Tim Reid Movies

After his 13-year-old sister is abducted by sex traffickers, a determined Mexican teen travels from the barrios of Mexico City to a run-down stash house in New Jersey in a desperate attempt to rescue the frightened girl before she is swallowed whole by one of the criminal underworld's darkest secrets. Jorge's (Cesar Ramos) adolescent sister, Adriana (Paulina Gaitan), has been kidnapped and thrust into a lucrative underground trade in which young girls are bought and sold to the highest bidder. Now, as the terrified youngster is herded through a complex network of underground tunnels leading into the United States, her only ally is a Polish woman named Veronica (Alicja Bachleda), who has been tricked into the trade by the same nefarious gang. After circumventing immigration officers and eventually working his way across the border, the desperate Jorge comes into contact with a Texas lawman named Ray (Kevin Kline), whose own devastating personal loss to sex traffickers causes him to join the search for Adriana. In the dark days that follow, Jorge and Ray form a close bond as they witness the horrors of a secret Internet sex slave auction and discover just how far the depths of human depravity can plunge while attempting to maintain hope that brother and sister will one day be reunited. In the world of international sex trafficking, however, innocent victims disappear without a trace every day and few who fall prey to these reprehensible predators are ever seen again. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

After the death of his beloved wife, Helen (Lynne Moody), wealthy African-American suburbanite William Campbell (James Earl Jones) finds that Helen has left behind a "living will" in the form of a videotape. As William watches the video, his late wife urges him to take his huge personal library down to the tough inner-city neighborhood and to establish a reading room. Though confused by this request, William does exactly that, only to find that none of his new neighbors seem inclined to read -- not until he posts a sign reading FREE SODA. Ever so slowly, a few "regulars" trickle into the reading room, among them an idealistic young special-ed teacher (Joanna Cassidy), a high-schooler (Keith Robinson) studying for his SATS, and a little girl (Gabby Soleil) who hopes to get her mother to learn to read. For the most part, however, William's little sanctuary is the target of break-ins and the hangout for local gang members, and with this in mind it isn't surprising that several people encourage him to pack up and get out -- none more adamantly than the Reverend Rashid Rahim (played by George Stanford Brown, the film's director), a self-appointed urban activist who perceives in William a threat to his supremacy. Eventually, whether or not William stays or goes boils down to his attempt at "redeeming" a youthful thief named Javier (Douglas Spain) -- and it is at this point in the narrative that William finally understands why Helen wanted him to open up the reading room in the first place. Filmed with the endorsement of the National Center for Family Literacy, The Reading Room was produced for cable's Hallmark Channel, where it first aired on November 26, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Actor Tim Reid of the critically acclaimed series Frank's Place directs and stars in this hip-hop Pygmalian story. Reid plays Mac, an entertainment-industry mover and shaker who unexpectedly finds himself the guardian of a poor teenage girl named CeCe (Tamara Curry). Working against the odds, Mac attempts to shape CeCe into an urban pop star. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Actor-turned-director Tim Reid follows up the success of his 1996 opus Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored with this tense psychological thriller. The film opens with two upwardly mobile couples having a ball at a fairground. Chance (Blair Underwood) and his very pregnant wife Roberta happily board a Ferris wheel with their best friends Michael (Michael Beach) and his fashion designer wife Lauren (Debbi Morgan) when a freak accident strikes, and Roberta and the baby are killed. Michael and Lauren let Chance grieve at their luxurious abode. Soon Lauren reveals that she recently had a secret abortion because she did not know if the child was Michael's or Chance's. Grief-stricken and jealous, Chance starts stalking Lauren and doing everything in his power to wreck her marriage. This film was screened at the 1999 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In this provocative made-for-television family drama, Marybeth, a college co-ed finds herself forced to make a choice that will forever alter her life when she learns that her recently-deceased grandmother has chosen her to become the legal guardian of her mentally retarded mother. This crossroads comes shortly before Marybeth is to graduate. She knows that if she does indeed take custody of her mother Sarah, all her dreams will be as dust; however, the only other alternative is to send her mother to an institution where she may or may not receive proper care. In making her choice, Marybeth must spend time with her mother and in so doing finds herself finally coming to grips with some of her family's most painful secrets. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Actor Tim Reid (WKRP in Cincinnati) made his directorial debut with this filmed adaptation of Clifton L. Taulbert's autobiography. Set in an African-American community in the segregated South, Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored follows a young Taulbert through three decades, beginning with his birth in a cotton field in 1946. As he grows up, Taulbert is faced with the harsh realities of being black in the mid-20th century: first from the lessons of his great-grandfather (Al Freeman Jr.), later in his trips to the local segregated library, and finally in 1962, when a 16-year-old Taulbert watches as his community deals with a racist white business owner trying to run a local black ice man out of town. Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored was the recipient of the Audience Choice Award at the 1995 St. Louis International Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Coproduced by two cable-TV servies-The Family Channel and the Black Entertainment Network--Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad uses historical fact as background for a fictional adventure tale. Courtney Vance and Janet Bailey star as slaves on a brutal antebellum North Carolina plantation. Together with two other slaves, Vance and Bailey make a daring escape, travelling northward by means of the eponymous railroad. Though the film isn't as suspenseful as it should be, it provides a valuable educational service in detailing the history of the Underground Railroad, the people responsible for its maintenance, and its modus operandi. Race to Freedom was first telecast on the Family Channel February 19, 1994, in tandem with an encore presentation of Roots (1977). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Back in 1989, Immortal Walter Reinhardt (Christopher Ohrt) was killed during a struggle with Duncan (Adrian Paul). In the three years since, Reinhardt's mortal lover, Rebecca Lord (Vanity), has bitterly vowed to avenge her sweetheart's death. Convinced that Duncan, and Duncan alone, was responsible, Rebecca plots an elaborate demise for our hero -- one that also endangers Tessa (Alexandra Van Der Noot) and Richie (Stan Kirsch). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Fourth War finds director John Frankenheimer delving into the same Cold-war territory he'd previously cultivated in films like The Manchurian Candidate. Col. Jack Knowles (Roy Scheider), serving at a faraway post on the German-Czech border, carries on a personal war with his Soviet counterpart, Colonel Valachev (Jurgen Prochnow). Both have been hardened by past combat experiences, and both have been embittered by the exigencies of red tape, bureaucracy, and diplomatic deal-making. Their friendly rivalry snowballs (literally so!) into a guerilla-like combat situation, culminating in a one-on-one showdown. It's essentially a shaggy dog story, but a compelling one. Based on a novel by Stephen Peters, The Fourth War was given surprisingly short shrift by Cannon Films' distribution channels. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason represents a former student who is accused of murdering a singing star. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This is the fourth and final installment in an animated series that chronicles the further adventures of Dorothy in Oz. This time, she saves the Emerald City residents from the tyranny of the Gnome King. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This sequel to The Wizard of Oz (also based on a book by L. Frank Baum) is an animated adventure recounting the adventures in Oz immediately after Dorothy is whisked back home to Kansas. ~ John Bush, Rovi