Weird Mind News Room Episode 99: Jan 13th - 19th

 *howling away to some music of the Piano Man*

Well hello again to each and everyone of you wonderful peoples to the 99th edition of the weekly series of Weird Mind News Room where this week we have a selection of some of the biggest new releases of the week, a fair few trailers and a story or 2 to talk about for the week so let us not waste too much time on intros and let us talk on what we got from all forms of media this week.

New Releases of a transformative nature

Movies

A Complete Unknown

So we start off the first of the new releases with the first of some of the biopics that we will see release over the next year as we focus on the career of a musician that has been around for more then 50 years and has helped changed the music industry in many ways as we have the new Bob Dylan bio film of A complete Unknown. The film will focus on the early days and rising career of the musician of Bob Dylan and focus as well on the controversial decision around his method of switching to electrically amplified instrumentation in the folk music scene. Reception on this film has been decently recieved with great praise to the performances of the film, especially to Chalamet as Bob Dylan, though some see it as being one that may not help better understand the musician if you didn't know much about him and is a bit of your usual affair with bio films, but if you are up to learn of the life of some iconic names in music then you can catch this new film out now in cinemas.

Wolf Man

On the 2nd film of the week and the 2nd film focusing on an iconic movie monster, it is time to see the return of a creature of the night, a monster of great power and in the full form under the light of the Full moon as the director of the surprisingly well made Invisible Man film is back with his take on the Wolf Man. The film will follow Blake, a family man who seeks to protect himself and his family from a dangerous werewolf at night during a full moon that may be more difficult then first expected as he feels he may not be fully in control of himself. Reception on this film has been hit with a more mixed reception with praise to the performance of the main lead and some use of cinematography and transformations, though some of the story beats and appeal of the Wolf Man design may not appeal to everyone, but if you want to stay safe and out of sight from the high moon, then you can check this film out now in cinemas too.

Back in Action

The last of the films for the week is seeing some semblance of Espionage and the return of an actress that has been retired for a bit of time for one more job as we have the newest spy comedy of Back in Action (no its not the Looney Tunes Back in Action, still an iconic film). The film follows Emily and Matt, 2 former CIA agents who got out of the business to fall in love and start a family, but will soon have them pulled back into the job when their identities have been exposed and must resolve the issue before any more dire situations could occour. Reception to this film has been hit with a mix of some underwhelming reception that while the star power of the leads and the return of Cameron Diaz helps bring some appeal, the film faces criticism over its lack of a funny script and feeling like a lot of other films we have seen before, but if you want to check it out for yourself then you can so now on Netflix.

TV Shows

Castlevania Nocturne Season 2

Staying with the streamer for the first of the new shows of this week is taking us to the first on the adaptations of video games as we will be seeing the night grow longer, the Dark travelling farther and the blood beginning to flow as the battle of the forces of good and evil have returned to do battle over their long sought rivalry as after a bit of a gap it is time we return to the anime spin off of Castlevania with the 2nd season to Nocturne. The new season will follow on from the first seasons narrative as we follow Richter Belmont and the rest of the vampire hunters be joined by Alucard, as they race to stop Erzsebet Bathory's dark and terrible plans of taking over the world by any see fit. Reception to this new season has been very well recieved with praise to its visuals, fights and performances, though some see that the series is starting to show its age and some elements of its story are seen as a little flat or could've had much more potential, but if you are up for more vampire hunting action, you can catch the full 2 seasons now on Netflix.

Severance season 2

As for the 2nd of the shows for the week is a return to working order and a long awaited follow up to a series that came along and provided something appealing and fresh with a bit of a twisty aesthetic to it all as Adam Scott's Mark Scout is about to clock in as an Innie again as we have the release of the 2nd season of Severance. The story will continue on from the first season of the workers at the fictional corporation of Lumon and the workers that have themselves involved in a Severance program that separated their memories of their personal lives and Work lives once activated and will see the characters learn to break free and learn of the deep conspiracy and take it down from the inside. Reception to this new season premiere like the last season has been very highly praised for its concept, themes, topics and its twisty method of storytelling that will keep the audience engaged with the acclaimed cast in the show too. And if you are up to learning the truth then you can catch the new season premiere now on Apple TV+ with a new episode releasing every Thursday.

Games

Donkey Kong Country returns HD

And the last of the new releases will have us get down to business.... monkey business in this regards as everyone's favourite tie wearing Ape and his little monkey pal are back on a classic adventure in an upscaled new format as we have the all new HD port of Donkey Kong Country Returns. This new HD port will follow the plot of the original game as DK and Diddy Kong travel across Donkey Kong Island to defeat the Tiki Tak Tribe who has mind controlled the animals of the island to steal the massive banana hoard from the Ape and they will Bam, Slam and Konga jam to get them back. Reception for this new port of the game like the previous 2 ports has seen some well recieved reception, with praise to the gameplay, story and visuals getting praised, though some of the HD upgrade felt lacking and many felt it needed more new content over the last 2 ports in order to justify the games price tag, but if you are up for a new adventure, then you can play it now on the Nintendo Switch (or you can find a copy 2nd hand for 3DS and Wii).

Trailers to play a song to

Daredevil Born Again

The first of the trailers for this week is one that has been anticipated to see get released for a bit of time as with the rise of power and fear growing across the city, it is up to one man from Hell's Kitchen to put on the mask and stop this corruption before it all falls apart as the man without fear is back once again as we have finally recieved a trailer for the upcoming new season and series of Daredevil Born Again. The series will see the return of Blind Lawyer Matt Murdock fighting for justice and going against the powerfully dangerous Wilson Fisk who is pursuing a campaign to become Mayor of New York, which will soon cause their past identities to collide and Daredevil must stop his plans before more serious problems could arise. Now its a known fact and given that the original 3 season series that started on Netflix was a really great show that felt more like a gripping violent thriller then the normal Superhero affair at the time and what I can get from this trailer is that it is going as both a continuation of that series and last years Echo, but also the case that it is keeping that more mature violent rating for the series as well and it looks like it will be really great. Now we do not have too long to wait for this series to drop as the series will begin on Disney+ in a month and half time on March 4th.

Until Dawn movie

The next trailer that I will be talking on was some discussion I talked about last week in the news section that involved an adaptation of a PlayStation title that had the elements of sounding a lot different then the themes and plot of that game being adapted, and from this trailer I can see that it is a bit different in that aspect, as it will come down to the choices these characters make that will decide who lives and dies as we have recieved the first trailer for the upcoming adaptation of Until Dawn. The film follows Clover and a group of her friends who head off to a remote valley in search of her sister who had disappeared there a year ago. They are soon trapped in this location of a small cabin where they are horifically murdered , only to find themselves back alive at the beginning of the same evening where it all began. Trapped in the valley they are forced to relive the nightmares over and over again with a different threat each time and more terrifying then the last and must try and survive until dawn to escape the horrors. So its a case that I was worried on this as I feel the original is so beloved to many in the community that took the time to play it, despite a fair few flaws and it is a case with this one where I wondered how does this really connect to the original title game as it nearly feels more akin to the Dark Picture games from the same studio. But after watching the trailer once or twice, I can see the case that I see elements where it has the ideals of the games themes of life and death, it used some tropes of classic horror films with this one being something new with each night and a fair bit of this has grown on me a little that I am interested in seeing it and hopefully will turn out a lot better then I first thought by jumping to conclusions but I guess we will see how that comes about with the film releasing into cinemas on April 25th. 

Win or Lose

The next trailer is the only animated one for the week and one from a favourite animation studio of mine as we are hitting the field and ready to play ball in more ways then one as it is time to prep for the big game as we have the trailer for the new first original series from Pixar with Win or Lose. The series will follow a co-ed middle school softball team known as the Pickles in the week leading up to their big championship game with every episode focusing on the same events but following one different member of the team and on their perspective as the game approaches for the perspective of the players, their parents and even the umpire, leading all the way up to the big state championships. So what I have gotten from the footage gives me a unique idea is that they will all tackle some different worries and fears to build more courage and appeal to the overall narrative and while there is some comedy that feels a little awkward (maybe its in the way some bits were edited for the trailer) I think it looks like it will be a fun little story and will all have some unique different forms and styles of animation to tell that characters story. Sure the likes of the worry of one of them having to be majorly overhauled as there was going to be a much deeper story for one of them with Gender identity would've been nice to see how that would unfold but I hope it will turn out well enough to be entertaining and we do not have to wait too long as the series will be releasing in just about a months time on Disney+ on February 19th.

The Monkey

the last of the trailer for this week is about to get much more darker, insane and a lot more bloody as Longlegs director Osgood Perkins and Producer James Wan are returning for more horror with a story from the master of horror stories with Stephen King as we have recieved a new trailer for the upcoming film of The Monkey. The film follows twin brother Hal and Bill who discover a vintage toy monkey that belonged to their father in the attic who soon witness a string of horrific deaths happen around them when it was unleashed. In order to rid of the haunting they discard the monkey and soon pursue different paths overtime. But soon when the inexplicable deaths resurface, the 2 are compelled to reconcile and embark on a mission to permanently eliminate the cursed toy. Knowing of my knowledge with adaptations of Stephen king short stories compared to his more larger novels, it will vary in the appeal in how it comes about and can be a hot or a miss depending on the story and those involved in the production but going off how well Osgood did with Longlegs and crafting well formatted stories in that genre, I feel it may have an appeal of working out well with this one and could be something really messed up, insane and truly fucked up in the process and may be worth a watch, and its not too long for that as well as the film will be releasing into cinemas in about a months time on February 21st.   

News to bring the nostalgia

We are switching it up for a sequel

So we start off the news stories for the week with the big one and this is with the focus of some news in tech and video games. If you have been following this series for a fair bit of time, then you will have known that one of the pieces of tach that I have been discussing for the better half of a year and a half at this point was the discussion of the next new console from Nintendo and the successor to their money maker of The Nintendo Switch. Well after countless leaks, rumours, discussions, images and many more things that you will find on every part of the internet to make this the most leaked console on the internet, Nintendo finally unveiled on Thursday their new console in the form of the Nintendo Switch 2 (I mean I would not complain on that as if the first worked and proved a success, provide an upgrade in another form). Now not much was overly shown with this new console but we have a few things we can get from the the 2.5 minute trailer that was unveiled. Firstly the big thing we can see is that the console is going to be a lot bigger in both of its tablet form and joy cons which has been rumoured for the moment being about 30% bigger then the original and OLED versions. There is some new features including a much larger kick stand, buttons and sensors on the joy cons and tablet, an extra port for a USB-C for either charging while in tabletop mode or for some eventual new peripherals and a new method of connecting the joycon's by a magnet type form instead of sliding them down both sides and there is also a possible mouse form with the joycons but the jury is still out on that answer for the moment. Besides that the only other things we got from the trailer was the first look at the first title for the console which is an all new Mario Kart which is the first for a console in over 11 years (Deluxe was a remaster of 8) with plenty of speculation on number of racers per race and new designs and a possible speculation to its new gimmick. The last confirmations was the console is coming out in 2025, it is backwards compatible with the switch one games (well most of them) and that we will get a new direct focusing on the console on April 2nd (I thought it was Feb 4th but was using the US date system) and I for one am exited to get one for myself. Now the likes of some speculation I have for it myself will be it will cost I think between 350 and 400 euros, will come in some form of 3 different colours at launch (the one shown, one in white and a special skin connected to a launch game), Metroid Prime 4 will be a launch game with other big hitters to launch with, and the case it will improve the battery life, have strong power to the previous PlayStation or Xbox and will have fixed the stick drift issues of the first console but these are all my speculation for the moment. Either way I am very excited to get my own one and once pre-orders are up I am in to do just that and hopefully will be another big year for Nintendo.

But what do you think of this unveilment, are you excited to try out a switch 2 and what are your own predictions for the console itself? Let me know what you think down below in the comments and we can discuss them there.

There is some new rules for some creatures, treasure hunters and a magical world

As for the second and final story for the week, we are delving into some more rumoured discussions and possible announcements that will relate to a few projects that may be in the works or have had a big announcement made and presumed release date for their project as well that I have a few thoughts on in this regards, so lets delve into what these are and give my thoughts to them.

The first of the rumoured reports is coming to us from the studio of Warner Bros, the company that tries to tell us that they are the only original storyteller left in the industry, though seem to follow in the direction like a lot of the other studios out there with reviving series and franchises as this week they have just added another 2 to that mix as there has been reports that they are making a new films (either as a sequel or a reboot) of both Gremlins and the Goonies and that Chris Columbus would be involved with both projects once again. Now this isn't the first time that both of these concept projects were mentioned before as Columbus has stated he had a script made for a 3rd gremlins back in 2017 and a case initially I was going to discuss a rumoured sequel to Goonies that was supposedly in the works a couple weeks ago that I left out of the blog as it was debunked by the original films actors at the time. This is where I have my concerns and questions about these projects as sure I can see the likes of the Gremlins making a return and working in some regards as many horror icons have made a return in recent years in films format from the likes of Michael Myers, Chucky, Pinhead, Pennywise and a few other movie monsters and creatures that it could work to see how it could morph itself into the modern day, the likes of a Goonies one feels a little weird in terms of its idea of making a follow up to it all 40 years after the original in the mid 80s that I would not be sure if the cast would be back to go on another treasure hunt or their kids are the ones to do so, so it is hard to see in the likes of a sequel and the reboot to it could benefit but am not sure in that regards how it would appeal in this day and age when the original is a more timeless classic. I am sure we will get more info about these 2 films right now that I am a little skeptic on for the moment but I do hope that things will work out and could be something worth a watch but we will see as time goes on.

As for the other piece of news in relation to film is taking us over to Netflix for this one as we have recieved a little update on their big planned adaptation of the Narnia series being made by Greta Gerwig. Now we have known of this project for a bit of time since mid 2023 after the recent release of her last project of Barbie and it has been a case this has been very quiet on that end with most info we got was a rumoured casting of Saoirse Ronan in the film. However it has now gotten a new update about the planned release window and the first for a Netflix project in particular as it was announced just on Thursday that Netflix is planning to release the film into IMAX first before releasing the film the month later onto Netflix with the confirmed project for this being Thanksgiving 2026 and the Netflix release for presumably Christmas Day. Now this is a first for Netflix as they have not released their films into IMAX inn general and most they would do with films for cinema would give most a week or 2 a month out from its streaming release but in very little amount of showing (an example that many see that would've benefitted more in having more showings and viewing was the 2nd Knives Out 

film of Glass Onion and many are demanding for Wake Up Dead Man as am I) so hopefully it is a case that this will show Netflix that some of their projects from big name directors could benefit them in releasing them into cinemas first and then an appeal for streaming a little later and hopefully this is not just exclusive to the US or anything as I would be interested in seeing her take on the stories of this franchise, but I guess we will see how it all comes together and hear about who is involved with casting and all other stuff in due time but I am looking forward to a new take on a beloved series.

But what do you think of these announcements, would you be interested in a new Gremlins and Goonies movie and would you watch this new Narnia Adaptation and other big Netflix originals in cinemas if given the chance? Let me know what you think of them down below.

And with all of that, this brings me to the end of the 99th edition of weird Mind News Room and I do hope that you have enjoyed my slightly shorter ramblings for this week. Let me know what your thoughts are on everything released or discussed this week down below and as always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I will see you all in the newx blog and the big 100th episode next week :)

Take care, keep being you, signing off

Sam H :)