Leslie Silva

Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Four friends struggle to find themselves in the decade that brought us disco, platform shoes, and those smiley-face buttons in this miniseries, which first aired in April of 2000 on NBC. Byron Shaw (Brad Rowe), his girlfriend Eileen (Vinessa Shaw), and his sister Christie (Amy Smart) are all at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen open fire on students protesting the war in Vietnam, leaving four people dead. Byron's high-school buddy Dexter Johnson (Guy Torry) is also there -- but as a Guardsman rather than a student. Dexter quits the Guard in disgust and moves to Watts, where he opens a movie theater and becomes a key figure in the Black Power movement. Byron quits law school and takes a job with Richard Nixon's re-election campaign -- just as the Watergate scandal begins to break, Byron becomes an informant to the Justice Department and is nearly killed by a sniper. Eileen embraces the feminist movement and later seeks a career in the advertising industry, where she discovers that women's rights have not advanced terribly far. And Christie becomes a successful model, but fame and fortune do not bring her happiness as she's lured into a religious cult known as "The Path." The 70's soundtrack is loaded with period-appropriate hits, including classic tunes by Stevie Wonder, Jefferson Starship, Marvin Gaye, and Three Dog Night. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, originally telecast as a two-hour special, has since been edited into two hour-long installments for syndication. In part two, the homicide unit has been ordered to concentrate exclusively on the murders of a priest and monsignor. Bayliss (Kyle Secor) poses as a cleric in hopes of flushing out the killers, who may or may not be a pair of missing Guatemalan refugees. And in other developments, the missing Lewis (Clark Johnson) finally resurfaces with an unusual request for Falsone (Jon Seda), Gharty (Peter Gerety) "loses it" while interrogating a suspect, and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) gets involved in a drunken brawl. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide