A Few Good Men
STARRING: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon
In this 1992 film directed by Rob Reiner, a Navy lawyer played by Tom Cruise defends two Marines who have been accused of murdering a colleague on base. Jack Nicholson, in a role he was born to play, plays the young Marines commanding Officer at the time of the murder. A movie chalked full of outstanding individual actors, often forgotten are the other performances of the supporting cast including Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Cuba Gooding Jr., Noah Wyle and Christopher Guest. A strong storyline with thoughtful courtroom scenes - this film is complete class from beginning to end.
A Time To Kill
STARRING: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel Jackson, Kevin Spacey
You could make a case for any number of John Grisham works on this Courtroom movie list, but we say this was his best book-to-screenplay adaptation. A Grisham novel with an all-world cast like this - surely all they had to do was roll the tape and get out of the way. But the film is lifted by Jackson’s brilliant rendition of aggrieved father and the racial tensions involved with the storyline. A chilling, thought-provoking, hard-hitting piece that's taut, absorbing, and impeccably well-paced.
Erin Brockovich
STARRING: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
In 2000, Julia Roberts did an Academy Award-winning turn as the real-life paralegal and sassy single mom whose dogged investigation into a suspicious real estate case turns up a pattern of illegal dumping of highly toxic hexa¬valent chromium and one of the heftiest class action suits in U.S. history. Steven Soderbergh's movie is exactly the uplift picture you've always hoped for. He does a fantastic job of providing an audience-delighting comedy-drama that makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you whoop and holler. Strong acting, moving script, important issues, and legitimate procedurals all feature in a film that’s scrupulously faithful to its true story. Worth seeing again, soon.
Primal Fear
STARRING: Richard Gere, Edward Norton
In Edward Norton’s 1996 big-screen debut we watch a star being born as he plays an altar boy accused of murdering a priest. Richard Gere, at his usual best slick self, plays the media-friendly arrogant lawyer very typical of his acting CV. The movie plot delivers one of the most memorable twists of the legal genre and stands up 13 years later as one of the best of its kind. A well crafted courtroom drama directed by Gregory Hoblit that is tremendously underrated.
Devil’s Advocate
STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron
Stylish, sexy, suspenseful thriller stars Reeves as a crackerjack southern lawyer who's never been beaten; he travels to New York City to take a job with powerful legal mogul Pacino, but his once ideal life is soon turned upside down as he's plunged into a surreal, demonic world of lust, temptation, and vanity. Big city law at its finest. Reeves gives an unusually good performance, quite probably his best as yet, but the real show stopper is of course Al Pacino, in what can only be called a terrifying performance of pure evil brilliance. Watchable for him alone.
Philadelphia
STARRING: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington
Tom Hanks, who would go on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his work here, stars as a lawyer in a top firm destined for greatness. Sadly for his character (but essential to the plot), he contracts AIDS and unsuccessfully tries to keep it a secret. Once discovered, the dastardly law firm he works for firm frames him for incompetence and sacks him. The rest of the movie follows Hanks and Denzel Washington’s wrongful dismissal suit against the baddies. As watchable today as it was in 1993, the poignant and evocative Philadelphia remains one of the best movies of its genre.
My Cousin Vinny
STARRING: Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Ralph Macchio
In an effort to get at least one light-hearted film on the list, we offer you 1992’s My Cousin Vinny, the best courtroom comedy of them all. Still Marisa Tomei’s best film (The Wrestler included) the entire cast possessed remarkable chemistry in the performances they gave, with a final product that excels way beyond the sum of its parts. More than your run-of-the-mill Hollywood comedy, there is also genuine pathos, real tension and drama on occasion. An exercise in good comic timing, the movie keeps building to a very satisfying ending with big laughs, a cute side-plot and even a little love mixed in without gratuitousness. Laugh out loud funny and recommended viewing.
SOURCE: IMDB | Wikipedia
