Weird Mind News Room Episode 136: Sept 29th - Oct 5th

 *Music for the training of a new Sports GOAT*

Well hello again to you all of the wonderful people across the vast realms of the Information Superhighway to the 136th edition of the weekly series of Weird Mind News Room where for this week we will be giving a focus of some selection of some new releases, a small handful of trailers and then an odd News Story or 2, so lets not waste too much time on all of the news in focus and lets get to talking on a selection of all things media for another week.

Blood, sweat and new releases

Movies

HIM

So we start off the new releases of this week with the focus of the ideals that in this world of ours, one of the biggest and most known entertainment past times is in the focus of Sports and we see many big stars and players make a name for themselves in the industry, and while I could not give too much of a damn about the certain hobby, I will say in all sense of things that the only appeal of this is from one of the names involved in the project and the ideals that the level focus of being the best of the best will come with its consequences as we have the release of the all new sports based horror thriller with HIM. The film follows a promising young up-and-coming football player (Tyriq Withers) who is invited to train at the isolated compound of a dynasty teams aging QB1. The legendary almost retired Quarterback (Marlon Wayans) will take his protégé on a blood-chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, power and pursuit of excellence at any cost. Now reception on this film has been unfortunately underwhelming and a bit disappointing as while praise is given to its concept narrative and performances, especially with the 2 main leads, the film gets a little muddled with the overall concept and the marketing may be a little misleading in the concept of it being seen as all horror but may have some appeal in some form and if you want to check it out for yourself, then you can touchdown into cinemas to do so.

The Smashing Machine

As for the 2nd film release of this week is in the focus of the world of a focus to a new look at the life and career of a famous face from the past and present with the ideals of how things may change for better or worse and the ways they go about to resolve the situation and in the case of this one will also come with the focus of a transformation for an iconic name in the industry in a very different way as it is time to get into the ring with the Rock as we have the focus of the new film of a famous fighter in the form of the Smashing Machine. The film will see the Rock play former wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr as we experience and see the focus of the peak of his career in the industry, but in the journey of that success with see him face some personal hardships along the way and how he would make a recovery in his relationships, health and career to make him an iconic name for the industry. Reception on the new film has seen some well recieved reception with praise to the performances, which sees a possible award contender possibility for the Rock, even if some of the narrative elements can feel a little mixed in appeal but it is an overall triumph and if you want to check it out for yourself then you can check the new film out now in cinemas.

TV Shows

Monsters: The Ed Gein Story

As for the tv series in focus for this week, we have the ideals that we have seen many a killer or psycho in the realm of media entertainment from psychos in hotels, that wield chainsaws or eats a liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti, but they all had a focus that they were the focus and inspiration by one killer so grisly and twisted in its methods of what he did to his victims but to wonder if there was a reason to why he did it as we are returning to the series in focus of killers to bring the darkest one so far as we have the next season in the series of Monster with the focus of Ed Gein story.  This new story will focus on the twisted reality of convicted murderer and suspected serial Killer of Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam) back in 1950s Rural Wisconsin who was well known as the killer that turned his victims organs and skin into twisted furniture. reception on this new season of the show however is currently seen as underwhelming as while the production is shot well and performances are good, the season feels overly disjointed and feels a little messy overall in execution, but I am sure many may appeal or some may be turned away from the graphic focus of this season (unless you are into that you psychopaths) and may be back for the next killer being Lizzie Borden, but if you want to check it out for yourself then you can check it out now on Netflix.

Video Games

Ghost of Yotei

Onto the games for this week and one of the big titles of the fall season has been unleashed upon us (besides the rerelease of the Goated Mario Galaxy Games also out this week) as we return to the ancient lands of the far reaches of Asia to a time of the past and of the way of a certain figure and culture and bring the case if you were betrayed and seen those close to you who's lives were taken in front of you, how far will you go for revenge in the name of peace as we are returning to the role of the Ghost themselves in a new time setting and character in focus as we have a the sequel to the acclaimed Playstation title with Ghost of Yotei. Set in Hokkaido Japan in 1603, 329 years after the events of the original game, you will take control of Atsu, a female warrior who will adopt the persona of "The Onryó" to exact revenge on the Yotei 6, a group of six masked outlaws who murdered her family in her childhood, consisting of the Snake, Oni, Kitsune, Spider, Dragon and their leader Lord Saito. Reception on this new title has seen some very positive reception like the previous entry with praise to the story, the breathtaking visuals and gameplay mechanics, with some critiques aimed at the mixed appeal of the side quests of the title and a little on the Open World elements but seen as another solid game of this year and maybe a game of the year contender and if you are ready for a new journey like this then you can play it now on PS5.

Final Fantasy Tactics The Invalice Chronicles

As for the other game of the week in focus I can give some perspective on is a return to a popular fantasy series with a title that may have had a release a good long while ago but has overtime ween a return to the classic title with a nice fresh coat of paint but also with an option to go back to the style of the classic too as we have the release of the new title of the remaster remake of Final Fantasy Tactics: the Invalice Chronicles. The game will follow the title of the original PS1 title that will see you control Ramza Beoulve, a highborn cadet placed in the middle of a military conflict known as the Lion War, where two opposing nobles factions are coveting the throne of the kingdom. Reception on the new remaster seems to be very well recieved with praise on the new take of the classic beloved title with the new updated graphics, gameplay features and being a faithful retelling of the iconic entry and if you want to try it for yourself then you can play it now on PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, Switch 1 and 2 and PC.

Music

Taylor Swift - Life of a Showgirl

And for one last new release for this week has been heard around the world, one that when the announcement was unveiled, the fanbase lost their minds (before the engagement announcement) and its time to prepare for more of these tracks from this songstress to be learned off by heart and to dominate the radio and streaming stations as the billion dollar artist has returned with her 12th official album as Taylor Swift has released her new album of Life of a Showgirl. This is of course will bring another selection of new tracks from this global superstar including new tracks like the title song (with a feat by Sabrina Carpenter), Wi$h List, Cancelled, Father figure, eldest daughter and many more new tracks on the album. Reception on this album has seen some mixed to positive reception as some have provided praise to the upbeat and playful songwriting, some were a bit more critical towards the lyrical tones and sonic direction of the album but its a case that the music of Swift will not appeal to everyone or may be against her for popularity tones or other reason but to each their own and if you want to listen to it (or listen to it again) for yourself, you can get the new album on cd, vinyl, cassette or listen on all streaming music sites you know.

Trailers of strange worlds and characters

Zootopia 2

So moving to trailers and we start with a big animated affair of the end of the year time where it seems we are returning to a place where the inhabitants are born to be wild and where we will return once more to a place full of hare raising escapades and in the case of the focus to the main duo, it will bring it with an all new hare raising adventure to solve a new case that could change that society furever as we have recieved the new and final trailer for the upcoming sequel to the Disney classic of Zootopia. The new film will be set about a week or 2 after the events of the original and will see Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde finding themselves on the twisting trail of a mysterious reptile (Key Huy Quan) who has arrived in Zootopia and turns the mammal Metropolis upside down in the process. To crack the case, Judy and Nick will have to go undercover and test the limit of their partnership to solve this mystery across the vast lands of this city and beyond before everything falls into chaos. With this project and concept in particular, I have made a mention of it a few times that I see this world and concept as a real prime series to delve into so many parts of the world in focus as this has such potential for many different stories and elements to be in focus to this world and I can see this as being another strong contender in focus to make a big franchise out of and from many bits of footage I have seen for this has interested in heavily that I am very excited to check this out and its not too long away as the film will be releasing into cinemas in just over a months time on November 28th.

