Prof. Toru Tanaka Movies

Accelerate Your Guitar Playing features respected teacher and professional musician Tomo Fujita leading the viewer through a series of exercises designed to increase a variety of guitar playing techniques. The video includes lessons in interval training and learning rhythms, as well as offering examples of grooves played in a variety of styles. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This youth-oriented martial arts comedy concerns three children (Colt, Rocky, and Tum Tum) who are instructed in the art of ninjitsu by their grandfather, Ninja Master Mori (Victor Wong). Another of Mori's former pupils grew up to be notorious underworld figure Hugo Snyder (Rand Kingsley), who -- attempting to get the boys' FBI agent dad off his back -- orders the young ninjas kidnapped. In usual Disney fashion, the chopsocky children turn the tables on their inept kidnappers, but get in bigger trouble when a group of ninjas keeps them prisoner in the hold of a ship. Action-packed, but not overly violent, 3 Ninjas is a lot of fun for kids and its success at the box-office led to two sequels. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Featuring plenty of high, hard kicks, and flailing furious fists, this martial arts actioner tells an exciting tale of vengeance as a tough American street fighter stalks the streets of L.A.'s Chinatown in search of the organized criminals responsible for his guardian's death. Movie newcomer Jeff Speakman makes an appealing action hero, with fluid direction from genre veteran Mark DiSalle. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Not so much a sequel to the John Sayles-scripted Alligator as a shoddy remake, this sophomoric low-budget effort plays like a bad TV movie about a swamp-dwelling alligator mutated to monstrous size by toxic waste, munching on the screaming residents of a lakefront community. The naughty polluter who caused this mutation is the property developer himself (Steve Railsback, playing such a cookie-cutter villain that he might as well have a "BAD GUY" sign around his neck). An embarrassed Joseph Bologna plays the cop investigating the mutilation murders; an equally-ashamed Dee Wallace Stone plays the scientist assisting him, who is conveniently married to him as well. In an attempt to remedy the situation, a big-game hunter (Richard Lynch) is called in to bag the beast. When his efforts fail, it's left to Bologna to pick up the pieces -- literally -- and take charge of the situation when the big reptile decides to take in the grand opening of the local amusement park. From a nonsensical script to cheesy special effects that make the beast look like a pool toy, this film shows none of the cynical charm and sly wit that made Alligator so enjoyable. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Martial Law is a no-brainer action flick starring Steven McQueen, the son of the late, great Steve McQueen. Buddy cop duo Sean Thompson and Billie Black are on the trail of a killer whose signature weapon is a punch that stops the heart. The bad guy, played by David Carradine, also runs a number of illicit businesses, including trafficking in drugs. Things get personal when Sean realizes his little brother has fallen under the killer's sway, and hot when Sean realizes the feisty Billie might be falling for him. The film runs a predictable course as the two close in on the killer, rescue the little brother, defeat the evil henchmen, and finally capture the bad guy. Its formulaic story aside, Martial Law is an interesting film for its blending of the early-'90s hysteria around serial killers with the equally prevalent hysteria around gangs and urban youth. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

Although many genre filmmakers have managed to blend horror and humor with great success, movies employing this formula often run the risk of both elements canceling each other out, resulting in a horror comedy that is neither scary nor funny. Alas, Dead Heat is a textbook example of this kind of failure. It details the weird misadventures of a pair of mismatched L.A. cops -- the straitlaced and by-the-book Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) and wisecracking loose cannon Doug Bigelow (muscle-headed Saturday Night Live alum Joe Piscopo). Their quest is to reach the heart of a sinister crime ring that employs indestructible undead henchmen. In a strange twist, their inept handling of the case results in both cops -- first Williams, then Piscopo -- being killed in action and subsequently reanimated in a secret laboratory managed by the barely seen Vincent Price (whose walk-on role is more entertaining than the combined performances of the two leads). The potential for "splatstick" comedy in the mode of Evil Dead 2 or Peter Jackson's Bad Taste is defeated by two major obstacles: first, the painfully unfunny mugging of Piscopo, who was unwisely allowed to ad-lib much of his performance; and second, the MPAA's trimming of several minutes from Steve Johnson's sensational makeup effects in order to avoid the dreaded X rating -- including a clever scene involving a zombie go-go girl played by Linnea Quigley. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A San Francisco narcotics officer goes undercover to South America in an attempt to bust a drug lord and his operation. Of course, the assignment involves her ability to participate in a certain breast-altering operation to smuggle the goods into the States, though her brassiere size may be too large for her to pull off her candidacy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Madonna and Sean Penn, who were husband and wife at the time, starred in this notorious box-office bomb that one critic termed "Flop Suey." The film takes place in 1937, during the Japanese occupation of China. Drug runner Walter Faraday (Paul Freeman) is trying to leave the country with a large stash of opium but he is chased by armed guards and killed. A year passes and missionary Gloria Tatlock (Madonna) hires sleazy American con man Glendon Wasey (Sean Penn) to help her find the missing opium. She wants to use the drugs to relieve the suffering of wounded Chinese soldiers -- as she puts it, "Guns cause pain. Opium eases pain." Glendon reluctantly agrees. But unfortunately for the two do-gooders, there are other, more notorious seekers of the opium shipment as well. George Harrison, one of the film's producers, wrote the songs and appears in a cameo role as a nightclub singer. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Tom Hanks and John Candy were reunited for the first time since Splash in this period comedy about Peace Corps worker during the optimistic period of the Kennedy presidency. Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks) is an upper-class heel who has to flee the country to escape his gambling debts and so sneaks aboard an airplane filled with Peace Corps volunteers en route to Thailand. On the plane he is befriended by well-meaning Peace Corps worker Tom Tuttle (John Candy). Once in Thailand, the workers become involved with building a bridge, and Lawrence becomes involved with the local Communists, an opium lord, and the CIA. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Co-written by Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman, Pee Wee's Big Adventure marks the debut of director Tim Burton, who stamps the entire film with his quirky trademark style. The premise: Pee Wee (Reubens), an overgrown pre-pubescent boy sporting a molded Princeton cut, blush, lipstick, and a shrunken gray flannel suit, lives an idyllic life in his bizarre home (some have compared the remarkable set design to the expressionistic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) until someone nabs his most prized possession: a fire engine-red customized bicycle. He then embarks on an epic cross-country search to find his lost love, not to mention more than a little adventure. Along the way, he makes friends with various oddball characters, visits the Alamo, endures various hallucinatory nightmares, and has a supernatural run-in with a spectral trucker. In this reprisal of his popular standup routine, Reubens is wonderful as the nerdy man child; he plays it silly, yet he manages to imbue the role with some sensitivity without ever seeming maudlin. The score by Danny Elfman is terrific -- as is the case in nearly every film Burton has directed -- and the script is fresh and inventive. Some of the most memorable moments: the opening sequence involving Pee Wee's morning activities is a stroke of genius (note the bunny slippers and talking breakfast), as are the scenes at the truck stop, and the "Hollywood" version of Pee Wee's story at the end (starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild in surprise cameos). In all, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a delightful film, enjoyable for children as well as adults. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The Golden Pagoda, a Chinese restaurant owned by Wan Chu (James Hong) and sponsored by the A-Team, has been targeted for harassment by a local criminal gang. Things take a sinister turn when it is revealed that Tommy Chen (Peter Kwong), the boyfriend of Wan Chu's daughter Sun (Lydia Lei), is working with the villains, who are determined to smuggle infamous drug dealer Chris Tomas (Paul Mantee into the country. Once the A-Team is involved, the viewer can be assured of an explosive climax--literally, in this case! The episode's title refers to the latest delusion of Team member Murdock (Dwight Schultz), who this week imagines himself to be Humphrey Bogart) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The frequently used title An Eye for an Eye was applied to a Chuck Norris martial-arts festival in 1981. Norris plays Sean Kane, a San Francisco cop whose partner is murdered by an Oriental drug ring. Told to keep his distance by his superiors, Kane quits the force and sets out to exact vengeance. When he's not suffering from traumatic nightmares, our hero is single-handedly decimating every one of villain Morgan Canfield's (Christopher Lee) henchmen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide