A Time to Kill / The Pelican Brief / The Client (Blu-ray) R

THE CLIENT: In this taut legal drama a trailer park kid witnesses the suicide of a mob lawyer and is pursued by authorities trying to find out if he knows anything. In an attempt to protect himself, the 11 year-old hires a feisty female attorney who takes up his case and develops a bond with him. Based on the novel by John Grisham. Academy Award Nominations: Best Actress--Susan Sarandon.

PELICAN BRIEF: Julia Roberts (ERIN BROCKOVICH) stars in THE PELICAN BRIEF as sharp law student Darby Shaw whose querying mind gets her into trouble. A faithful adaptation of John Grisham's (THE FIRM) best-selling novel, this taut thriller follows the travails that beset Shaw when her theory on the cause of the deaths of two Supreme Court Justices lands her name on the conspirators' hit list. When Shaw teams up with reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington--THE HURRICANE) they find themselves dodging deadly assassins in a suspenseful story that weaves complex narrative strands. The well-cast film also features a cameo by playwright-actor Sam Shepard (TRUE WEST).

A TIME TO KILL: In a small southern town in the 1960s, a black man awaits trial for murdering the two rednecks who viciously raped his 10-year-old daughter. A young, idealistic white lawyer takes up the father's defense, and the incendiary case becomes a firestorm of racism and controversy, ripping the town apart. Based on John Grisham's bestselling first novel.