Mark Jeffrey Miller

Three people attempt to bend justice for their own purposes in this drama based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham. After a man dies in a shooting incident, his wife files a lawsuit against the company that manufactured the gun, with her lawyer, Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), arguing that the firm in question knew the shop which sold the weapon was not following federal regulations pertaining to the sale of firearms. As the case goes to trial, the firearm manufacturer is taking no chances on the outcome of a potentially devastating case, and they hire as part of their legal team Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), a "jury consultant" who makes it his business to see that he knows enough about the jurors to be able to guarantee the result of the trial. Fitch and his team have learned incriminating secrets about nearly everyone hearing the evidence, but Fitch discovers two factors he wasn't counting upon -- Nick Easter (John Cusack), the jury member who appears to have an agenda all his own, and Marlee (Rachel Weisz), a mysterious woman who has her own plans regarding bending the jury to her will. Bruce Davison, Jeremy Piven, and Bruce McGill round out the supporting cast. Incidentally, in John Grisham's original book, the case was filed against a cigarette manufacturer, but the producers opted to adjust the story after several real-life trials against tobacco companies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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

This adaptation of the comic novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle is the story of real-life Corn Flakes inventor Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins), an eccentric health nut in the early 20th century. Convinced of the benefits of holistic health practices (mostly involving irrigation of the bowels and colon), Kellogg opens a spa in Battle Creek, Michigan that immediately attracts the well-to-do of his time, including Will (Matthew Broderick) and Eleanor Lightbody (Bridget Fonda). A young couple with sexual and marital problems, the Lightbodys aren't helped much by the forced separation of sexes at Kellogg's sanitarium, and the situation is further exacerbated by Will's obliging nurse (Traci Lind) and Eleanor's encounters with a group of German sex therapists. Also at the spa are Charles Ossining (John Cusack), an ambitious con man who sees a fortune in Kellogg's cereal, and the unwashed, cretinous George Kellogg (Dana Carvey), one of the doctor's several dozen adopted children. A spoof as obsessed as its protagonist with its scatological subject matter, The Road to Wellville was an unusual effort for director-composer Alan Parker, known better for darker dramatic material and musicals. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Based on a well-publicized 1991 Dallas murder case, the made-for-TV Death in Small Doses begins with the death of architect Nancy Lyon (Glynnis O'Connor), who has succumbed to arsenic poisoning. The prime suspect is Nancy's frequently estranged husband Richard (Richard Lyon), who stands to collect an enormous insurance policy. Nancy's family pressures the local authorities to prosecute Richard--and never mind that virtually every person in that family also seems to have had substantial reason to wish Nancy dead. But Richard plays a trump card when he supplies evidence indicating that his wife actually committed suicide--a move that proves to be a thrown gauntlet to relentless Assistant DA Jerri Sims (Tess Harper). Filmed in 1993, Death in Small Doses did not air on ABC until January 16, 1995. The film was directed by actress Sondra Locke, best known at the time for her long association with Clint Eastwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-TV gangster docudrama, Al Capone (Eric Roberts) wages war against his younger brother (Adrian Pasdar), a Midwestern sheriff. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

In this grim actioner, two city dudes head out for the country and find themselves involved in a feud when one of them falls in love with a country boy's gal. The jealous lover belongs to the murderous clan that runs the area and now the city boys, one of whom is a Vietnam vet, must team up or die. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ryan White was the teenaged hemophiliac who contacted AIDS through a blood transfusion, then was barred from attending school in Kokomo, Indiana. All but ostracized by the community, Ryan's mother (Judith Light) engages the services of a high-powered attorney (George C. Scott) to win back her son's basic rights. While the film ends with Ryan triumphing over his human adversaries, no effort is made to sugarcoat the situation. Even after he has been welcomed by another school, we see how the boy is shunned by certain students and their parents; nor is there any glossing over the fact that Ryan's days are numbered, despite the boy's enthusiastic plans for the time he has left (young White died shortly after this TV movie was first telecast in 1989). Despite its inherent sadness, The Ryan White Story is a celebration of an exceptional young human being whose short life touched so many others in a positive, uplifting manner. While Lukas Haas portrays the title character, the real Ryan White appears in the small role of Chad, another hemophiliac AIDS victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide