope this legend will Rest in Peace and become one with the force. 

Special Segment: The Fiscally challenged Podcast

So before I wrap up everything for this week, I have one more new special segment to throw in cause sure its long enough but why not one more piece and this is talking on a part of something I really have not much of a clue on and that is with Money and Finances (now do not worry I am not doing a fortune favors the bold and made everyone lose their money). You see my friend CJ who I met on the radio course that I did and started just about a year to the day has created an all new Podcast series known as the Fiscally challenged ( an element I helped with a fix of design for the logo in some small element) where she will sit down with people that have more knowledge of the concept of money, crypto and all other forms of financial aspects to help those that seem a little confused on these concept and how they work and make things seem much more easier to manage and help to work on understand finances and money much more better overall. It sounds like a great addition to listen to to learn something new and interesting all under the basis of hour long interviews to help clear the fiscal issues we face. If it sounds like something that will interest you then you can check it out in Audio and Podcast form of Apple Podcasts and Spotify and can watch the video podcast on YouTube with 2 episodes currently available and a new episode out every week over the course of 10 interviews and it is worth a check out and you can follow them on socials to keep up to date on the project as it develops and I hope you will tune in over the course of the series as I will do so myself.

And with all of that that ends this weeks episode of Weird Mind News Room and I hope you enjoyed listening to my ramblings on all things media for another week. Let me know your thoughts on everything that was discussed down below on your opinions on everything discussed and am open to a chat on your thoughts on all that came out. As always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I shall see you all in the next episode :)

Take Care, Keep being you, Signing off

Sam H :)