Weird Mind News Room Episode 122: June 23rd - 29th
*rev up the engines with some music to play as well
Well hello to all of you wonderful people to this part of the information superhighway to the 122nd edition of the weekly series of Weird Mind News Room where this week we have a bit of a selection of some of the new Releases to focus on, a selection of trailers and a small handful of News stories to delve into as well, so lets not waste too much on heavy focus to intros and lets delve into talking on all things media for another week.
Grand Prix of New Releases
Movies
F1
So lets start off the new releases with the big release film of this week and one of the most anticipated films of this year and of the summer as it will be time to rev up the engines, get into focus, train as much as you can and give whatever it takes to be the best of the best in one of the worlds most dangerous sports as after a fair bit of anticipation, the director of Top Gun Maverick is going from the skies to the Grand Prix as we have the release of the film based on the popular sport of F1. This film will follow Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) who had a terrible crash back in the 1990s and forced to retire from F1 and race in other disciplines. He soon comes out of retirement when an old friend (Javier Bardem) asks him to mentor a rookie prodigy Joshua Pierce on the major team of AXPGP and while they may not get along, they will soon come together to prove their skill and worth in the worlds fastest and deadliest sport. Reception on this new title has seen a lot of strong positive reception with praise to the performances, the action set pieces, cinematography and story and has been seen as one of the best films of this year and well worth to watch in IMAX or even in 4DX and if you want to check it out for yourself then you can catch this film now in cinemas.
M3gan 2.0
As for the 2nd film from this week is seeing that with the rise of artificial intelligence, it can show that the likes of the dangers that some things can possess or if the likes of programming were made intentional at first could turn into something that could become a complete disaster as was a case 2 years ago when a humanoid doll was designed to protect and be a new best friend and will go in any way to stop it. Well it looks like this bitch is back and has an all new upgrade as we have recieved the release of the sequel to the 2023 horror title with M3gan 2.0. Taking place after M3gan, a marvel of artificial Intelligence went rogue and went on a murderous rampage, its creator Gemma, has become an advocate for the government oversight on AI. But unbeknownst to her, a defense contractor has created a military-grade weapon known as Amelia, seen as the ultimate infiltration spy using the design and specs of M3gan. However as Amelia's Self awareness increases, it becomes less interested in taking orders and in the case of hoping to stop this new rogue AI, Gemma decides to resurrect M3gan to take them down and make her faster, stronger and more lethal. Reception on this new title has seen a more mixed reception compared to the original as while there is elements that is still liked from the performances, the tonal shift from more campy horror to a more action focused follow up may not sit with a lot of people and may feel a little overloaded and overblown but if you have been looking forward to all of this and want to check it out for yourself then you can catch this new upgrade out now in cinemas.
TV shows
Marvel Televisions Ironheart
Now onto tv with the first release of this week being a focus of a series that has been waiting to release for about 3 years at this point, one that follows on from a film with a lot of focus on grief and death and legacy and a series that has also been given some added boost and appeal from being produced from the man who gave us one of the best films of this year as after all of that delay, it is time to suit up for the next generation of tech as we have finally recieved the long awaited MCU tv series of Ironheart. The series will take place a few days after the events of Black Panther Wakanda Forever and see MIT student Riri Williams returning home to Chicago where she becomes entangled with the enigmatic Parker Robbins or also known as The Hood, where she will discover secrets that will pit technology against Magic and soon set her off on a path of Danger and Adventure. Reception on this series has been a bit mixed to modest at best that while the performances (especially towards Dominique Thorne as Riri) and concept are well liked, the series seems to be hit with a mixed appeal of the stakes not being overly massive in this and feeling really tonally off or lacking in excitement compared to other Marvel properties that have come before (and then the likes you have the usual gang of the anti-woke critics calling it like a crime against the Geneva convention or something like that when it really isn't at all and is just the usual affair from them). Now I have watched the first 2 episodes of the 3 released so far and I don't think it is too bad, its not terrible but its not like a masterpiece either, I think it is good so far and maybe will pick up by the end but we'll see and if you want to check it out for yourself you can catch the first 3 episodes now on Disney+ with the following 3 releasing weekly on Wednesday.
The Bear Season 4
The 2nd show from this week is serving up a culinary fiasco, a tasty dish of Drama and an overall serving of pure stress and craziness, all to get it to make it the tastiest meal and restaurant on this side of Chicago as we are back at the new and improved restaurant with the release of the 4th (and unclear if final) season of The Bear. This new season will see Carmen, Sydney and Richie pushing forward and determined not only to survive but to take the Bear to the next level in culinary excellence after the response from a recent review had put a bit of a damper in their career and look to make a change to that. Reception on this 4th season like the previous 3 has still seen some great strong reception, though has seen the likes of this season being the lowest scoring review wise with praise to the continues story, tone, characters and overall focus to make it an entertaining project overall, and if you want to check it out for yourself, you can catch the full new season and the previous 3 now on Disney+
Squid Game Final Season
And the last of the shows for this week is with the focus that if you were offered a case of being invited to some special tournament that has you play more sinister and messed up versions of children's games that could see either you survive through and win a boat load of cash or see your life being taken away from you in the process, you have to wonder if you would take part or think this sounds insane, but in the case of the lead of this last show for this week, he is looking to find a way to take it down before anyone else can be killed for entertainment as after a bit of a gap since the previous season and its shocking cliffhanger, we have finally recieved the 3rd and final season of the popular Korean series of Squid Game. In this season, we will see the continuing fight led by Seong Gi-Hun and the players face off against even more deadlier games, which all have some more dire consequences then the last, while In-Ho welcomes the VIPS back to the island for the final events while his brother of Jun-Ho continues the search for the hidden island, while unaware of a traitor amongst his team. Reception on this final season like the first 2 has still been well recieved with praise to its performances, games, presentation and story, with most criticisms seem to be for some elements of CGI being a little unfinished and some of the dialogue, particularly with the VIPs being too corny and for some audiences feeling the ending was a little hit or miss. Now I have watched most of the final season so far and I think that it has turned out great, sure some bits and decisions by the VIP's are some of the stupidest things I have ever heard and feel off compared to the first seasons VIP's, but I think overall it turned into a proper solid series overall and if you want to check it out for yourself then you can catch the full series now on Netflix.
Video Games
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
The last of the new releases for this week is with the return to a title that initially with the first release over 6 years ago that was seen as very cryptic, elaborate but confusing and even to a level of being very convoluted that even the games director at a point has no idea what this was about, but he is back with a follow up to a series he started after leaving a company that provided a top tier stealth based game as Hideo Kojima is back again with the sequel to his 2019 of Death Stranding 2 on the Beach. Set about 8 months after the events of the Original game and set primarily in Australia, to a backdrop of a post apocalyptic world ravaged by otherworldly creatures, the player controls Sam Porter Bridges, a freelance porter, as he and his companions set out on an expedition across the Australian continent to connect isolated survivors and colonies to the wireless communications "Chiral" network in order to save humanity from extinction. Reception on this follow up has seen some very strong positive reception with praise on the game being a massive improvement in the focus of story, characters, gameplay improvements and visuals and seen as one of the best games to come out of this year and if you want to play it for yourself, it is available to play now on PlayStation 5.
Pit stop trailers
Weapons
The first of the trailers to come out of this weeks trailers in focus is with a idea that many strange and unsettling mysteries can occour at many point in time with unknown reasons and questions asked, but in the focus of this film in general we have a discussion that a very strange and very creepy outcome will occour with a mystery that turns a small town into a spiraling mess of questions and horrors, as Zach Creggar has returned back again with a new horror title set in the world connected possibly to his first horror of Barbarian as we have recieved a new trailer for his new horror of Weapons. The film will tell of a strange mystery that occours in a small community town where one night at exactly 2:17 am, all but one child from the same class suddenly wake up, walk downstairs, walk out the front door and disappear into the night with no explanation and a community is left questioning who or what is behind the disappearance and why is it only with one teachers classroom. I do think the likes of this one shows the likes that this director is not a one hit creative as it seem this one still has a lot of the concerning creepiness factor to it all and the concept of one of my fears of possessed or demonic children is really unsettling and from how it is shown so far it looks like it will be a really creepy outcome in general and I am all for checking this out for hopefully a good scare and maybe being tricked into something I am not seeing on the surface but I am sure we will find out about it all when the film releases into cinemas from August 8th.
