Susan Justin Movies
- 1999
Many people, as they get older, come to understand that their parents' lives were more complex than they imagined as children, but this video adaptation of a theater piece by Cynthia Gates Fujikawa is the story of a woman who came to realize just how much she didn't know about the life of her father, and his part in one of the most unfortunate episodes in U.S. history. Jerry Fujikawa was a Japanese-American character actor who worked regularly in television, including roles on MASH and Kung Fu. Shortly before he died in 1983, Cynthia began looking into her father's past and discovered a first marriage -- including children -- he had never discussed. Even more remarkable was the story of his incarceration in an internment camp for Asian-Americans during World War II, which left deep psychological scars he kept hidden from his children. Old Man River mixes photos, vintage film footage and Cynthia's performance to create a portrait of a man (and a national history) she didn't know as well as she once thought. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia Gates Fujikawa
- 1985
- R
In this routine sports-dominated, low-budget drama, real wrestling footage with all its comic sideshow elements supplement the simple story. Lesley Uggams (Jeff Dial) is a documentary filmmaker out to do a project on a wrestler who supposedly killed himself after decapitating his opponent in the ring. Uggams suspects that the suicide was hype -- something unknown to the wrestling world, of course -- and that the killer wrestler is back in action as "The Mask." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Dial, Robert Glaudini, (more)
- 1985
- R
In this exploitation drama, an octet of teens survive a plane crash and end up stranded on a lonely island inhabited only by a ruthless gang of drug smugglers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Hewitt, Betsy Russell, (more)
- 1983
- R
Director Allan Arkush knew whereof he spoke in Get Crazy. A longtime employee of Fillmore East, a popular rock-concert locale of the 1960s and 1970s, Arkush brought a great deal of insider's savvy to this comedy about the concert circuit and its denizens. Malcolm McDowell stars as a Mick Jagger-type rocker who is one of several acts lined up for a big New Years' Eve show. If villains Ed Begley Jr., Bobby Sherman and Fabian have their way, however, the show will never get off the ground. The supporting cast is dotted with such cult-flick icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph and Mary Woronov. The musical portion of the program is handled by the likes of Malcolm McDowell, Lou Reed (as a Bob Dylan type) and Bill Henderson (as a Muddy Waters takeoff). In case it hasn't been made clear already, the main "joke" of Get Crazy is the presence in the cast of actors as musicians and musicians as actors; it is to the film's credit that this one joke never wears out its welcome. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McDowell, Daniel Stern, (more)
- 1983
- R
Set in a future time after a nuclear holocaust, survivors battle each other over water, a key to both power and life in this low-budget, damp version of a Mad Max world. Stryker (Steve Sandor) joins forces with Delha (Andrea Savio) when she makes a decision to share her colony's fresh water supply with the neighboring settlements. Stryker's decision to throw in with Delha leads to some chug-along car chases, as his arch-nemesis Kardis (Michael Lane) has opposite views on the use of water. A smattering of beautiful women in a minimum of clothing, a tribe of lovable dwarfs, and a few requisite battle scenes fill in the time between chases. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Sander, Andrea Savio, (more)
- 1982
- R
Fans of outrageously bad drive-in fare from New World Pictures will find much to love in this bargain-bin science fiction weirdness -- one of several Alien rip-offs foisted on defenseless audiences by Roger Corman's legendary B-movie factory. The plot -- which, of course, is irrelevant to the action -- involves a food-research team on a distant planet, whose latest genetic product decides it would rather eat than be eaten...and boy, is it hungry. Then enters our hero, an undefined government specialist (Jesse Vint) whose dreams in hypersleep find their way into almost every scene in the film -- his apparent powers of precognition, however, are never mentioned. Vint responds to the team's distress signal and shows up with his robot pal to blast the slime-beast to smithereens -- and, of course, to engage in a little intergalactic nookie with the team's female personnel. Meanwhile, the constantly mutating monster chews its way through virtually the entire cast before one cancer-ridden scientist devises a highly original (and extremely disgusting) solution. The ever-thrifty Corman recycled sets and scenes from Battle Beyond the Stars and Galaxy of Terror to pad out this weekend wonder, making up for its threadbare production values (which include plenty of cheap scares, nudity, and graphic gore). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jesse Vint, June Chadwick, (more)
This mediocre slasher film from director Andrew Davis is worth watching more for its cast than for its cliched story. The film is set in the usual isolated forest, where a ratty-looking killer (who seems to be covered with Spanish moss) makes survival difficult for some foul-tempered campers. Among the doomed are future luminaries Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, and Adrian Zmed. The leaders, played by Joe Pantoliano and Mark Metcalf, are some of the most irritating characters in any 1980s slasher film, bickering until they sound like tenderfoot versions of Barnes and Elias from Platoon. The characters' constant ill temper is designed to add to the tension, but serves only as a distraction. The murders are low-key and dull, save for Metcalf's well-handled death scene, and the obligatory "telling of the legend" is less spooky than obnoxious. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Friedrich, Adrian Zmed, (more)
