Aron Tager Movies

In the 1920s, the rights of American workers to join a labor union was still considered an open question, and African-Americans were routinely denied their civil and economic rights. So in 1925, when journalist and political activist Asa Philip Randolph and railway car porter Ashley Totten formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, it was a bold gesture which proved to have a major impact in both labor and race relations in America. 10,000 Black Men Named George is a made-for-cable feature which dramatizes the struggle of Randolph (played by Andre Braugher) and Totten (Mario Van Peebles) to organize railway porters -- a demanding and sometimes dangerous job which was held almost exclusively by black men, who were paid low wages for demanding hours -- against the staunch opposition of Barton Davis (Kenneth McGreggor), head of the Pullman railway company and a fierce opponent of both unionization and civil rights initiatives. 10,000 Black Men Named George (the title refers to the fact Pullman porters were often called "George" by white passengers, which was considered a racial slur) also features Charles S. Dutton as Milton Webster, a veteran porter who joined the fight to organize; Carla Brothers as Lucille Randolph, Asa's wife who would play a major role in the early years of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; and Brock Peters as Leon Frey, an early member of the who would in time betray their cause. Directed by Robert Townsend, the film was produced for the Showtime premium cable network, where it first aired on February 24, 2002. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

David Weaver makes his feature debut with this omnibus film in which each tale is told during different points during the 20th century, but in the same hotel room -- room 720. The film opens during the swinging '20s when a beautiful young woman, married against her will to a brutish thug of a man, endures a tension-fraught honeymoon. During the Depression segment, a mail-order bride from China meets her husband for the first time. Following the end of WWII, a soldier returns home to meet his girlfriend and his best friend. During the paranoia of the 1950s, a professor searches for his wife. During the 1980s, a lawyer has too much sex and debt, and during the dawn of the millennium, a woman comes to a newly refurbished room 720 to meet her Internet lover. Such acclaimed Canadian actors as Tom McCamus, Sandrine Holt, and Colm Feore star in this film, which was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Why is it that, in holiday-themed TV movies, someone always comes to a small town to close down some business or other during Christmas week? In the case of A Holiday Romance, it is straitlaced school administrator Cal Peterson (Gerald McRaney), who arrives in town in the middle of the holiday season for the purpose of shutting down a local school that has been deemed extraneous. Inevitably, of course, Peterson will change his mind once he finds true love, as personified by winsome music teacher Lily Waite, played by Naomi Judd. About the only surprise in the film is the fact that neither Judd nor anyone else sings a country song at any point in the story. CBS brought forth A Holiday Romance on December 8, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fraser (Paul Gross) witnesses an apparent suicide attempt by a delusional man who is searching for someone who has been dead for five years. Further investigating the situation, Fraser comes to the conclusion that a local private mental institution is a hotbed of crime. Going undercover as a patient (he has no trouble being committed after mentioning the fact that he owns a deaf wolf named Diefenbaker), Fraser tries to find out the secret behind the institution's ominous "Blue Room"--and stumbles upon a sinister wholesale-murder scheme. Due South creator Paul Haggis shows up unbilled as one of Fraser's fellow inmates. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gary Busey stars in this Canadian ultra-macho Rambo-knockoff in which a crazed blood-thirsty sociopath escapes from an asylum and sets out to kill his former commander. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Jean-Claude Lauzon's highly praised film tells the strange story of Léolo, a young boy from Montréal. Told from Léolo's point-of-view, the film depicts his family of lunatics and Léolo's attempts to deal with them. Not one individual in the boy's life is well adjusted. His brother, after being beaten up, spends the film bulking up on growth protein. The grandfather hires half-naked girls to bite off his toenails and, in a brutal rage, almost kills Léolo. As he witnesses his family decay around him, Léolo retreats into himself and the fantasy world he has constructed. In response to the weirdness of his daily life, Léolo creates a little mental mayhem of his own which Lauzon renders in an amazing series of free-form, surreal images. Eventually, this precarious balance of reality and fantasy cracks and Léolo is hospitalized after attempting to murder his grandfather. The score by Tom Waits underscores the narrative arc of Léolo's breakdown. On its release, the film won numerous awards including the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Director (1992) and a Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay (1992). ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

A priest finds his faith tested when he's assigned to investigate a possible case of divine intervention. Rev. Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a Catholic priest who works as a postulator, a church official who investigates reports of holy miracles to determine their veracity. Some time back, one of Shore's investigations had ugly repercussions, and now he devotes his time to running a soup kitchen. But he's called back to service by Bishop Cahill (Charles Haid) when a number of Catholics begin calling for the canonization of the late Helen O'Regan, who is alleged to have performed miracles and whose statue is said to weep tears of blood. Shore begins digging into O'Regan's life and the miracles she is supposed to have performed; in his travels, he meets Maria (Caterina Scorsone), a teenage girl who was supposedly healed by O'Regan, and Roxane (Anne Heche), O'Regan's daughter, who was abandoned by her mother, wants nothing to do with her story, and has given up her belief in God. While investigating the miracle of O'Regan's statue, Shore witnesses the bleeding himself and tells the church that he believes the claims are legitimate. However, this view leads to angry reprisals from Archbishop Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl); Shore's story is not given any greater credence when he become romantically involved with Roxanne. The Third Miracle was released only a few months after Stigmata, another story of Catholic priests investigating allegations of a modern-day miracle, not the sort of subject one might have expected to become a trend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Alain Zaloum cowrote the screenplay of Canvas: The Fine Art of Crime with Brenda Newman. Gary Busey plays Ossie Decker, an aspiring artist with a genius for forgery. Decker goes to work for mob functionary John Rhys-Davies, the better to pay off a debt of honor owed by Decker's brother. He involves himself in a scheme to steal rare paintings, then palm off phonies as the genuine article. Eventually wearying of ripping off the art-loving public-and having nearly lost his life on at least one occasion--Decker wants out. But by now, he has painted himself into a dangerously tight corner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this outdoor adventure saga, a group of hunters are on the lookout for a half-wolf, half-dog who is believed to have killed a man. However, one naturalist (Jeff Fahey) is determined to find the animal before the hunters do, certain that the animal is not a killer, but a hero. Also screened as Kazan, Eye of the Wolf also stars Sophie Duez, Lorne Brass, and Patrice Bissonnette. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide