DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD (2003):
112 minutes
Like mother, like daughter: neither New York playwright Sidda Lee Walker nor her eccentric Louisiana mother Vivi will likely take steps to mend the rift between them. No, this is a job for the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
The Ya-Yas - sworn lifelong friends of Vivi - stage an unorthodox "intervention" to bring daughter and mother together in this warm adaptation of Rebecca Wells' bestsellers, written for the screen and directed by
Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise).
Sandra Bullock plays Sidda and leads a stellar cast: Ellen Burstyn,
Ashley Judd, James Garner, Fionnula Flanagan,
Shirley Knight,
Maggie Smith and more.
MURDER BY NUMBERS (2002):
116 minutes
The best by far of the new bunch of thrillers." - Time
"
Sandra Bullock has never been more original or affecting" (Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun) as Cassie Mayweather, a homicide detective confronting personal demons while following her instincts about the real killers in a Jane Doe murder case. The clues point one way - but the chain of evidence is too perfect.
Police procedure melds with escalating tension in this suspense thriller directed by
Barbet Schroeder (Single White Female). Ryan Gosling (The Believer) and Michael Pitt (Finding Forrester) chillingly play bored rich kids who plan and execute a perfect murder, then watch the police fall for every planted clue. They figure they've gotten away with it. What they don't figure right is Cassie Mayweather.
A TIME TO KILL (1996):
143 minutes
John Grisham's bestseller A Time to Kill hits the screen with incendiary force, directed by
Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, The Client).
Sandra Bullock,
Samuel L. Jackson,
Matthew McConaughey and
Kevin Spacey portray the principals in a murder trial that brings a small Mississippi town's racial tensions to the flashpoint. Amid a frenzy of activist marches, Klan terror, media clamor and brutal riots, an unseasoned but idealistic young attorney mounts a stirring courtroom battle for justice. The superb ensemble also includes Brenda Fricker, Oliver Platt, Charles S. Dutton,
Ashley Judd, Patrick McGoohan, Chris Cooper and both Donald and Kiefer Sutherland. These and other talents make A Time to Kill "one of the year's most powerful films" (Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Previews/ABC World News Now).