Alan McRae Movies
- 1998
- PG
- Add 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain to QueueAdd 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain to top of Queue
This is the fourth in the 3 Ninjas action-adventure series with retired ninja Grandpa Mori (Victor Wong) as the connective device linking all four films. Following the low-rent 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (a 1992 production which went unreleased until 1995), the fourth boosts the budget and features three new lead youngsters plus assorted "guest stars." Grandpa Mori teaches martial arts to his three grandchildren: 15-year-old Rocky (Mathew Botuchis), 14-year-old Colt (Michael J. O'Laskey II), and 8-year-old Tum Tum (J.P. Roeske II). On a trip to the Mega Mountain amusement park, the three boys are joined by their computer genius neighbor, 13-year-old Amanda (Chelsey Earlywine), daughter of a movie special FX designer. The villainous Medusa (Loni Anderson) leads a ninja army to Mega Mountain. With her head henchman Lothar (Jim Varney), Medusa intends to move into Mega Mountain's master control center and hold the park patrons for a $10 million ransom. However, former TV star Dave Dragon (Hulk Hogan) happens to be making an appearance at the park, and the combination of Dave, Rocky, Colt, Tum Tum, and Amanda makes life difficult for Medusa and her warriors. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hulk Hogan, Loni Anderson, (more)
The heroes of the family adventure comedy 3 Ninjas return in this sequel (though not all of them are played by the same actors). Rocky (Sean Fox), Colt (Max Elliott Slade), and Tum Tum (Evan Bonifant) are three brothers whose Grandfather (Victor Wong) is a ninja master teaching them martial arts skills. The boys' Little League team has a big game coming up, but before they can hit the diamond, they have to help Grandpa return a sacred Ninja dagger to Japan. However, one of Grandpa's longtime enemies, now a wealthy and ruthless businessman, plans to steal the knife, and the boys are sent on a mission to Japan to rescue the valuable weapon. At first the tycoon sends his inept nephew to face off against the young Ninjas, but when that plan fails, Rocky, Colt, and Tum Tum are met by a team of trained warriors, who to their surprise are led by a teenage girl named Miyo (Caroline Junko King). Miyo soon strikes up a friendship with the brothers who are supposed to be her sworn enemies, and with her help they recover the knife and teach her a few things about baseball that come in handy when the big game finally rolls around. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Fox, Max Elliott Slade, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Victor Wong, Michael Treanor, (more)
- 1989
- Add Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker to QueueAdd Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker to top of Queue
Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker was a made-for-TV factual drama about the elusive killer who terrorized Southern California in the summer of 1985. Richard Jordan and A. Martinez star as the two LA detectives heading up the investigation. So much time is taken up with police procedure that the Night Stalker himself is virtually a bit player in his own movie. The suspect, one Richard Ramirez (watch the film to find out who plays him), makes up for his long absences with a bravura closing scene. The film utilizes the clever (and tasteful) approach of showing the victims going about their everyday activities just before the murderer strikes, without resorting to re-enacting the murders themselves. By accident or design, Manhunt: Search for the Night Stalker was telecast November 12, 1989--the very day that Richard Ramirez was sentenced to the gas chamber. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
The Blue Moon's latest client is Nora Cooper (Karen Landry), who is looking for the husband to whom she was married for only five days--and who has been missing for ten years. Searching for the absent hubby, David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) enter the rarefied world of poolrooms, sharks and hustlers. And as a bonus, the episode offers another "tumble-on" unbilled role for C. Thomas Howell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Best remembered for containing the film debut of phenomenally popular comedian of the early '90s, Jim Carrey, Once Bitten is a horror comedy that chronicles the attempts of a bloodthirsty female vampire living in modern day Los Angeles to find the three male virgins she needs every year to stay alive and young-looking. If she cannot do it by Halloween, she will surely die. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lauren Hutton, Jim Carrey, (more)
- 1982
- R
Kay (Sarah Kendall) is a painter who has been experiencing terrifying nightmares of being chased by a mysterious, bloodthirsty creature. The imagery is starting to invade her work and affect her nerves, so a getaway is planned for her to get some relaxation in before a big gallery show. She flies to a dark and stormy island with her husband, David (Alan McRae); her brother, Eric (Frederick Flynn); and his wife, Brooke (Carol Kottenbrook). Though she has never visited it before, Kay recognizes their rented beach house from one of her nightmares and expresses her unease, but everyone dismisses this as the result of her art getting too surreal. After Kay dreams of finding David's disembodied head in bed with her, he disappears and is later found mangled and hanging from the roof of an old barn. Kay refuses to sleep, sure that to do so will mean more deaths, but Eric sedates her secretly, worried about her sanity. He is certain that the culprit is Marsh (Michael Holmes), the pilot who flew them to the island, though Brooke is inclined to believe Kay's supernatural explanation. More mayhem ensues while Kay slumbers, and when she awakes alone, she is intent to stay conscious and avoid facing the slayer herself. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Kendall, Frederick Flynn, (more)
- 1980
Mr. Patman is well liked and has charm to spare. He works as an orderly in a mental hospital and does a good job except that he is beginning to believe that he is being shadowed by the irate husband of his landlady. When not bunking with her, Mr. Patman attempts to launch an affair with a co-worker until he mistakenly begins believing she has died in an auto accident. As the film progresses, it doesn't take long for the audience to realize that the normal-seeming Patman is just as ill as the patients he tends to and by the story's end is no longer to conceal it and must be admitted into the hospital himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Coburn, Kate Nelligan, (more)
- 1979
Charleston is a brazen rip-off of Gone with the Wind which premiered over NBC on January 15, 1979--one month before CBS' planned telecast of Wind. Delta Burke, who was an unknown in 1979, very nearly remained that way in the role of post-Civil War Southern belle Stella. As Stella fiddle-dee-dees around in an effort to raise the tax money to maintain her mansion, her faithful ex-slave Minerva (Lynne Moody) runs the household with an iron hand (that must hurt). Also lurking about is Stella's cousin Valerie (Patricia Pearcy), who squanders her own savings in an effort to find her missing husband. This is the sort of film in which the aggressively urbanized actor Mandy Pantinkin plays a corn-fed character named Beaudine Croft. Martha Scott, the only "name" actor in Charleston, is wasted in a peripheral role as Stella's mom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1977
When the 4077th runs out of whole blood during a medical emergency, everyone in the camp donates a pint of their own--even the needle-shy Frank Burns (Larry Linville). Ultimately, however, the crisis is resolved by the timely arrival of some Turkish troops. Meanwhile, hot-headed Cpl. Moody (Hilly Hicks) gets a valuable lesson in moderate behavior. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
In this low-budget exploitation outing, a trio of curvy young woman, fresh out of reform school, go to college to participate in an experiment and end up having loads of erotic fun. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
- R
Derivative of the John Boorman action thriller Deliverance (1972), this grim, ostensibly socially-conscious parable is at its best moments disturbing, and at its worst, absurd. Cliff Robertson stars as Rex, a gun enthusiast and military veteran who, with his buddies Lou (Ernest Borgnine) and Zeke (Henry Silva), stalks wild game in the forest. It's a weekend ritual that Rex in particular eagerly anticipates, as he is bored and disillusioned with his marriage and career. After a frustrating day that's left them empty-handed, however, the party comes to a river. Another band of hunters appears on the other side, menacingly staring them down. Suddenly a gun goes off, and Zeke retaliates by shooting and killing one of the men on the other riverbank. After an exchange of gunfire, Rex and his friends win the skirmish, driving their attackers off. Deciding to keep the incident a secret from the police, they round up a posse of friends and pursue the other hunters through the woods in a bloody mini-war that only the reasonable Lou seems to question. Shoot also bears some passing similarity to a later and far superior film, Southern Comfort (1981). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Ernest Borgnine, (more)
- 1976
- R
Director Bob Clark would graduate from the Canadian Breaking Point to such films as Porky's and A Christmas Story, proving beyond a doubt that it is possible to overcome a bad start. Bo Svenson stars as a mild-mannered teacher--glasses and all. He witnesses a mob murder, whereupon he is put into a witness protection program by cop (Robert Culp). When mobsters show up to rub out Svenson, the authorities are helpless, so suddenly "Mr. Peepers" becomes "Rambo". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bo Svenson, Robert Culp, (more)