The Strangers Chapter 2
The 2nd trailer for this week is in a focus to the ideals that in the aftermath of a situation like this of dealing with a traumatic event, the most unlikely expectancy to see is that it will lead to a continued onslaught and the nightmares one faced have not come to an end just yet, as those strange figures of the past are back again to deal with more chaos and onslaught as we have the release of the first trailer for the 2nd chapter for The Strangers. Following on from the first chapter and seeing the case that one of their victims of Maya is still alive after preying upon and stalking their cabin home and the three masked maniacs have returned to finish the job. Soon with nowhere to run and no one to trust, Maya will soon find herself in a brutal fight for survival against psychopaths who are more than willing to kill anyone who stands in their way. So its a case that I am aware the likes of this franchise has its share of appeal as well as detractors and I know the case that the first chapter of this series was really not the most well recieved but I am sure that maybe it could be a case that if given a central focus that it could end up being something with an appeal (but given this is the 2nd film in a planned trilogy or more it is hard to say). Personally with ones like these I can take or leave but I am sure there is probably some appeal and may be worth checking out when the film releases into cinemas on September 26th.
Fantastic Four First Steps
Our next trailer for this week is bringing us to a unique setting, the place of the future tomorrow, today, a world that if we saw in our own day and age that the likes of meta humans in this universe would not be the most outlandish or crazy things in general, but in this case we have them to call when the world needs saving from something that is on a more intergalactic threat, and will do it as a team but also as a family as Marvel is back once more to provide the final trailer for the upcoming highly anticipated film of Fantastic 4 First Steps. The film will see us take a trip to an alternate 1960s era inspired New York in a more retro-futuristic setting as it will follow the Fantastic 4 teaming up to protect the world from the looming threat of the planet-devouring cosmic entity of Galactus and his herald of the Silver Surfer while also coming to terms with their new gifted powers and coming together as a new found family. To say that the marketing for this film and all that has been shown has really appealed to me a lot as I love the vibe and tone it is going for with the 60s setting and the mixed variety style to it all and I have to say that everything shown off is really just fantastic (no pun intended) and from all the footage and the marketing has just appealed in a lot of ways and I do hope that this will turn out to be really good and be a really strong Fantastic Four adaptation for once but I am sure we can see how it all comes together when the film releases in a months time on July 25th.
Roofman
The 4th trailer for this week is with a focus on the likes of the most unexpected of stories that when you hear it at first, you are in disbelief to think that all of this turned out to be a true story, but you can find the most elaborate and funny outcomes to come from stories that happened in our own world as Channing Tatum leads in this all new true story film with a trailer for Roofman. The film is a true story about a fugitive known as Jeffrey Manchester, a former US Army Reserve officer, known colloquially as Roofman due to his propensity to steal from branches of McDonalds after entering their premises through the Roof and evaded capture from police by hiding in the walls of a Toys "R" Us store until he can find a way to make his next move. So I had heard about this story mainly from the recent cinemacon event and then I looked into the story of Manchester and the whole ordeal sounds like quite the crime and may I say a cool one at that. It is intriguing to see what will come from this whole ordealand from the footage it looks like it may be a fun little story to observe and it does have some interesting characters like Tatum, Kirsten Dunst and even Peter Dinklage in the project and it has peaked my interest and I am sure will be worth a check out when the film releases into cinemas from October 3rd.
Bugonia
In the last of the trailer for this week, we have seen over the years that their is a specific array of director and actor combinations that it seems whenever we see them making a project that most likely they will have a role in a project, with stuff like Scorsese and Dicaprio, McQuarrie and Cruise or Wiseau and Sestero being some examples. Well in this last one it is one that has started to see the project evolve in that form with another new twisted concept in mind with Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone teaming up again as we have the release of the trailer for his new film of Bugonia. The film will follow 2 conspiracy obsessed young men who end up kidnapping the CEO of a major Company as they are convinced that they are actually an Alien who is intent on destroying the Earth and I am sure a lot of chaos will ensue. So Lanthimos has made a lot of many different style of projects over the last few years from a period piece, a strange Frankenstein like story to a collection of anthology stories coming together to make some strange stories but all still feeling original in their own way and this one will feel like it is continuing that more real based focus that I feel will have some deeper meaning and probably get a lot more outlandish and crazy but so far its interesting and am keen to learn more about it and I am sure we will learn more by the film's release into cinemas on October 24th.
Gets the stats with the news
Here comes a selection of new challengers
Now the first story in focus for this week is with the one focused on a bit of a casting selection announcement and usually for stuff like this it is often a focus on a fair few projects, but for this week and the first in a long while, we just have the focus in one project and it is to do with an upcoming adaptation in the video game scene and it is one that has already had an adaptation many years ago in live action and then releases subsequently in the anime animation form and that is with the upcoming adaptation based on Street Fighter. Now earlier this week we had seen a bit of a selection of some casting announcements for this project and as of recording right now, we currently have 9 confirmed castings for this project that I will be giving a quick rundown of who's who in this project. First off is with Snake Eyes and Bullet Train star Andrew Koji playing the iconic character of Ryu, Warfare and Black Adam Star of Noah Centino is playing his known rival of Ken, Presence star Callina Liang will portray Chun-Li, DC's Lobo Jason Mamoa will be playing the character of Blanka, WWE superstar Roman Reigns will be portraying Akuma, Country singer Orville Peck will be playing the character of Vega, Rapper and Den of Thieves star 50 Cent will be playing Balrog, Comedian Andrew Schultz is portraying the character of Dan and finaly Reacher star Alan Ritchson will be reportedly portraying the character of Guile. Now all of these sound like a very strange selection choice but I feel in some sense of the ways there is a few that feel like they work in look and aesthetic to the characters and some familiar faces in this instance is not a bad choice in this regards and I think that at least its not a cast of names that is in nearly everything at this point in time so that is a positive. Now likely case we will see a few a few more iconic faces or so appear in this project and casting with say the likes of M.Bison, Zangief, Cammy and a few other familiar faces across the series of games as the film eventually starts production for this project for its release sometime after March 2026 and once I hear anything of some new casting additions I will update in a later episode.
But what do you think of these casting choices for the upcoming Street fighter movie, do you think they are good castings or who would you have cast in those roles instead and what other SF character do you think will appear? Let me know what you think of it all down below in the comments.
A return of a Bat, some bears, a bad choice with too much plastic, aliens, Facebook and robots
So this 2nd story for this week is with the focus of just some projects and concepts that are in the works and may be on the way from a revival of an IP, sequels or announced projects mainly that we can get into so let us delve into what was in focus for this week.
But now for a story that I feel the concept could work, but the choice of a person in a role for this is probably a really bad one. So we all remember the success of Barbie, right, it made bank, was award nominated and got a lot of love and appeal and was a part of a massive 2 film event with Oppenheimer. Well it seems to be a case that other brands and studios are looking to cash in on that appeal and success and this comes to us in the area of Amazon Prime as it was announced that they looking to revive and make a new Live action take on the Doll brand of Bratz. Now in all sense this is fine, allow it to make a comeback which they have still been a presence for the last few years and all, but the choice of a casting in this has been terrible choice and that is the case they already cast the villain for the film and it is..... Kim Kardashian. Now in all case of things I have seen some say its a good choice but that is far from the overall majority as I find the idea of casting her in much is really not that appealing and doing this is a dumb decision and could find someone better. Like I know I am being a little harsh but her acting credits have really not appealed (example was many did not vibe with her casting in the last season of American Horror story) and I just feel that them doing this will have people be turned away from this, which would've been like how it could've happened with Barbie if the main lead on that film was Amy Schumer (which was going to be a thing at one point but thankfully they changed that) so the idea of this is already is a mess. Now hopefully this will get a rework but I guess we will see but right now it is a mess but will update if anything new comes about.
But what do you make of these projects, is there any of these that you are excited for the most and if there is any changes you could make to any of them, what would be it be? Let me know your choices about it all down below.
Some new games to play and a the right with a license to kill
Now the last of the stories is with the focus of some projects with 2 of them being given a release date announcements and then the last one is with a confirmation for another project that I brought up in the last episode of this series with the final choice and maybe some thoughts on it all. But lets not waste time and delve into what was announced this week.
But what do you think of these stories, are you excited to play Drag x Drive and the New Little Nightmares titles and do you see Villeneuve make a solid Bond film and who should be the new 007? Let me know your choices and opinions below.
And with all of that, this brings us to the end of the 122nd episode of Weird Mind News Room and I hope that you have enjoyed my ramblings for another week. Let me know your thoughts on anything discussed 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 next episode :)
Take care, keeo being you, signing off
Sam H :)
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