Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022)

You made us "Hopelessly Devoted [to you]", with your "Magic" and gave us a "Heart Attack" when you got "Physical", but will always be our favorite of the Nine Muses of Olympus as you sing and skate around the floor of "Xanadu".

Rest in Peace and thank you for the magic you left us with.

Olivia Newton John from the Universal film "Xanadu"

GenreBlast Film Fest 2022

The GenreBlast Film Fest is one of our favorite film festivals thanks in no small part to its dedication to genre movies (hence its name!) from independent filmmakers.  It's also the first film festival that Mike got to join Joseph in reviewing movies for, so that ensures that there'll always be a spot in Uphill Both Way's heart for it.  Read on for the press release detailing this year's lineup!

GenreBlast Film Fest has announced its lineup for the seventh year of their international independent genre film festival. The four day in-person event will feature fourteen feature films and roughly ninety short films from around the world as well as the results of their annual screenplay competition.

Worst Laid Plans

Emanating from the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia, GenreBlast continues to  champion truly independent genre cinema and this year features one of its strongest lineups of cross-genre fare so far. With horror, science-fiction and fantasy, action, and even cult and midnight offerings, the fest prides itself on being an eclectic mixtape of genres and filmmakers.

Of the thirteen features selected this year, there are two world premieres, one North American premiere, one U.S. premieres, one east coast premiere, four regional premieres, and four Virginia premieres and a special advance screening.

Liam Regan’s satirical bloodbath EATING MISS CAMPBELL makes its North American premiere while indie horror filmmaking doc THE BRILLIANT TERROR has its in-theater U.S. premiere. Regional premieres feature Alexandra’s Spieth’s ensemble thriller STAG and Syliva Caminer’s twisty FOLLOW HER, plus Jeffrey Garcia’s cult VHS comedy BUBBLEGUM, and Antonio Rotunno’s bloody Mexican midnighter PLEASE DON’T ABANDON ME. World premieres include cult auteur Jeff Frumess’ sophomore effort GOUGE AWAY as well as Jonathan Straiton’s long-awaited post-apocalyptic action horror throwdown JOHNNY Z. Kenneth Lui’s mockumentary ARTISTS IN AGONY: HIT-MEN AT THE CODA TEAHOUSE arrives as an East Coast premiere. Justin Seaman’s slasher sequel THE BARN PART II makes its Virginia premiere along with Marc Coleman’s bittersweet fish-out-of-water flick MANFISH, Kenichi Ugana’s Japanese sci-fi black comedy EXTRANEOUS MATTER, and Ryan Imhoff & Matt Neal’s demented horror satire FRESH HELL.

A special advance screening of GenreBlast’s first feature film with fest director Nathan D. Ludwig as producer along with Samantha Kolesnik. GenreBlast Films presents the film adaptation of WORST LAID PLANS, a feature horror anthology culled from the pages of the Grindhouse Press book, edited by Kolesnik. Segments directed by John Hale, Jeremy Herbert, and Christopher G. Moore.

The fest runs from Thursday, Sept. 1st through Sunday, Sept. 4th at the Alamo Winchester concluding with a livestreamed awards ceremony followed by the GB Aftermath After Party. Script table reads and a discussion panel will also be on the schedule during the fest.

Weekend passes are now on sale at the Alamo Winchester website: https://drafthouse.com/winchester. 

Additional information can be found at the fest’s official website: www.genreblast.com

"Vacation"

Episode #126

As we start getting towards the end of Summer it's time for Joseph and Mike to discuss what they did on their childhood summer vacations - from county fairs to community pools and summer camps to Disneyland. Plus, a shocked Mike has to explain how to play "Kick the Can" to Joseph who never saw the game outside of that episode from 'The Twilight Zone'. All that AND there's a visit to the Planet of the Apes! 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/whenitwascool/UBW126_Vacation.mp3

Its Time Once Again for a “Howlin’-good Taste of Fruit”!! Frute Brute is Back!

We here at Uphill Both Ways have made it no secret that we're HUGE fans of General Mills' monster cereals from as far back as we can remember... back when they weren't "seasonal" and you didn't have to wait for them to appear on the store shelves.  Sadly, for the past decade, all you could get were Franken Berry, Count Chocula, and Boo-Berry – but this year Frute Brute Monster Cereal is back , and along with it are limited-edition KAWS-designed boxes for the cereals.

“It’s been a thrill to collaborate with General Mills and Monster Cereals,” said KAWS. “I’ve been a big fan of the cereals since I was a kid. Even now, I love the original box designs and the creativity and imagination they invoke.”

This year’s seasonal Monster debut is also marked by the return of Frute Brute, which joins the other monsters on shelves with its first appearance since 2013, as well as other spooky surprises to come later this fall. Frute Brute is known for its “howlin’-good taste of fruit” and is considered by many collectors to be the most sought-after vintage cereal, in part due to its appearances across various blockbuster movies in the 1990s. 

Franken Berry, Count Chocula, Boo-Berry and Frute Brute Monster Cereals boxes are available now at retailers nationwide. Each Monster Cereals box comes with a unique code on the back that fans can enter on www.kawsmonsters.com for a chance to win a set of the highly coveted KAWS-designed collectible prizes. 

Now if we could just get some Yummy Mummy in our bowls...

You can read the full press release right here.

To learn more about the history of Monster Cereals, visit https://www.generalmills.com/news/stories/the-history-of-our-monsters.

It's Contest Time Again!

Want a FREE Copy of Well Go USA's "Baby Assassins"?

Director Hugo Sakamoto (A Janitor, Hangman’s Knot) and action director Kensuke Sonomura (John Woo’s Manhunt, Nowhere Man, Hydra, Bushido Man) combine their talents for the critically-acclaimed martial arts action-comedy BABY ASSASSINS, which debuted July 22 exclusively on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! and hits Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 16.

Just e-mail us at CONTEST@UBWPODCAST.COM with your favorite movie from the 70s or 80s that features an assassin as a lead character or an assassination as the central plot device.  We'll pick two random entrants who'll walk away with a free Blu ray copy of the movie! Deadline for entries is Monday, August 15th.

Well Go USA Entertainment's BABY ASSASSINS stars Akari Takaishi (Distant Thunder, A Janitor) as “Chisato” and Saori Izawa (A Janitor) as “Mahiro” as highly trained teenage assassins who must get “real” jobs as a cover, and—even worse—become roommates. However, after a nasty run-in with a Yakuza, the girls must band together to survive an epic fight for their lives. The cast also includes Masanori Mimoto (Enter the Fat Dragon, Hydra, First Love, Yakuza Apocalypse, God of War).

H-H-He's Back! AMC Rebooting Max Headroom

There are a few things that can immediately be associated with the 80s; New Coke, (for the wrong reasons). Sony's Walkman for sure. Some of the clothes, most of the music, a few movie franchises, and Max Headroom - the fictional artificial intelligence character (played by Matt Frewer) advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter" and was known for his stuttering delivery and sarcastic wit.

 

Even if you weren't a fan of the two season show (ABC 1987-1988), you couldn't miss seeing Max in commercials for the aforementioned New Coke.  Before that there was his UK origin in the movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and a music video show called The Max Headroom Show. He was on the cover of Newsweek magazine, starred in a video by The Art of Noise (and has cameoed and served as the inspiration for a number of parodies in TV and movies over the past 30+ years.

Now, AMC is looking to b-b-b-bring Max back.

AMC Networks is developing a Max Headroom reboot, with Matt Frewer set to reprise his role as the world’s first artificial intelligence TV personality. Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell is writing the adaptation and is attached as showrunner for the project, which is produced by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s SpectreVision and All3Media.

A launch date has yet to be confirmed by AMC, but you can be sure that we'll be watching our TVs (and computers) for any forthcoming news or announcements regarding dates and details about Max's return.

8 From the 80s: Babes

Each installment Mike will look back to the decade of decadence and provide a list of eight things – from movies to music to memorable moments and everything in-between.  Keep in mind, this isn’t a TOP 8 list and any numerical notations are included to merely designate one item from another. Because, frankly, how can rate one thing over another when it came from a decade as totally tubular as the 80s?

80s Babes

This was an incredibly hard list to come up with.  Not because filling eight spots was difficult... filling ONLY eight spots was nearly impossible. Olivia Newton-John, Erin Gray, Madonna, and Cindy Crawford are just a few that immediately come to mind.  But this is called "EIGHT" from the 80s, so eight it must be. Let's go!

8. Sean Young

Sean helped start the 80s off right with turns in the comedy classic Stripes and sci-fi favorite Blade Runner.

7. Brooke Shields

Nothing came between her and her Calvins while The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love cemented her as one of the early 80s hottest babes.