Weird Mind News Room Episode 92: Nov 25th - Dec 1st

 *How far will I go with this music bit*

Hello to all of you wonderful sea faring people to the 92nd edition of Weird Mind News Room, where this week in a surprisingly quiet week of content, we have a few new releases, a small handful of trailers and a few slim pickings for the news stories, so without further ado, let us get to the content of this weeks media news

What can I say Except New Releases

Movies

Moana 2

So on the first of the 2 new releases for this week, it is time for us to once again to head off on the high seas to see how far we will go for some adventure, mystery and discovery as the ocean calls out to everyone's favourite Polynesian Princess and magical demigod as we have the release of the surprise sequel of Moana 2. The plot this time around will be set 3 years after the events of the original movie where Moana will set off on a new journey across Oceania with a message from the ancient ancestors and with a rag tag crew to find Maui and reach a lost island known as Motufetu, sunken by the Storm god Nalo in order to find other civilizations connected by the ocean and build more connections in the process. Compared to the beloved original the film has been hit with weaker but still somewhat decent reception with praise to the performances and animation for the most part, though many see it as a project hit with the sequelitis and that it feels disjointed in a lot of places (which may be expected given the film was initially a Disney+ series before it was morphed into a film back in February) but if you want to check it out for yourself then you can catch this new film out now in cinemas.

Conclave

And as for the one other new release for this week, is delving into the realm of power, lies, deceit and heavy decision makings all while under the house of God as we are heading to the Vatican with the new thriller of Conclave. The film based on a novel will follow Cardinal Lawrence who is tasked with one of the most secretive and ancient events of participating in a selection of a new Pope. Surrounded by powerful religious leaders in the halls of the Vatican, he soon uncovers a trial of deep secrets that could shake the very foundation of the Roman Catholic Church. Reception to this film has been very well recieved with praise on the performances and the story and plot and respect based on the book it is from and could be a possible awards contender, but if you want to learn the secrets of the church then you can catch this film out now in cinemas.

Shiny new trailers

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

I here to make an announcement, it is time to get hype as it is about to get epic up in here as we are weeks away from one of the most anticipated releases of the year as it all about speed against unlimited power of chaos as the blue blur himself is up against a powerful adversary as we have the newest trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The film will see Sonic, Tails and Knuckles reunite to take on Shadow, a mysterious new Hedgehog enemy with powers unlike anything they've seen before. Now with their abilities outmatched in every way, they will have to seek out an unlikely alliance to stop shadow and save the planet from total destruction. So its a case you told me a little over 5 years ago that I would be hyping up for a new sonic movie, I would think you were crazy and wonder if you have seen the same design and everything but I would be proven wrong and now I am hyped for this film even more and just the connections to the Sonic Adventure film and everything shown so far is exciting and I am looking forward to checking this out when the film races into cinemas from December 20th/21st 

Squid Game Season 2

As for the 2nd trailer for this week is taking us back into the system of green jumpsuits, numbers, cash prizes, childhood games and a lot of violent outcomes from it all as after a 3 year wait, the games will begin again and a method to take it down from the inside as we have recieved a new trailer for the upcoming 2nd season of Squid Game. The plot this time around for this season will follow on from the first season and will see Gi-hun on a desperate mission to expose the deadly truth of the competition after the affects of the hardened demeanor and the scars of the past games. Yet his warning will go unheeded, but soon tensions will soon rise as fellow players soon question his intentions. So its a case I wonder how much of this series will have the similar games in mind being played in this new series as it seems from the trailer that a few of the games will be similar with the likes of the red light green light and the one of the cookie cutter game and I wonder how much of the deep conspiracy of the game will play out. I will be giving this a rewatch before this new season drops to see how much of the games will be similar in focus but so far from this trailer it does look a bit more exciting and they have been not overly marketing this season compared to what they did recently for season 1, but I guess we will see how it all comes together as we have the new season releasing in just under a months time on December 26th.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam

As for the last trailer for this week is a game trailer, which is a first for a fair bit of time on this series but it is well worth a choice cause this game in particular I had been wondering when we were going to see this make a return and finally we have gotten a new look as it will be time to put on the top hat and coat and grab and hot cup of tea and do some puzzle deduction as the great puzzle detective is finally making a return with a title that has not had this duo in well over a decade as we have recieved a new trailer for Professor Layton and the New World of Steam. Set one year after the events of The Lost Future, Layton's ward of Luke Triton has moved to the city of Steam Bison, a city in the US that is full of steam engine technology and will soon find himself faced with a new mystery controlled by the power of the Ghostly Gunman King Joe, and will send a letter to Layton to help in the mystery and solve the case before everything goes up in smoke. So it is a case that I actually do really love the Professor Layton series and it is a series I want to play on my YouTube at some point (but just need to figure out how to record handhelds without making it look awkward, but I think from what they have shown that I have been looking forward to see a return to this series and has been the only bit of content we have gotten for this game in over a year now but I am sure I will be up to solve the new mystery when the game releases for the Nintendo Switch (or at this rate the Switch successor) sometime in 2025.

How far I'll go to stretch the news out

The Nolan Bunch and some peace and love

Alrighty then, we are heading into talking on the very little stories for this week as we have once again talk about one of the things that usually get a bit of news is with the casting of some news from the week with 2 stories which are some updates for 2 projects of course and I will be giving them a quick rundown on those announcements.

Well I was surprisingly right about one story from last week and that is with the case that we will see another edition being added to the upcoming film from Oscar winning director of Christopher Nolan as it was announced on Monday that it is now Oscar Winning Actress of Charlize Theron who you may known for her award winning performance in Monster, Furiosa in Mad Max Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and many other films and will be joining the growing cast of big stars so far consisting of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o and Robert Pattinson and every casting sound so much more interesting to learn. At this point I feel it may be out of the realm of it being the Helicopter pilot concept and may be more of the period piece vampire one (which is ironic that Pattinson is just known now for roles that involve Bats) but I guess we will eventually learn about that project and the name as well. Will we see another big name joining for next week? It seems at this point likely but we will see how this comes about in due time within a weeks time.

As on the 2nd of the casting news for the week is a topic I brought up a little bit ago on this series and that is with the planned 4 film biopics based on the members of the Beatles that is being made by Skyfall and 1917 director of Sam Mendes where his method is making a film for each member which would be George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and the focus for this casting of Ringo Star and it actually may have come from the man himself as he has mentioned that the actor playing him in the film is Irish actor Barry Keoghan in a recent interview this week which may have possibly confirmed that casting of the 4 members right now. Now this was the rumoured one for the longest time for one of them and it seems like it may make the other choices for these roles (which consist of Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Charlie Rowe or Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon) and I feel if the case is that he is looking to release the 4 films in 2027 (at the moment) then I feel we will hear the official casting real soon and then see from there as to what the outcome is for those last 3 choices and then see how it all Comes Together right now, really soon (I had to do the pun I am sorry).

But with that I want to know your thoughts on these 2 casting news pieces and who else do you see being cast in Nolan's film and a guess of the concept and name and on Keoghan's casting of Starr and who will play the rest of the band? Let me know your thoughts and choices down below.

Toss a coin to pre-request the fellow witchers and a little rant on buckets

The only other story of interest that I found is with a little bit of gaming news and it is coming to us from a well respected studio that for a short bit of time was seen as a betrayal after the launch of their new IP and this is coming to us with Polish studio of Studio Projekt Red. Now of course the company has had 2 series that has seen some eventual success with the likes of their futuristic series of Cyberpunk 2077 and the focus of today's story of their flagship series of The Witcher. Now it is a case that the series has had a massive appeal and success over the years where it was a little overlooked for a bit and then took off with the 2nd game and the 3rd becoming a massive success that spawned some planned remakes, a card game spin off and a mixed appealing tv series that the one thing that everyone agreed upon was the casting of Henry Cavil as Geralt of Riveria (which the next 2 seasons will be sorely missing) and there was a lot of wonder of what is next for the series and that answers was given in the same week of the announcement of Cyberpunk selling 30 million units since launch in 2020 that the studio has officially started the production on the 4th entry in the Witcher series. Now at this rate it is early stages, so we have no idea on what we can expect of the world and plot of this game but in most case we will see the likes of favourites like Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer all return for a new outing and if it will take any inspiration from the book series if there is anything left to pull from them (and do a better job to it then the Netflix production team where Cavil was the only one that cared about the books and lore) and how far away from a release this will be, but I am sure we will get more updates over the few years to follow (given the likes that all the entries were about 3.5 to 4 years to develop I expect around 2028-29 at the latest but could be longer) but I look forward to see how it all comes along.

before I wrap this all up I want to rant and ask one thing.... why can't the cinema branches over here get any of the cool popcorn buckets and things over here where the US get all cool ones. Like we never got the Dune bucket here with is questionable top, the essentially Deadpool and Wolverine Flesh light one (though I did get a nice Deadpool head cup), The Beetlejuice stop motion worm, the really cool Xenomorph head bucket or the Venom bust one cause we rarely get is some simple tin buckets for it all. Cause I want to bring it up with all of the ones for the upcoming ones (the only one close was the Gladiator 2 helmet cup at least) look cool like the wave and boat ones for Moana, the literal weapon of the Lord of the Rings bucket, the Nosferatu crypt and the one I want most, the sonic head bucket and light up cup. I know most case in my small audience traction that I will not be seen much in this aspect but if there is a chance that these can come out over here or have a way to get one of these from the US would be awesome cause they are cool and would love to have them for my own night time snacking and movie binges by myself or with other important people and maybe we can also join in on the popcorn bucket craze and it continues into 2025.

Anyways besides that rant, what are your thoughts on a new Witcher game and are you excited for a return to a 4th entry? Let me know what you think of it down below in the comments (as well of what will work for buckets in the newer years)

And with all of that out of the way, this wraps up episode 92 of Weird Mind News Room and I hope you enjoyed this much quieter week then usual (most case end of the year is just quieter on news). Let me know your thoughts and opinions on all that was discussed below and as always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day every day and I shall see you all once again in the next blog and episodes :)

Take care, keep being you, signing off

Sam H :)