Shelby Oaks

As for the 2nd trailer of the week was one I initially had set in focus to be in the new releases category as it was set for release this week but got a last minute delay in that regards, but besides that it is a case that when a mystery of someone's sudden disappearance has left you stumped and confused as to what happened, how far will you go to find the truth and get the answers to what really happened, well it seems that may be the case for this next project as we have the release of the 2nd and final trailer for the upcoming new horror project from YouTube creator Chris Struckmann with the trailer of Shelby Oaks. The film follows the mystery of the disappearance of a young woman named Riley Brennan, who back in the 2000s hosted a YouTube channel with her friends known as the Paranormal Paranoids that saw them filming in various haunted locations before things took a grisly and mysterious turn when they investigated the Abandoned town of Shelby Oaks, Ohio, that sees Riley's 3 friends found Murdered and a tape left behind that shows Riley either being taken or killed by an unidentifiable man. This soon leads to Mia, Riley's Younger sister, believing with hope that she is still alive and has searched for her for about 12 years, when she comes across a 2nd tape that contains contents that convince Mia that something sinister is involved with Riley's Vanishing. It is always interesting to see some of these projects that can come from some creative from the Youtube Sphere and always interesting to see them getting a chance to be made into a full fledged project and see the success from Talk to me, Hazbin Hotel and Smiling Friends just to name a few (and I know myself I have my own concept for a series that I need to delve into again in the future in focus and expand on it more) but it seems like this is another strong contender hit in this regards and even is seen in the form of the decently strong reception it has been getting lately and will be well worth a check out and we will have to wait just a little longer as the film will be releasing stateside on October 24th and then where I am from on October 31st.

Del Toro's Frankenstein

As for the 3rd trailer for this week is a return to the realm of the gothic nature and seems to be a case I make a mention of this project last week and it shall appear as we are once again talking about the man made monster but instead of the companion that he desires, we are more talking on the creation from the creepy curiosities of one acclaimed Mexican Filmmaker as we have been given a new trailer for the all new take on the classic movie monster with a new look at Del Toro's take on Frankenstein. The film will be set in Easter Europe in the 19th Century and will follow Dr. Pretorious who will be on a mission to track down Frankenstein's Monster - believed to have died in a fire 40 years ago, in order to continue and honor the experiments that were created by the former Dr. Frankenstein himself. if there was anyone that can really make a unique spin and perspective on the classic horrors and new creatiions of appeal it would be del toro as the likes of these creature features work wonders for him and was proven with his last creature focus film that won him a best director and best film Oscar with Shape of Water and it really does seem like he is giving a love letter to the iconic novel and tale being told and I for one am excited to see the outcome and in all sense it is not too far off from release as the film will be getting a limited release into cinemas from October 17th before coming alive onto Netflix from November 7th.

Hazbin Hotel Season 2

As for the last trailer of the week, it is time we return to the underworld of the afterlife where it may seem like a case that everything may seem so sinister and gloomy, but amongst all the mess nd despair, is a location of hope and possible redemption, even if more negarious forces decide to make themselves known in the region and morph it to their own twisted images, even if the show tunes are quite catchy as we have been provided with a trailer for the long awaited 2nd season to the popular series of Hazbin Hotel. The new season will follow on from the end of the first season with the victory over the Angel's execution army with it proving itself to be a success for the hotel idea for Charlie and her friends as the new and improved Hotel is packed full of residents. Though it seems to Charlie's Dismay that the new Guests seek more of revenge instead of Redemption which goes against the plan of the hotel. This will see the Vee's trying to use this to capitalize on Hell's Instability and use the growing tensions with Heaven to their own advantage leading to a possible new war on the Horizon. So it is to say that I was very much surprised and entertained by the original season and Pilot from the focus of the review I wrote up here or the more stylish and well dressed form here and the case of this series I have an appeal that looking past the drama and fandoms that I enjoy the series itself and I have been looking forward to the new season for a while now and it is a case that thankfully it is not too far away from release as the new season will be making its way and vacancy onto Amazon Prime from the 29th of October.

News to observe during the cooldown

A story of yellow fellows, messy socials, a fast family and what they are calling an "Actress"

So the focus of our first story is with the few selective stories in the realm of film from the announcements, updates and opinions on a small selection of projects in the works, but lets delve into this and see what it is in focus.

so the first announcement in focus was with the unveiling that many assumed could happen but it seemed like a bit of wishful thinking but that wishful thinking seems to have come true as nearly 20 years since they made their debut onto the big screen, it was announced on Monday that we are getting a sequel to The Simpsons Movie with the unveiling of a new teaser poster and the confirmation of the films release date set for July 23rd 2027. Now it has been a case for a long time that series creator Matt Groening has been interested in a sequel to the series and original film and I guess it was long enough they have found a story that will fit a full length feature format. Now the likely case is that this will not be the conclusion of the overall series as the show will be continuing as of now all the way to the 40th season and I feel in some case that it would make more sense as a conclusion to the overall series would be with this 2nd film to cap off the saga of the longest running animated series in TV history but I guess it is not seen as of right now. At the moment as well there is no information as to what the plot of this film will entail either and I am sure we will get some new ideas about it over the next few weeks and by Annecy next year but in the case once anything new does come up about the project I will provide it in a later episode.

So the next in the focus of projects that have some form of news and release updates was with a project that was unexpected to get a release and seems to have turned around with an overall project but it has been confirmed that the planned sequel to the Social Network, now aptly titled The Social Reckoning has gotten itself a release date confirmation with the film set to release in just over a years time on October 9th 2026 which is quite the quick turnaround for a project first unveiled a few weeks or months ago. It has also seen a form of a confirmation of a cast change as while it is confirmed that Jesse Eisenberg will not be back as Mark Zuckerberg but instead will be portrayed by Oscar nominated actor Jeremy Strong, with some of the other cast confirmed for this project being Bear star Jeremy Allen White, Oscar Winning Actress Mikey Madison and "beloved" comedian Bill Burr (though that may have changed from a recent event he did) will also be taking on some roles based on whistleblowers and Journalists that delved into the messiness of Facebook over the last decade. Now it is an interesting cast list that I am sure if they had the focus that Eisenberg would've still fit the rile of Zuck as he still looks close to the creator now but I guess a bit of a change up is expected in this regards. Now I would be a little mixed on this concept and I am sure there is some bits that could work for this project overall and I am sure we will see by its release in October next year of the outcome if this was a success or not but I guess only time will tell by the release of the film project.

Now the most recent story that first appeared in the feed while I was finishing writing up this episode but we have a little bit of some news ad updates about the franchise that seems to always go way too fast and probably over the top after a certain point and that is with the Fast and Furious Franchise. Now as we know at this point in time we have been keeping an update and focus as to when we can expect to see the release of the next project in focus and many wondered why we have not heard much on development or a release besides a vague outline expectancy from Vin Diesel saying it will be out by April 2027, but it seems to be a case that their is a reason for the silence on the final entry of the franchise and it may not even release at all. According to sources, it seems to be stemming to the decision by Universal themselves about the concern of this franchise and budget as the last 3 films have totaled in budget to around $1.1 Billion and some of them have not turned the overall profit in terms of returns. This is more evidently clear as the last entry of Fast X (or would've been better titled as Fast Ten your Seatbelts) saw its budget ballooned to an eye watering $436.6 million just to produce and taking into the rate that seems to be a film needs to make 2.5x the budget it would've needed to make at least $1.1 billion to be seen as profitable and only made about close to 3/4 of that amount. Now becase of these ballooning budgets, it is looking that Universal is hoping to cut a little of the budget for this final one before it can be approved as while a finished script has not been recieved yet, the budget seems to be aiming to around 250 million currently but are looking to time about 20% bringing it to a more manageable $200 million. Now in all this regards I feel its reasonable of an approach for this amount and it seems their method is to just try and reduce screentime for some of the characters in the series or not go too over the top (so returning to space or time travel or bringing Paul Walker back from the dead may seem like an easy one to avoid) but as things stand this is what's holding up the whole conclusion of the series. I am sure there may be a solution or else the series will be left on a cliffhanger as it is and may not be resolved but I guess we will see if this gets resolved and if anything does change I will provide it in a later episode.

Lastly I want to bring up some discussion that has been dominating much of the media industry and film stars and directors and that is to do with the focus of a company deciding to try and make a full AI "Actress" named Tilly Norwood and has been emphasizing that many studios have been clamouring to sign them for the use in projects in the future that will make it easier for profit and use of casting in many projects and it seems like the case that most consensus with many people seem to be in agreement that this is dumb, not an Actress and brings up the questions that what was the point of the entire strikes that happened 2 years ago. It has seen a lot of big name stars, directors and even Sag Aftra itself come out and condemn this ideal and its looking like the only people that are defending this creation is the studio that created Tilly. Now my own opinion on this is to me similar to most others in that this feels really shady as those actors and directors made the effort to fight against this being a replacement to them for months as well as with the writers of many projects and the fact in this case that I really see the over reliance on AI as just lazy and really not in proper working form still to this day and age and we are way off of seeing it properly work (and the case that the reliance of AI is bad for the overall environment as it uses a F**kton of energy just to make a not fully structured project), now its a case I'll use it for the likes of some goofy meme stuff here and there of the most random things but overall use is really non existent much for me and if people over rely on it for making content or anything is just lazy and unappealing to me personally. Now it seems that company is still pushing for this actress to be a thing in the industry but if this happens I guess we will see what will come of it and if anything does come up overtime, then I will update about it in a later episode.

But what do you make of these news stories, are you excited for a 2nd Simpsons Movie, Will you watch the social Network sequel, do you see the Fast and Furious Franchise continue and do you see this AI "actress" as a good thing? Let me know what you think about it all down below.

EA knows one thing and that they like a lot of money

This last story for the week is one that I want to briefly talk on as I feel it is a bit of a mixed but bleak outcome for this company as we are talking a little about video games and specifically with the company of Electronic Arts or EA. Now this company has been around for decades at this rate, being the focus of many titles and success over the years including the Sims, Battlefield and a multitude of Sports based games and a lot of the time as well, the company was also known as being labelled and won many "worst company of the year titles" and seen as the weakest of studios for a while (though there is some close competition that has fallen from grace over the last few years) due to a lot of perspective in the hunger for a lot of wealth and money through many different means. Well it seems in this case they were one that were not going to turn down this offer as it was announced earlier this week that the company has been purchased for a total of $55 Billion from 2 parties, making it one of the largest sales in history and has made the company go more into a Private company overall. Now the buyers are stemming from some collective group from Saudi Arabia and the other part is with the company that is owned and run by the Orange Man's son in law giving both of them full control over this media company. Now this whole thing gives the vibes of spelling a complete and total disaster and a bit of a sinister nature as I can sense this will spark a whole wave of just studio closures, retooled projects to fit more in the vision of the buyers, a mass level of Layoffs and from what I can tell and hear from reports that they want to use and implement the elements of AI into the projects itself, which I know games use some elements of it but making it all from AI will not be appealing to a title or games from the studio and end up being a more janky mess. Now personally I was not one that played a lot of recent EA titles, besides the ones of the co-op games like A Way out, it takes two and eventually Split Fiction, but even I still see this as being a very cynical outcome overall that this will see the studio become more of a mess then it is seen already and I hope that it will either improve or see no malicious outcome for this but I guess we will have to see what will come from this in the future but if I hear anything new about all of this in the future I will provide it in a later episode.

But what do you make of this EA Acquisition, do you see this as a good thing or will this spell the end of EA as a whole? Let me know what you think of all of this down below in the comments.

And with all of that, this bring us to the end of another episode of Weird Mind News Room and I do hope that you enjoyed the ramblings for another week as always. Let me know your thoughts on all that was 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, keep being you, signing off

Sam H :)