Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

GazerRise Fantastic!

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

view_and_review When a ten-year-old African American girl is beaten and raped by two white men in Mississippi her father, Carl Lee (Samuel Jackson), decides to take matters in his own hands. There's no doubt he killed the attackers but now he is facing murder charges and there is little hope he can get a fair trial in Mississippi.This movie is soooo difficult to watch. That's why it's been 20+ years since my last viewing. It is such a jarring film it evokes too many negative emotions yet it still brings about a sense of hope.The all-star cast was superb. It's funny because I completely forgot about who all was in it: the likes of Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Ashley Judd, and Sandra Bullock--even Octavia Spencer had a small role.This type of movie is a difficult one to tackle due to its sensitive nature yet I think Grisham and Joel Schumacher did an excellent job. It is riveting, it is upsetting but it is by no means far-fetched. Grisham could easily have taken this entire trial right out of a Mississippi history book and not have changed a thing. This was a bold movie that should have been made and I'm pleased that it was.

Alyssa Black (Aly200) From bestselling author John Grisham comes this taut and suspenseful thriller about an African-American man on trial for killing his ten year old daughter's rapists and the crisis of faith his inexperienced Caucasian lawyer must deal with as he fights for his client's life.With an all star cast, the charge is lead by Matthew McConaughey as the inexperienced Jake Brigance, a protégé of a famed but since disbarred legal figure in his community. McConaughey's Jake is naïve, arrogant and eager for his chance to participate in a murder trial to prove his metal. However each encounter with his client, Carl Lee Haley (a perfectly cast Samuel L. Jackson), chips away at Jake's foolish ideals as he must grow from a wannabe bigwig to a man humbled by what he uncovers as the trial when Jake realizes that a similar experience could befall his own young daughter. Jake even contends with the temptation of unfaithfulness by the allure of Sandra Bullock's intelligent Ellen Roark, but as Jake begins to find where his truths lie he finds himself unable to forfeit his marriage as he sees how much he really cares for the people around him. The momentous breakthrough has to be the final summation that Brigance gives to the jury as he describes the torment that Tonya Haley endured (watching McConaughey try to resist an emotional breakdown as he delivers the address is one of the most intense) and asks the all-white jury to imagine if Tonya were the same race.The performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd also rise to occasion especially for Jackson's Carl Lee as he embodies any father who would want to avenge a horrid wrong done to his child. It's Carl who humbles his naïve attorney and forces him to see the differences between the two of them; Jake being a privileged white attorney who can easily get sympathy while Carl is a black machine worker that killed two white men which Carl knows (and Jake soon realizes) is what could end up costing him his freedom or life. Bullock as Ellen Roark is used sparingly, but she becomes a vital member of Jake's legal arsenal as Ellen's vast knowledge helps educate Jake in how he proceeds with his defense of Carl Lee. Ellen also provides a solace for Jake when his marriage becomes rocky due to his decision to defend Carl leads to numerous attempts to harm them, but in the end Ellen knows that Jake won't risk his family to be with as her near-death experience reminds him of the human frailty in the world. And to briefly touch on Ashley Judd as the put-upon Mrs. Brigance, she brings a real depth to her performance as the actress balances between a woman who respects her husband's profession, but is afraid of the public repercussions though she ultimately sticks by her husband in a touching scene.Grisham himself praised the film's faithfulness to his novel and the strong casting. Critics also praised the film's handling of such controversial subjects though many were still unsettled by the material. Do keep some tissues handy cause you may need them.

sinisterene This movie is the film adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill. Some would (inevitably) argue that the book is better but I won't because both are pretty bad. I will make the case for the film being better merely because the acting had more emotion than the novel.According to Wikipedia "The inspiration came from the case of the rape and assault of 12 year old Marcie Scott and her 16 year old sister Julie Scott. Unlike Grisham's depiction, however, the Scotts were white and their assailant, Willie Harris, was black." which is hilarious when you consider the defense's closing argument "now imagine she's white."Only in the realm of fiction could the plot of this movie happen.There's an iconic scene by Samuel Jackson so I'll give it 2 stars.

tieman64 "In conditions where everything is stacked against the majority, 'playing fair' amounts to accepting a position of disadvantage. In fighting for fairness, one doesn't have 'play fair'. It's the classic problem of Liberals - taking the moral high ground and leaving it at that. Power doesn't play by those rules. If you are looking to change the rules, why start by abiding by them?" - Mark Fisher Based on a novel by John Grisham, and directed by Joel Schumacher, "A Time to Kill" opens with a pair of stereotypical racists driving a pick-up truck into a poor African-American neighbourhood. The duo then assault and rape a young African-American girl. Later the girl's father, Carl Lee (Samuel L Jackson), shoots the culprits dead on the steps of a courthouse. These murders are justifiable, Lee's attorney (Matthew McConaughey) argues, because "the law is racist", would have pardoned the killers and would not have delivered justice to a black father. As a representative from the NAACP says, "Carl Lee's freeing for the killing of two white men would do more for black people in this land than anything since civil-rights integration." On one hand, "A Time to Kill" is your typical Liberal Deep South Lawyer Movie. Our heroes are righteous, upstanding and stand up for marginalised black folk. On the other hand, the film argues passionately for vigilantism (a trait usually associated with "conservative" films). For Grisham, vigilantism is fine when executed by the oppressed. Encapsulating these themes are the film's opening and closing sequences; Schumacher opens with racists spitting in the face of an African-American man and ends with an African-American woman spitting in the face of a white racist. What was once condemned, is finally embraced."A Time to Kill's" philosophical gymnastics and racial inversions are interesting. But they don't make up for the rest of Schumacher's picture. This is ultimately a cartoonish portrait of the Deep South. And like most films "about racism", "A Time to Kill" trades entirely in racial caricatures, with its goofy, "churchgoing black folk", "gospel choirs" and "mad rednecks". Sandra Bullock co-stars as a law student who exists only to get lynched on a tree and prove McConaughey's fidelity to his wife (Ashley Judd).7/10 – Worth one viewing.