Joseph Culp Movies

A Russian-American journalist and the grieving father of a 9/11 victim join forces to challenge the government's official account of the events that unfolded on that fateful and tragic day in this incendiary thriller from director Jarek Kupsc. When successful journalist Alex Prokop (Kupsc) receives a unique videotape that reveals newly discovered information about the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., he makes it his mission to find out as much as possible about the explosive new development. The sender of the tape was Paul Cooper (Joseph Culp), an American patriot whose daughter perished in those terrorist attacks and who now believes that the U.S. government is to blame for those horrific events. As Prokop and Cooper interview various eyewitnesses to the attack, stories of underground explosions in the Twin Towers immediately before the attack and the revelation that the president's brother presided over the WTC security staff finds the official story slowly crumbling under the weight of the unspeakable truth. Before long, the FBI begins pressuring Alex's editor, Georgia (Lisa Black), to reveal key sources and the magazine's investors are threatening to kill the entire story. Haunted by memories of his childhood in Communist Russia, Prokop vows to unearth the truth regardless of the damage it may do to his career. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mother Nature's fury clashes with Hollywood has-been determination as a group of down and out filmmakers attempt to resurrect a dying sci-fi franchise by keeping their production afloat long enough to shoot their big climax with the "Big One" as the backdrop. In just seventy-two hours, Los Angeles will finally get the earthquake that folks have been anticipating for decades. The Generic News Network is capitalizing on public panic in typically tacky fashion, and the cast of the hopelessly irrelevant Cyxork sci-fi film franchise is ready to risk their lives for some free special effects. But while square-jawed star Rex Anderson (Ray Wise) just wants to keep his film career afloat and earn enough money so that he and his wife can move out of the public appearance bus they call a home, director Angela LaSalle (Sonya Smith) is seeking to transform schlock cinema into celluloid art. When Rex goes over Angela's head in an attempt to get her fired, the plan backfires and they both end up out of work. The production effectively shut down, Rex and Angela decide that their only hope is to put aside their differences, pretend they are still in production, and work under the radar to finish the film. But who would be foolish enough to try and shoot a film during what promises to be the biggest earthquake in recorded history? As the crew races to get the film finished before the studio finds out, the entire state of California braces for the big rumble and hopes for the best. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A young writer finds his creative principles pushed to the breaking point in this drama, which updates the story of an acclaimed 19th century novel by Knut Hamsun. Charlie Pontus (Joseph Culp) is a gifted writer who has come to Los Angeles in hope of finding success in the film industry. However, he refuses to compromise his artistic ideals in the process and has had no luck in getting work. As a result, Charlie has fallen into dire straits; he's now homeless, sick, and hasn't eaten in days, while making one last desperate bid to sell his latest story to a disinterested studio chief (Robert Culp). As Charlie struggles to survive, he meets a beautiful woman, Ylayali (Kathleen Luong), who claims to be descended from Siamese royalty, though he discovers in time that her true story is a good bit less glamorous. Hunger was shown at the 2001 San Francisco Independent Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this science-fiction action opus, intergalactic terrorist Alex Windham (Bruce Campbell) has seized control of Dome 4, a scientific outpost on another planet, after escaping from a penal colony on Mars. Windham is forcing the staff of Dome 4 to construct new weapons that he can use to destroy his enemies, but what he doesn't know is that one of his captives is the wife of interstellar lawman Chase Moran (Joseph Culp) -- and Moran will allow no harm to come to his wife. Assault on Dome 4 also stars Brion James and Jack Nance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this sci-fi thriller, a young musician living on another planet sets off for revenge against the egomaniacal corporate fiend responsible for the murder of his twin brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

"Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis in 1970, events recreated in this epic historical drama from
Ron Howard. Astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. The film received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic critical response and a Best Picture nomination, but lost that Oscar to another (very different) historical epic, Mel Gibson's Braveheart. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Three women seek their fortune in a small border town in this drama from acclaimed, Ariel-winning Mexican director Maria Novaro. In the shadow of the 15-mile-long steel wall that stands on the edge of Tijuana, Serena, Jane, and Elizabeth each take shelter in search of a better life. Serena is a widowed mother of three, Jane is an American searching for her long lost brother, and Elizabeth is a Mexican-American artist who has come to the border town in search of her roots. In the town that is prison to some and refuge to others, all three women will experience something new as they discover that even in the stark heat of the desert, a garden can bloom. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Unreleased to the general public and infamous for its poor quality within geek circles, this Roger Corman adaptation of the Marvel Comics supergroup is an interesting cult item that ranks up there with the dismal Captain America feature and the cheap Hulk TV movies. The story of the film goes back to the late '80s when Marvel Comics were licensing out their characters for mild profit in a time when the comic industry was failing. Enter a German company called Neue Constantin and producer Bernd Eichinger, who held the rights for almost four years before their contract was about to run out. In order to retain the rights to future remake/options and get out of paying a five-million-dollar fee, Neue were forced to put something to film, so they made a deal with Roger Corman's New Horizons studio to make the film quick and on the cheap for $1.5 million. Once the film was finished, Eichinger bought out Corman's interest, then turned around and sold it to 20th Century Fox, who were then prepping a $50 million adaptation with director Chris Columbus. The film then dove into virtual obscurity, save for the comic convention bootlegs and later through the internet. The storyline follows the basic framework of the comic, with the exception of a few minor details, including the introduction of a new villain, The Jeweler, who directly becomes responsible for the team's mishap in space and takes liberally from another one of the comic's famous villains, The Mole Man. In reference to its underground popularity, Corman now regards it as his most profitable film that never saw release, while Marvel president Avi Arad reportedly burned Fox's only print. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

This slick-looking but rather dreary science fiction twist on the vampire genre introduces a crash-landed alien who enters the aged, dying body of Max Page (Robert Sampson. Suddenly, Page's health takes an amazing U-turn. Max soon rises from his deathbed and checks out of the hospital with newfound vitality and a nagging thirst for the estrogen-laced blood of ovulating women (an original, if disgusting, twist on vampirism). Fearing for his family's safety, he flees for San Diego, stopping every other day to prey on more women, until he grows youthful enough to be played by another actor (Joseph Culp). Meanwhile, a gruff FBI agent (John Saxon, in a permanent state of gruff after a lifetime of cop roles) investigates. The one-note material is enlivened a bit by some familiar "B"-movie faces -- including the lovable Michael J. Pollard -- but very little is done with the premise of the alien's estrogen requirements, other than to show Max sniffing around in some rather inappropriate places. Adept "B"-movie buffs can spot Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon and his wife, actress Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, in cute cameos. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

In this drama, a misshapen sailor with the features of a lizard is tormented all his life for his deformities. When he and others are marooned on an island the tables are turned and he rules them with a ruthless hand. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A TV pilot film, Doctor's Story explores the rights--or rather, the lack of them--of geriatric patients. Howard E. Rollins Jr. plays a young doctor who resents the throwaway attitude conveyed towards the elderly. Among Rollins' patients are a near-senile old man (Art Carney), a woman (Vivece Lindfors) with a mysterious abdominal ailment, and a suicidal widow (Uta Hagen). Stymied by hospital bureaucracy and indifference, Rollins fights to give his older charges the same care and attention afforded younger patients--and in so doing, his own marriage on the critical list. Whether or not this premise could have sustained a weekly series is problematic (the pilot didn't sell), but as a self-contained drama, Doctor's Story was certainly worth two hours of anyone's attention, young or old. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi