Mike and Joseph met, in all places, while playing an online Facebook game back around 2015. It wasn't long before they realized they shared a love of nostalgic pop-culture stuff from the 70s and 80s. At the time Joseph was co-hosting a horror-themed podcast and asked Mike what his interest level was in starting a podcast where they talked about "the old days" and in 2017 the Uphill Both Ways podcast was born. Now, just about six years to the day that they launched their podcast and website, they've embarked on a new adventure. While Joseph has been reviewing movies for websites and magazines for what seems like forever, their "The Good, The Bad, and The Verdict" format is new to them both and gives a broader look at the films they review thanks to different sets of eyes and different personalities.
You'll still find some solo reviews, PR pieces about films, film festival coverage, and whatever else seems like it would be of interest, but the main things are the "Good, Bad, Verdict" reviews. We hope you like them and that they help you find some new films to enjoy (or steer clear of). You can drop them a line at feedback@gbvreviews.com.
Mike Imboden got his start with pop culture and genre fare in 1973 when, at the
ripe age of six, he was introduced to "Godzilla, King of the Monsters". From there it was a wide-open world of wonder thanks to the heyday of 70s classics and reruns of earlier things like the "Amazing Spider-Man" cartoon, the "Batman" TV show, "The Six Million Dollar Man", Saturday morning cartoons, "Lost in Space", and so many others. The 80s brought so much more during his influential teenage years, mainly in the form of music (Prince, Oingo Boingo, "New Wave", and the birth of rap), but plenty of movies, TV, events, and professional wrestling added to his growing love of all things pop-culture related. Now in his 50s, married and with two adult sons, he spends his free time hanging out with his Dachshund 'Remo' and watching bad horror movies. In addition to co-hosting the "Uphill Both Ways" podcast and running things around the UBW corporate offices that also house the GBV Reviews office, he writes the "Fist of Justice", a retro-styled superhero comic book published by Digital Webbing.
Joseph Perry fell in love with horror films as a preschooler when he first saw the
Gill-Man swim across the TV screen in "The Creature from The Black Lagoon" and Mothra battle Godzilla in "Godzilla Vs. The Thing.” His education in fright fare continued with TV series such as "The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits," along with legendary northern California horror host Bob Wilkins’ "Creature Features." His love for silver age and golden age comic books, including horror titles from Gold Key, Dell, and Marvel started around age 5. His love of 1970s top 40 radio grew into a lifelong love of all sorts of music, but especially 1970s hard rock and 1980s new wave. He first got into wrestling thanks to Roy Shire's northern California Big Time Wrestling TV show and live events. He was a contributing writer for the late, great "Phantom of the Movies' VideoScope" print magazine and continues to contribute to the print zine "Drive-In Asylum." He also writes for the websites Gruesome Magazine, Diabolique Magazine, Ghastly Grinning, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, and When It Was Cool. Joseph has also written for “Scream” magazine, "Filmfax" magazine, “SQ Horror” magazine, and the websites That's Not Current and HorrorNews.net. He occasionally proudly co-writes articles with his son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right. A former northern Californian and Oregonian, Joseph has been teaching, writing, and living in South Korea since 2008.