Prof. Toru TanakaFilmography

Last Action Hero

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Frank McRae, Anthony Quinn, Charles Dance, Mercedes Ruehl

Synopsis: Arnold Schwarzenegger appears as a pumped-up Shakespearian hero while an announcer bellows, "Something is rotten in Denmark -- and Hamlet is taking out the trash!" This gag sets the stage for the post-modernist action epic The Last Action Hero. The film concerns Danny Madigan (Austin O'Brien), a Read More

3 Ninjas

Actors: Victor Wong, Michael Treanor, Max Elliott Slade, Chad Power, Rand Kingsley

Synopsis: 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) Read More

The Perfect Weapon

Actors: Jeff Speakman, John Dye, Mako, James Hong

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Deadly Game

Synopsis: Made for cable TV, the story involves a wealthy man who believes that a series of people have wronged him during his life. He invites the seven persons to his private island under the pretense of rewarding them for their good deeds, but they soon find out that his plan is much more devious. ~ John Read More

Darkman

Actors: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Nelson Mashita

Synopsis: Neglecting Julie (Frances McDormand), his lawyer lady friend, Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) works feverishly to perfect his latest invention -- artificial skin that could be used to treat burn victims. Peyton himself falls victim to an explosion when one of Julie's crooked clients sends his Read More

Alligator 2: The Mutation

Actors: Richard Lynch, Steve Railsback, Joseph Bologna, Woody Brown

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Tax Season

Synopsis: Allen Mills is a naive accountant from Cleveland who buys the Hollywood Tax Service from Lionel Goldberg before thoroughly investigating the various aspects of the business, let alone even seeing it. When he actually goes to take over his new business, he finds he got more than he bargained for. Read More

Martial Law

Actors: Chad McQueen, Cynthia Rothrock

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Black Rain

Actors: Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Kate Capshaw, Shigeru Koyama, Yusaku Matsuda

Synopsis: Under scrutiny by his superiors for allegedly dipping into confiscated drug money, New York vice cop Michael Douglas can expect no sympathy from his ex-wife, who is gouging him for alimony. Douglas gets a chance to redeem himself when he is assigned to escort Japanese mob boss Yusaku Matsuda back Read More

Dead Heat

Actors: Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost, Darren McGavin, Vincent Price

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Running Man

Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown

Synopsis: Directed by former Starsky and Hutch TV star Paul Michael Glaser, this post-apocalyptic science fiction yarn satirized American entertainment, mocking pro wrestling, game shows, and law-and-order reality programming. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Ben Richards, a cop in the totalitarian America of Read More

Catch the Heat

Actors: David Dukes, Tiana Alexandra, Rod Steiger, Brian Thompson, Jorge Martinez

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Shanghai Surprise

Actors: Sean Penn, Madonna, Paul Freeman, Richard Griffiths, Philip Sayer

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The A-Team: The Spy Who Mugged Me

Synopsis: In this elaborate spoof of the Bond films, Murdock (Dwight Schultz) dons tux and toupee to pose as dashing secret agent Logan Ross--a man who doesn't exist, but was created as a decoy by General Stockwell (Robert Vaughn). It is Murdock's mission to prevent a political assassin named Jaguar from Read More

Bad Guys

Actors: Adam Baldwin, Mike Jolly, Michelle Nicastro, Ruth Buzzi, James Booth

Synopsis: These bad guys are a couple of inept cops who, when kicked off the force, decide to make their living as professional wrestlers. They become "The Boston Bad Guys" and as such, are pitted against a wrestling team managed by their manager's arch rival. To add intrigue to this wrestling fan's release Read More

Volunteers

Actors: Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, Tim Thomerson, Gedde Watanabe

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Missing in Action 2: The Beginning

Actors: Chuck Norris, Soon-Teck Oh, Steven Williams, Cosie Costa, David Chung

Synopsis: While the first Missing in Action film told of a rescue mission by ex-POW Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris), the second concerns his original stay in a Vietnamese prisoner camp. The camp is governed by the crazed Colonel Yin (Soon-Teck Oh), who forces the POW's to grow opium for French drug Read More

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

Actors: Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger, Judd Omen

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Chattanooga Choo Choo

Synopsis: The owner of a professional football team must restore the titular train and run it from Tennessee to NYC in 24 hours if he is to inherit $1 million in this comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Revenge of the Ninja

Actors: Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye, Arthur Roberts, Mario Gallo

Synopsis: Sam Firstenberg directs Sho Kosugi in the martial arts action film Revenge of the Ninja. Kosugi plays a former ninja assassin whose family is killed by other ninjas. He begins life anew in America, but unexpectedly comes to work for drug traffickers who he must face off against. ~ Perry Seibert Read More

The A-Team: The Maltese Cow

Synopsis: 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 Read More

An Eye for an Eye

Actors: Chuck Norris, Christopher Lee, Richard Roundtree, Matt Clark, Mako

Synopsis: 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. Read More