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?
80's Pop Music
We
all know pop music when we hear it. From early hits by The Beatles
to the girl bands of the 50s and the lighter, non-folksy music of the
60s. The seventies saw an uptick in the number of acts and songs
that could be categorized as pop music, but it was in the 80s that it
really became a powerhouse genre in the music industry. From one hit
wonders to perennial stars, there were hundreds of songs and acts
that charted through the Top 40. Here are eight memorable acts that
should never be forgotten.
(Those that know me or that have listened to the podcast know of my love of all things Prince, so know now he is not on this list. He transcends "pop music".)
It's March and March is known for St. Patrick's Day, so in honor of Ireland's greatest snake wrangler we're going to look at some retro pop-culture things with an Irish slant that managed to become timeless touchstones. While this is a relatively recent film, its setting is smack dab in the Uphill Both Ways era of nostalgia. It is - Sing Street!
Sing Street is a 2016 musical comedy-drama film directed by John Carney, who previously directed the popular musical film Once. Set in Dublin, Ireland in the 1980s, Sing Street tells the story of a teenage boy named Conor who starts a band in order to impress a girl named Raphina, who he has a crush on.
It's March and March is known for St. Patrick's Day, so in honor of Ireland's greatest snake wrangler we're going to look at some retro pop-culture things with an Irish slant that managed to become timeless touchstones. First up is Lucky Charms breakfast cereal!
Lucky Charms was first introduced by the General Mills company in 1964. The cereal is known for its distinctive shape, which includes toasted oat pieces in the shape of hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, moons, and diamonds, and also for its colorful marshmallow shapes.
The idea for Lucky Charms came from John Holahan, who was the product development director at General Mills at the time. Holahan believed that adding marshmallows to cereal would be a unique and interesting idea that would appeal to children. He was inspired by a recipe for a treat made from Cheerios and bits of candy.
The original marshmallow shapes included pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers. The cereal was an instant hit with kids, and General Mills continued to add new marshmallow shapes over the years, including red balloons, blue diamonds, purple horseshoes, and more.
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 Romance Movies – A Special Post-Valentine’s Day Installment
While the 80s were chock full’o teen sex comedies and coming of age rom-coms, there were plenty of standard romantic movies. Depending on how loosely you define a “romantic” movie, almost anything can fit, so I’m trying to keep this trip down memory lane to movies where the romance/relationship aspect is central, or at least very important, to the plot.
8. Somewhere in Time (1980)
Maybe it was the actor’s strike at the time, or the fact that The Blues Brothers came out the same week or maybe it’s because it got bad word of mouth – for whatever reason(s) it didn’t perform well despite having Superman (Christopher Reeve) starring opposite Jane Seymour. In the film, a playwright falls in love with a woman from nearly 70 years earlier and travels through time to find her. Somewhere in Time is one of those movies that people either like or hate, although chances are good that people from both camps will feel a tug at the heartstrings at the end of the film.
The Most Fun You’ll Have with Watergate Is This Movie
by Joseph Perry
Director Dan Mirvish presents a highly amusing, thought-provoking take on the 18½ missing minutes of the Watergate tapes. Part comedy, part thriller, and all captivating, 18½ blends genres and blows minds.
Connie Lashley (Willa Fitzgerald) is an Office of Management and Budget transcriptionist, and she has just accidentally found those infamous 18½ missing minutes while going through the routines of her job. She contacts newspaper reporter Paul Marrow (John Magaro) to leak the information to him before she has to return the tape to work on Monday, when her boss would notice its absence. Meeting at a diner — a scene that sets up the story and establishes these two main characters brilliantly — Paul suggests that they check into a nearby motel, posing as a married couple because they must keep their identities secret, to listen to Connie’s reel-to-reel tape. But their plan won’t be easy to execute.
When Emily Ashby and Jonathan Martin heard about the announced upcoming Masters of the Universe motion picture, the couple — she is an actress, and he is a filmmaker — wanted to show that Ashby would be perfect for the role of Teela. The result of their efforts is a self-tape audition called Teela and the Masters of the Universe that has been getting a great deal of media notice and racking up a huge amount of views online.
Their approach is a bold one, but it is obviously generating attention. “I believe in taking risks and really putting yourself out there, and being vulnerable as an artist is the best thing you can do,” said Ashby. “If you don’t work hard for something, then how can you pride yourself in that?”
“The idea for Teela and the Masters of the Universe first sprung to mind when I saw an animated image from Kevin Smith’s Teela from the new Masters of the Universe series,” said Martin. “When we realized that our manager whom we both share, Scott Carlson, had worked on a previous project with the attached casting director for the announced film, the wheels went into motion to make something epic that couldn’t be ignored. After all, Emily isn’t a household name who you can just cast with an offer and a term sheet, so we decided to be bold, a little bit brave, and even vulnerable, to create something that could turn a head or two and open some discussions.”
DEAF CROCODILE FILMS TO RELEASE PREVIOUSLY-UNKNOWN 1980s ROMANIAN ANIMATED SCI-FI “THE SON OF THE STARS” ON BLU-RAY FOR THE FIRST TIME
Hollywood, CA – Deaf Crocodile Films announces its release of the rarely-seen 1987 Romanian animated sci-fi film THE SON OF THE STARS (FIUL STELELOR / ULTIMA MISIUNE) for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Described as a wild mid-eighties mash-up of The Empire Strikes Back, Alien, and Tarzan, was directed by the same creative team behind DELTA SPACE MISSION (previously released by Deaf Crocodile), Romanian animators Călin Cazan and Mircea Toia. Working with the Romanian National Film Archive and Cinematheque and the Romanian Film Centre, Deaf Crocodile has created a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative and sound elements, overseen by Co-Founder and in-house restoration expert Craig Rogers.
Shudder Original Valentine’s Day Special JOE BOB’S VICIOUS VEGAS VALENTINE Debuts Friday, February 10 at 9 PM ET
NEW YORK, February 2, 2023 - Joe Bob kicks off another year of holiday fun with the Shudder Original Valentine’s Day special, Joe Bob’s Vicious Vegas Valentine. The special debuts on Friday, February 10th live on the Shudder TV feed at 9:00 p.m. ET. Fans can also watch on demand on Shudder and AMC+ beginning Sunday, February 12th.
This Valentine's Day, legendary horror host Joe Bob Briggs makes history and officiates the wedding of two fans on-air while hosting a double helping of films about the ultimate nightmare: True Love! RSVP to join Joe Bob, Darcy the Mailgirl, and the rest of The Last Drive-In crew as they bring two young lovers together under the neon and glitz of Las Vegas.
Joe Bob Briggs said, “During this year's demented double feature, I'll be joining in unholy matrimony two young lovers thoroughly schooled in the twisted tenets of The Last Drive-In. And I'll probably need an Elvis jumpsuit to do it.”
The guys are back and trying to ease into a regular schedule again. Mike is (still) on the mend and Joseph is mending the still, and after going in search of a fun topic for this episode they've come up with a banger; Unexplained phenomena! That's right - Bigfoot, aliens, the Bermuda Triangle, and more. Step aside Leonard Nimoy, the UBW Research Team is on the case! But before all of that, there's a little house keeping and catching up to do with some brief talk about recent movies and TV shows. It's time for some retro pop-culture nostalgia, the UBW podcast way!
Anyone who might mistakenly think that On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier, the latest film from writer/director Seth Breedlove and the Small Town Monsters production company, is “just another Bigfoot documentary” should reconsider. Any Sasquatch-related work from Breedlove and his crew is far and away above the usual offerings in which viewers follow a group of cryptid hunters knocking on trees and roaming endlessly. On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier shows a side of Sasquatch that may surprise many.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Superhero hit ULTRAMAN acquired by Cleopatra Entertainment
CLEOPATRA ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES THE U.S. RIGHTS FOR ICONIC JAPANESE SUPERHERO FILM “SHIN ULTRAMAN”
Los Angeles, California (January 6th, 2023) – Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired U.S. territory rights to the latest incarnation film from the Japanese Superhero franchise Ultraman from Tsuburaya Productions. Entitled Shin Ultraman, this new Ultraman adventure was the sixth-highest grossing Japanese feature film of 2022 and will hit U.S. theaters – via Fathom Events – on January 11th and 12th, 2023.
Written by Hideaki Anno (Shin Godzilla) and directed by Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla, Attack on Titan), the film stars Takumi Saitoh (Shin Godzilla, 13 Assassins), Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car, The Wind Rises), Masami Nagasawa (Before We Vanish, Mother), Daiki Arioka (Innocent Curse), and Akari Hayami (Gintama, Forget Me Not).
As Shin Ultraman begins, we learn the appearance of giant unidentified life forms known as “S-Class Species (Kaiju)” has become commonplace in Japan. The Japanese Government formed a Kaiju defense taskforce known as the SSSP, led by Kimio Tamura (played by Drive My Car’s Hidetoshi Nishijima). After a particularly challenging encounter, a silver giant descends from the sky to rescue the country. Dubbed Ultraman, this giant’s identity and purpose are a mystery. Shin Ultraman is a delightful reimagining of one of Japan’s classic superheroes, full of cosmic twists, charismatic villains, and giant Kaiju, leading VARIETY to declare that “the mix of styles and moods works wonderfully, raising Shin ‘Ultraman’ into the top rank of superhero movies!”
The rights deal was brokered by Cleopatra Founder and CEO Brian Perera, Tim Yasui VP/GM of Cleopatra Entertainment, and by Brian O’Shea of The Exchange on behalf of the filmmakers.
After its theatrical campaign concludes, Shin Ultraman will be released in the Spring of 2023 on VOD Platforms and also as a Deluxe Home Entertainment Blu Ray and DVD release.
