Leon Ichaso Movies

A father is reunited with the son he never knew he had and finds out just how much separates them in this independent drama. Remigio (Miguel Gutierrez) was born and raised in Cuba, but he grew tired of the restrictions of life under Castro, and in time he fled to the United States. Remigio has become a success in America as the host of a top-rated radio talk show in Miami, but one day he's faced with an unexpected reminder of his past -- Ivan (Adrian Mas), a handsome and strapping young man who Remigio fathered before leaving Cuba. Ivan escaped Cuba on a raft and has made his way to Miami, where he hopes his long-lost father can help him start a new life just as Remigio did years before. Remigio is happy to give Ivan a boost, taking him into his home and helping him find a job, and the young man is grateful to be with the man he only knew as a voice on the radio while growing up. Ivan is enchanted with the excitement and opportunities of life in Miami at first, but Remigio soon notices his son indulges in petty crime and is making friends with members of a gang of drug dealers, and he begins to wonder just what led Ivan to leave his home and come to a new and different land. Paraiso was written and directed by veteran Cuban-American filmmaker Leon Ichaso, and was produced as an independent project, shooting on location in Miami and show using a small local crew. The picture received its world premiere at the 2009 Miami International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Ray (James LeGros) has to defend Darwyn (Michael Ealy) and explain the shooting of Bobby Habib to his bosses, who are considering ending the operation and making an arrest immediately. Darwyn apologizes to Gayle (Melissa Sagemiller) for standing her up, but he is forced to continue to lie to her. Farik (Oded Fehr) tells the cell that their funding in Mexico has hit a snag, and because Darwyn and Christian (Alex Nesic) speak Spanish, he takes them down there with him to straighten things out. Farik has to deal with a drug dealer/gun runner/pimp named Felix (Eduardo Yáñez) who wants a much bigger cut of the profits, and knows exactly what Farik is using the money for. Darwyn is appalled to learn that Felix is kidnapping underage children to sell to depraved tourists, and demands that Farik put a stop to it. On returning to the U.S., Darwyn is intercepted by Ray, who tells him that the operation was going to be shut down until the bureau discovered the existence of two more potential cells in Washington and New York. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Shown on the Fox network, this made-for-TV biopic stars David Ramsey as legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, whose story is told largely in flashbacks. Beginning with Ali's childhood, when he was known as Cassius Clay, Ali: An American Hero traces the boxer's career, love life, and eventual devotion to Islam. Joe Morton appears as Malcolm X, and the cast also features the talents of Vondie Curtis Hall and Clarence Williams III, the latter as Ali's father Marcellus Clay. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Made especially for the Showtime cable network, this touching drama stars Sidney Poitier and his daughter Sydney Poitier, respectively, as a prominent New York businessman and the feisty, troubled teen he mentors. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Gustavo (Rene Lavan) is an engineering student born and raised in Cuba who strongly believes in his nation's socialist ideals at a time when those ideals are crumbling around him. His girlfriend, Yolanda (Mayte Vilan), dreams of emigrating to Miami and making a life for herself as a professional dancer. His father, Tomas (Miguel Gutierrez), is a respected psychiatrist who he can barely support himself working at a state-run institution; he moonlights as a jazz pianist, where he makes four times his medical salary playing for tips to tourists at a nightclub. And his brother Bobby (Larry Villanueva) is a rock musician whose long hair and defiant posture have made him an enemy of the state and an outspoken opponent of Castro's regime; when yet another of his performances is shut down and his equipment is confiscated by police, Bobby, in an extreme act of protest, publicly injects himself with HIV-tainted blood, making clear that when presented with the slogan of "socialism or death," he would prefer the latter. Azucar Amarga was a highly personal project for director Leon Ichaso, a emigre from Havana who has offered one of the few portraits of Cuban unrest in the 1990s from a Cuban point-of-view. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Wesley Snipes and Michael Wright play druglord brothers who have a mob-like crime empire in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. Through flashbacks, we see how Roemello Skuggs (Snipes) and Raynathan Skuggs (Wright) entered the drug culture, with Raynathan helping his mother inject heroin. She died when the boys were young, but their father A.R. Skuggs (Clarence Williams III) survived, remaining a hopeless and frightful heroin addict. Roemello has grown up to be an educated, culturally pretentious businessman who stays away from his own merchandise, wears expensive cashmere coats and other colorful clothes, and lives in a beautiful uptown apartment, while being plagued by guilt. Raynathan, however, is losing his battle with drug addiction and spiraling downward. Roemello runs the family drug business with the help of an old-fashioned mob boss, Gus Molino (Abe Vigoda), whose grocery is a front for the dealing. To fuel his doubts, Roemello becomes involved with a beautiful aspiring actress, Melissa (Theresa Randle), and she urges him to get out of the drug business. But a rival dealer, Lolly Jonas (Ernie Hudson), cuts into Roemello territory, there is a brutally violent turf war, and Roemello must decide whether to defend or abandon his livelihood. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Children's book author Meredith Cole (Christine Lahti) works out of her home. In fact, she does everything out of her home: she suffers from acute and debilitating agoraphobia. Recently separated from her husband, Meredith advertises for a boarder; soon afterward, Jane Caswell (Jennifer Rubin) arrives at her doorstep. Later on, Pete (Dylan McDermott), claiming to be Jane's brother, joins the household. When it becomes painfully clear that Pete and Jane are psychotic murderers, Meredith is too terrified to make a bid for escape, or even attempt to summon help. She finally comes out of her shell when the demented couple threaten the life of her young son (Thomas Ian Nicholas). Made for cable, The Fear Inside first aired August 9, 1992 over the Showtime Cable Network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set during the '30s, this made-for-television sudser tells the melodramatic tale of a beautiful Hollywood starlet who throws away her promising career for the love of a married man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi