Flick of the Day

Film: THE PELICAN BRIEF

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Actors: Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard, John Heard, Stanley Tucci, Tony Goldwyn, John Lithgow, Hume Cronyn

Year: 1993

Synopsis: A young law student uncovers a government conspiracy and asks a reporter to help her expose it.

One of the best John Grisham novels and subsequent films. Julia Roberts plays Darby Shaw, a student who stumbles upon a government cover-up. Her professor is murdered and her life is threatened and so she goes into hiding. She contacts Denzel Washington, a famous reporter and together they go on a mission to expose the corporation involved. Roberts, who was early in her career at the time, shines and really proved that she could do all kinds of roles. Denzel, as always, was spectacular and worked well off of Roberts (the two have been friends ever since).

Brit of the Week

Bill Nighy (Dec. 12, 1949) was born in Surrey to a Scottish mother and English/Irish father. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting. He began his career in the theater, doing plays like 'Illuminatus'. He starred in many radio and television dramas, but really made his mark in 1991's "The Men's Room". He had some success in films like "Still Crazy" and "People Like Us", but it was 2003's "Underworld" which put him on the acting map. Since then he has starred in films like "Shawn of the Dead", "Love Actually" (for which he won the Best Supporting BAFTA award), "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1". Next up for him, "Wrath of the Titans" (with Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, and "Ralph Fiennes) and "Jack the Giant Killer" (with Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci).