Robin Spry Movies

Sex, drugs, and rock & roll happen to run in the family in this dramatic series produced for the MTV cable network. The Jackson Decker Band was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful rock group in the '70s and '80s, and after a 15-year layoff, Chase Rooney (Tom Lock), a recent honors graduate of Stanford's business school and also the son of the group's bassist Keith Rooney (David Nerman), has organized a reunion tour for the band. These days, the members of the Jackson Decker Band are older and wiser, and they've brought their children along for the tour, ranging in age from 16 to 23. Vocalist Annie Baker (Jennifer Dale), a recovering alcoholic, is accompanied by her better-grounded daughter Lu (Sarah Manninen), who was once Chase's girlfriend. Keith is traveling not only with son Chase as manager, but with Olivia (Jessica Welch), his free-spirited daughter. Drummer Rick Parsons (Bruce Dinsmore) has brought his straight-arrow daughter Darby (Jane McGregor) along to see the sights. And Travis Williams (Matthew Carrey) has recently learned that Jason Decker guitarist Drake Taylor (Ron Lea) is his biological father. Drake gets him a job as a roadie with the group so that Travis can get to know the father he never met while growing up. As the band members strive to avoid the chemical and sexual pitfalls that helped to sideline the band in the 1980s, the kids are tempted by the wild life of the road and have to deal with their own romantic entanglements. Live Through This was MTV's first hour-long dramatic series; the first episode premiered August 9, 2000. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Canadian-Japanese co-production uses both vintage historical footage (including armed forces films and period newsreels) and contemporary dramatic reenactments to tell the story of how the scientific and military minds behind the Manhattan Project, under the orders of President Harry Truman (Kenneth Welsh), developed the first atomic bomb. The weapon was first used to attack the city of Hiroshima near the end of World War II, changing forever the shape of modern warfare and bringing fearsome devastation to a previously quiet Japanese city. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The excesses of feminism and political correctness come in for some serious ribbing in this Canadian comedy, which might just give Rush Limbaugh a belly-laugh or two, along with anyone else who has ever thought that his pet term "feminazi" was humorous. In the story, Jimmy (Bruce Dinsmore) is having a mid-life crisis, and in order to get a handle on why he has so much trouble with women, decides to participate in a college-sponsored study on male sexuality. What he doesn't know is that the study is being run by some extremely radical, doctrinaire feminists, and that he's in for a nightmarish grilling. He shows up for his first sessions, is blindfolded, and is then put through his paces as a relentless female interrogator puts him constantly on the defensive for everything he has ever done with women throughout his entire life. Indeed, these women completely turn the tables on nineteenth century (male) sexologists and, instead of questioning female orgasm (as those researchers actually did), make Jimmy wonder if there ever was such a thing as male orgasm. Other permutations on the contemporary war of the sexes are shown outside the setting of the study Jimmy is participating in. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this tragicomedy, Toni (Tony Niardi) is the director of a staged rendition of Othello in Montreal. It is a pet project of his, financed by his loving mafia uncle. Unbeknownst to him, the audiences are also rounded up (and paid) by the same uncle. Some of them have seen every performance of this tragic play, and are understandably bored, so when the backstage romantic shenanigans of the actors result in absurd situations onstage, the audience is delighted. There are a huge number of romantic situations going on in this film at the same time. One of them involves Gaston (Jean Lapointe), a somewhat world-weary jazz musician, and Florence (Louise Marleau), a glamorous middle-aged woman who has been pining for him for years. Another involves to members of the musician's jazz trio. Yet another involves the play's Desdemona, Soledad (Charlotte Laurier), the girlfriend of the man playing Othello, who can't keep his hands off his (female) dresser. She is also Florence's neice. This busy story pokes fun at many local foibles and was a huge success in Quebec. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Pierre (Mattias Habich) is a Montreal photojournalist who returns from Nicaragua to find that his ten-year menage a trois is over. Sarah (Johanne-Marie Tremblay) and David (Michel Voita) have moved out, leaving the bisexual Pierre wondering why. Haunted by his mid-life crisis, he becomes obsessed with trying to find why his two lovers have left him. After an awkward meeting with Sarah and David, Pierre begins a new relationship with the young deaf-mute Quentin (Jean-Francois Pichette). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this suspenseful thriller two strangers are suddenly thrown together in the strangest of circumstances when they witness a killing and a robbery and then find $5 million aboard a New York-bound train. Now they are forced to flee from the CIA, the Russians, and others while simultaneously trying to discover where the money came from and what to do with it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Patrick McGoohan stars in this thriller as a loutish talk-show host who is held hostage by a band of terrorists who plan to use his program to broadcast their demands. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this socially conscious drama, a TV journalist begins investigating a large factory that has been threatening the health of the children who live in the town's poorest, most polluted section. Because of his investigation, he and his family are threatened by company thugs. He gets no help from his TV station as they are loathe to tangle with big business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In Canada, in October 1970, a political kidnapping and assassination rocked the nation. This 1975 documentary, produced by the Film Board of Canada, examines that time and the issues surrounding those events; the concerns of Quebecois French separatists are well-represented. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Produced on behalf of the National Film Board of Canada, Prologue is a story of the youth-rebellion movement of 1968. The film concentrates on Jesse (John Robb), who wanders the streets of Montreal selling underground newspapers. Despite the influence of his passive, drug-using roomie David (Gary Rader), Jesse insists upon pursuing the cause of political dissidence. Jesse heads for the fateful Chicago Democratic convention, while David moves to a commune with Jesse's girl friend Karen (Elaine Malus). Tired of trying to run away from controversy, Karen heads to Chicago for a reunion with Jesse, and a few philosophical discussions with "guest stars" Dick Gregory and Abbie Hoffman. Other members of the Intellectual Left making brief appearances in Prologue include Allen Ginsberg, Jean Genet, John Kenneth Galbraith, and William S. Burroughs. Director Robin Spry co-wrote the screenplay with Sherwood Forest (no, really). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide