Mary Reilly - Released in 1996 - Starring Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, George Cole

Released in 1996, Mary Reilly is based on the novel of the same name by Valerie Martin. The book is also loosely based on and inspired by the Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. As in the novel, the movie follows the story of a simple house maid played by Julia Roberts, and her attraction and revulsion of her Master, Dr. Jekyll, played by John Malkovich. Directed by Stephen Frears and written by Christopher Hampton, the movie has brought back together the same team well known for the Oscar winning movie Dangerous Liaisons. The other actors in the movie include Glenn Close, George Cole, and Michael Gambon among others.
The movie begins with the blossoming friendship of Dr. Jekyll (John Malkovich) and his servant, Mary (Julia Roberts). But when Dr. Jekyll announces that he has hired an assistant, the entire house is abuzz with confusion and speculation. Days go by, and the staff, Mary included try to fathom the mystery of Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll’s new assistant. A little more Goth and sinister twists are added, when Mary is asked by Dr. Jekyll to deliver a letter to Mrs. Farraday at the whorehouse. She is to let a room for Mr. Hyde.
Mary like the rest of the staff is curious as to Mr. Hyde’s habits. And one day she follows him into Dr. Jekyll’s lab, where she sees him handing over a cheque for blood money. However, in an attempt to escape so as to go unnoticed she hides in the lab, only to find the exit locked. When Hyde discovers her he merely smiles at her and hands her the key.
The following day, when a hurt Dr. Jekyll sends her to Mrs. Farraday with yet another letter, Mrs Farraday is furious. She shows Mary the room she had let to Mr. Hyde. It is covered with blood everywhere including the ceiling. She returns to Dr. Jekyll with a blood stained handkerchief of his from Mrs. Farraday and a message from the madam demanding that Dr. Jekyll do whatever is necessary to cover up the matter.




Mary finally meets the enigmatic yet mysterious Mr. Hyde and realizes she is drawn to his passionate side. Jekyll asks Mary to go on an errand with Hyde, where they get talking and get to know each other. Hyde taunts her by telling her that Jekyll finds her very attractive. Over time they get to know each other.
One day Mrs. Farraday comes over to meet Jekyll and demands more money from him in order to continue maintaining her secret. The argument between the two continues and Mary who has overheard the conversation steers clear of it by heading to the garden to water the flowers. However, she notices the light in the lab go out. And when she goes to investigate, all she sees is a pool of blood on the lab table. However, she does not see Hyde who is hiding after having committed the murder of Mrs Farraday.
A little while later Mary receives news that her mother has passed away. And she heads out to make arrangements. However, she is grabbed by Hyde who was hiding in an alley after being chased by the police. When she returns to the house, she is questioned by the police in the matter of the death of Member of Parliament, Sir Carew, who incidentally also happened to be a school friend of Dr. Jekyll. She tells them nothing. But the police are suspicious especially with so many deaths surrounding Dr. Jekyll.
However, later Dr. Jekyll tells Mary she should not have covered for Hyde and that he is removing Hyde from his employment. But Mary is stunned to find Hyde the next morning in Jekyll’s bed, especially since he had been dismissed. She tries to raise an alarm, but is stopped by Hyde who then reveals that Jekyll and he is one and the same person. And that Jekyll turned into Hyde every time he would take a serum for his depression. In order to return to Dr. Jekyll, Hyde would inject himself with the antidote.
Hyde makes his advances on Mary wishing to make love to her. However, a very shocked and stunned Mary then demands to leave. She returns to the kitchen contemplating what to do next when Dr. Jekyll enters and demands that another assistant take a sample of the serum to the lab to have it analyzed and also to have certain changes made in it successfully. However, the assistant returns with no success on the matter. In the meantime, Mary decides to leave the establishment. She packs her things and on her way out decides to stop by the lab.
However, when she enters, she is attacked by Hyde. But he doesn’t kill her. Instead he injects himself with the antidote. She witnesses how Hyde transforms back into Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll tells her that Hyde had added a poison to the antidote, and dies in her arms. The last shot of the movie focuses on Jekyll the next morning, who though was dead, has transformed into Hyde and is awake and smiling.
The movie has a dark, gloomy feel to it. It draws it viewers to the gothic, frightening world which was captured in the writings of Valerie Martin. While it is loyal to the original, it is in many ways better than Robert Louis Stevenson’s version, mainly because it does not focus of Dr. Jekyll turning into some sort of “Wolfman”. Neither does it focus of theatrics. What it does successfully achieve is the belief of something evil, and one woman’s psychology of finding both good and evil in one man.
All the performances are restrained. Julia Roberts doesn’t have many dialogues but successfully portrays a woman who is naïve and innocent yet comes from a tormented past. John Malkovich portrays Hyde and Jekyll with not much difference excepting the presence and lack of facial hair as Jekyll and Hyde respectively. The sets are vast, magnificent yet overbearing all at once. But overall, Frears has successfully accomplished what he had set out to achieve, and that is trying to create a film which is visually appealing and free from stereotypical clichés of present day horror movies.

Michael Collins (Released in 1996) - Starring Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Julia Roberts

A historical biopic which was released in 1996, Michael Collins is based on the life and war efforts of the Irish Patriot and revolutionary, Michael Collins. Directed by Neil Jordan, the movie offers viewers a glimpse into the Irish Republican Army’s fight against the British Empire. The star cast includes Liam Neeson, who plays a very convincing Michael Collins, Aidan Quinn as Harry Boland (Michael’s closest friend and compatriot), Julia Roberts as Kitty Kiernan, the love interest of both Michael and Harry, Ian Hart as Joe O’Reilly and Alan Rickman, as Eamon de Valera, among others.
The movie opens in 1922, with Kitty Kiernan mourning the death of Michael Collins, and Joe O’Reilly attempting to console her. From there it flashes back to 1916, when Collins and his compatriots were captured by the British Army. The movie portrays Collins’ foresight and innovation as a leader, especially when he is shown to be telling Boland that next time they would not play by the British rules, but rather make up their own. The movie shows how Collins recognized the need for guerilla warfare and the pointlessness of conventional attacks.
However, de Valera strongly opposes his tactics and supports the conventional rules of fighting with the British. After Collins’ release from an internment camp, he is conducting a rally when it is attacked and he is injured. His friend Boland rescues him and together they hide out and recoup at a friend’s farm. That is where they meet the pretty Kitty, who begins a romance with Boland.




Their struggles continue, and soon Collins receives a tip that the British are going to arrest de Valera and the Cabinet. De Valera has other ideas which do not include going into hiding. He believes that if they are arrested there would be a huge outcry from the public, demanding their release. The Cabinet is arrested, but Boland and Collins manage to escape. However, de Valera sees it as a threat when he realizes that in spite of being arrested, there was no protest from the public, all because Collins was not imprisoned.
After Collins and Boland break Valera out of prison, he insists on meeting with Woodrow Wilson in US so as to seek recognition, and asserts that Boland should travel with him. Once Valera leaves for the United States, Collins is left in charge and he orders the IRA to carry out various surprise attacks, which put the IRA at an advantage. However, when Valera returns, he insists they go back to conventional formal military attacks. Collins advises him against it, but not heeding Collins advice, Valera goes ahead with an attack on The Custom House, which fails badly, with many IRA members killed and captured.
Worried that the IRA are on their last leg, Collins is surprised when the British call a cease fire. Valera then orders Collins to go as a negotiator to England, knowing fully that Collins is not one. And when Collins returns after having signed an Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) Valera is enraged that he was not told of the terms of the Treaty before it was signed. Collins argues for the treaty, while Valera and his supporters are staunchly against it. Both the sides try hard to sway the Irish public in their favour.
When anti-Treaty Republicans attack Collins, he barely manages to escape. In the aftermath, he further solidifies his already blooming relationship with Kitty, who throughout the movie is shown to be torn between the two men. Collins asks her to marry him and she accepts. Finally the Irish people vote to approve the Treaty. However, Valera refuses to accept this and orders the IRA to fight against its former comrades. Collins who is now Chief of Staff of the National Army hates that he has to stand up against his fellow compatriots all because of Valera.
But the Treaty had been signed, and as a result, the Irish Free State Army is given an ultimatum to deal with IRA, or else the British Army will. Despite Collins attempts to capture his long standing friend and compatriot Boland, he gets killed while trying to escape. Distraught by his friend’s death, Collins tries to reach out to Valera to try and arrange a peace treaty. However, without the knowledge of de Valera, an arbitrator informs Collins that Valera is willing to meet. Collins walks right into a set up where he is killed. The film ends with Collins’ funeral.
While the movie shows Collins in a heroic light, it is de Valera’s character which is portrayed in a rather weak light. It may be true that he was responsible for some of the tragic events that took place, but to cast him as an enemy of the Irish state on equal footing with the British is a tad too controversial. However, overall, the movie and its focus on Collins throw some light on the Irish struggle. The movie also argues that if Collins had not died he might have succeeded in uniting Ireland and saving many lives.
The only area the movie falls short of expectations is the romantic angle or rather triangle between Collins, Kitty and Boland. The romantic scenes only serve as a break from the movie and not much else. But on the whole, the movie is well made, and worth a watch, especially to understand the heroism of Collins and his struggle for a united, liberated Ireland.

Daylight (Released in 1996) - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen

In Daylight, Sylvester Stallone plays the role of Kit Latura, a limo driver, who, in the past, was Chief of NYC Emergency Medical Services, but resigned after a bitter experience. The movie opens to a discourse between two men, one an employee of a waste management company with tons of toxic waste to eliminate, and the other an employee of the transport company illegally dumping the waste.
The lives of many commuters and people in the city is shown in a brief montage - including struggling playwright Madelyne ‘Maddy’ Thompson (Amy Brenneman), whose professional as well as personal life is at an all time low; her love life is in shambles as her lover is a married man who isn’t able to sever ties with his wife. The men transporting the waste are ordered to travel through a tunnel under the Hudson River, as the bridge is jammed up to Westchester. Elsewhere in upstate New York, Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen) a famous ad man and model for sport related commercials for the company Territory Beyond, is discussing strategies to maximize sales.
A truck ferrying prisoners also sets out to travel in the tunnel, and to add to the list of offenders is a gang of street robbers making their getaway in a black Cadillac after robbing a man of diamonds. Kit Latura has picked up his passengers and heads for the tunnel as well. The police catch wind of the chase, and are hot on the robbers trail, when the Cadillac spins out of control and crashes into the vehicle carrying the toxic waste, which is highly inflammable - chaos ensues as car upon car crashes.




The tunnel is now a powder keg and explodes - the fire spreads through the large concrete crevasse, destroying cars and damaging the entrance of the tunnel which caves in; the tunnel administrators advise Kit (one of whom is an acquaintance) that they have to plan their moves carefully. The ventilation system is kaput and now smoke starts to fill the tunnel, disrupting visibility and breathing, the New Jersey side of the tunnel has completely collapsed.
Kit tells the rescue workers that they have to blow the tunnel shut, this is the way  based on a drill he was part of two years earlier; the only way they can control the fire and stop it from spreading is if part of the tunnel’s roof is deliberately blown up to seal the fire within. But the new Chief Dennis Wilson (Mark Rolston) of the EMS mocks Kit’s efforts to help, and would rather go mid river , where a service corridor exists.
Kit implores Frank Craft (Dan Hedaya) to tell Wilson otherwise; Frank is doubtful as he lost his brother on Kit’s watch the previous year. Meanwhile Nord comes to his senses and realizes he is trapped in the car, when he comes out, a group of people and Nord decide that the only way they can escape is if they use the service corridor mid-river. Kit tells them this isn’t  a wise decision especially as the corridor may cave in; Nord moves on regardless and is killed. Does Kit manage to save the rest of the people, or what ?
Although critics trashed the disaster thriller Rob Cohen directed 1996 film, yet, it has managed to have quite a cult following worldwide and has been an audience favourite.

Film - The Rock - Starring Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris (released in 1996)

Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are famous in the film making world, known for the action and fast paced movies that they make. This post is about a movie that they made a fairly long time back, a movie that is still popular on its re-runs, and which made a fairly large amount of money. Nowadays, movies can make upwards of a billion dollars, and Michael Bay has directed the Transformer series, the return of which exceed 2 billion dollars, but this was in 1996, and for a movie to make the $335 million that The Rock made was a big amount. The movie also won praise from critics, something that Bay's later movies have not got.
The movie had some interesting moments, with there being disputes regarding the credits for writing the movie, and even some tension between Michael Bay and the studio executives (Walt Disney Studio). And for an interesting moment, when there is a scene in the film where the character played by Sean Connery throws off the FBI Director from the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, and he dangles from the edge of the hotel; the shooting led to calls to the hotel from concerned bystanders who could see a person hanging from the edge of the building. The movie shows a lot of the Alcatraz Island, located in San Francisco Bay area, close to the Golden Gate Bridge, almost like an advertisement for people to come and visit it.




The movie takes the line of a crisis situation, where the experts are not available, and suddenly, you have to depend on somebody else to help resolve the situation. In the movie, a group of rogue marines (Recon Marines) led by a disenchanted leader, Brigadier General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris), plan a situation where they will force the Government into a crisis situation. He is very disenchanted with the Government ignoring the marines and other soldiers who have done so much for the country, but have been ignored, and in their deaths, their families have been ignored. So, he plans to force the situation. He and his men capture a very dangerous weapon, multiple sets of VX gas–armed M55 rockets, force their way into Alcatraz Island, and capture the tourists visiting that place. They set up the rockets, and then threaten the Government that unless the Government pays them $100 million (which will be distributed to his men and to others who died in situations which the Government will not acknowledge). This sets up a crisis situation, pulling in the military and the FBI.
The first rush of any Government in such a situation is to send in forces to end this kind of situation, but there is some complexity. They need somebody who is an expert in such weapons, which pushes in Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage), who did not expect that he would need to go with them, but is informed that he will also be going in with the team. The bigger problem is about getting inside the island undetected, which has to be an underwater mission, utilizing the inner network of the island. There is only such person, a high security prisoner who once broke out of the Alcatraz jail, John Mason (Sean Connery). Mason is in prison for a long time, without any record of his detention, his main crime being that he learnt too many secrets that the Government will not want to disclose. But he is important for the mission, and hence he needs to be let out of the jail, showing an interesting chase sequence through the hilly roads of San Francisco, with Stanley chasing after Mason.
So they finally enter the former prison, and Mason is able to guide them inside. However, there are preventive measures that the FBI and military did not know about, and the skilled squad is detected and forced into a fire-fight, where they are all killed at the hands of the rogue soldiers. Who is left ? Mason and Stanley. Mason has not interest in all this, and wants to leave, with Stanley urging him to stay on and help to complete the mission. There is an alternative mechanism also being put in place, by bombing the entire island with special explosives that will destroy the chemical weapon but also kill all the tourists who have been detailed on the island. It's a fast paced movie, and well worth watching.