Hey guys. So just like I previously did the NBA weekly wrap-up, I am going to do a weekly wrap of all things movies, video games and anything else that tickles my pickle. Honestly, I will probably lean more movies depending on what’s going on but things could change. Enough of that; let’s get on with it.

Nicolas Cage making Western film debut

Nicolas Cage has made a lot of films in his career; 120 at the time of me writing this. But surprisingly, he has never made a western film. It’s even more surprising considering there are so many straight-to-DVD westerns at a time that coincides with Cage’s straight-to-DVD phase of his career (which has lasted about thirteen years now).

It was just announced today that Cage will be starring in The Old Way as Colton Briggs, a retired gunslinger who is drawn back into his old life after outlaws kill his wife. Normally I would shrug off a film starring Nicolas Cage in 2022 but there are two reasons that this has me intrigued.

1) This is going to cinemas rather than straight-to-DVD.
2) Cage is coming off a near-career best performance in the 2021 film Pig.

Check out the full story here.

More delays for Mission: Impossible

The seventh and eight installments into the Mission: Impossible franchise were filmed back-to-back and were originally meant to release July 2020 and November 2021. Then they got understandably pushed back due to the pandemic where M:I7 took the November 21 date with M:I8 going to May 2022. Then M:I7 got pushed to that May date with M:I8 going to July 2023. After that, M:I7 was pushed back to September 2022, with M:I8 not changing. That seems like good news right?

Not so fast. Paramount just announced that M:I7 will now come out in July 2023 with M:I8 now penciled in for a June 2024 release date.

If these films hold the current release dates, Tom Cruise will be 61 years old when 7 comes out and nearly 62 when 8 releases. If Paramount hopes to keep the franchise going after the eighth installment, they might want to hurry as I don’t need to see a 70-year old Ethan Hunt jumping off airplanes with his Zimmer frame or whatever.

Check out the full story here.

Heat getting a sequel?

A few days ago, Michael Mann released a teaser trailer, teasing a sequel to the greatest heist movie ever, Heat.

After Twitter freaked the fuck out, it was revealed that there is indeed a sequel coming…in the form of a novel. The book will serve as both a sequel and a prequel to the film. Mann is quoted as saying:

“The book starts one day after the events of the movie, with a wounded Chris Shiherlis (Kilmer) desperate to escape LA. The story moves to both the six years preceding the heist and the years immediately following it, featuring new characters and new worlds of high-end professional crime, with highly cinematic action sequences. The venues range from the streets of LA to the inner sanctums of rival Taiwanese crime syndicates in a South American free trade zone, to a massive drug cartel money-laundering operation just over the border in Mexico, and eventually to Southeast Asia.”

The novel releases August 9th, and with this following Quentin Tarantino’s novelisation of his film Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood, it could set a new precedent of directors wanting to get sequels done but studios not playing ball. Or it could be an easier way for filmmakers to tell the stories they want without any kind of interference.

Donda 2 coming soon

Earlier today, Kanye West (as well as Future and Pusha T) shared an image on their Instagram’s, confirming the release date for the upcoming album Donda 2 as February 22nd 2022, or 2.22.22.

Future will serve as Executive Producer on the project. While an official tracklist hasn’t been released, it is fair to assume due to them sharing the image that Future and Pusha T will make appearances on the album.

Donda was pretty divisive when it released but it cannot be denied that the release was an event that took the internet and the world by storm. Will the follow-up do the same? We will (maybe) find out in about a month’s time.

A new Pokemon game has arrived

While it seems like only yesterday that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released, there is already a new Pokemon game out on the market with the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Big deal, I hear you say. Those games are all the same, I once again hear you say. And yes, that may be true. But by all accounts, developers Game Freak have actually tried to put a twist on the tried and true formula. For starters, this is the first Open World game in the entire franchise. Set in the Hisui region (which would eventually become known as the Sinnoh region), the game reportedly has a feel more similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild than the stereotypical Pokemon games.

Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with Metacritic sporting an average review score of 86 from 41 critic reviews. Only one of those 41 reviews was somewhat negative, with IGN Italia giving it a 5/10.

If this game is a real success, it could change the trajectory of one of the most successful video game franchises in history.

Read more about it here.

That’s all that happened this week. Keep an eye on the NBA wrap-up coming on Sunday/Monday and the next edition of this wrap-up in a week’s time.

PEACE!