Don Wycherley Movies
Five American college students experience a particularly bad trip while vacationing in Ireland and partaking of the local hallucinogenic fungi in director Paddy Breathnach's tripped-out tale of sex, drugs, and slashers. Upon arriving in Ireland to go camping with their old college buddy Jake, Americans Tara, Troy, Holly, Bluto, and Lisa and their host eagerly set out into the wilderness in search of some magic mushrooms. As the trip starts to take hold and the group gathers around the campfire, Tara begins to wonder if she took too strong of a dose after Bluto goes missing, and she feels as if she's somehow witnessed his death. When other members of the group go missing as well, it begins to appear that someone is stalking the group and taking murderous advantage of their altered state. Could it be that this is just a simple case of hallucinogenic panic, or is there an element of truth to Jake's troubling stories of mutilated bodies and unsolved murders in the Irish countryside? The only way to be certain is for Tara to fight for her life and try to maintain her sanity until the morning sun rises and the reality returns. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lindsey Haun, Jack Huston, (more)
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joel Schumacher take on the real-life story of an assassinated Irish journalist in the dramatic thriller Veronica Guerin. Cate Blanchett appears as the title character, a relentless crime reporter for The Sunday Independent during the early '90s. Guerin's violent murder in 1996 led to a revision of Ireland's laws and the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau. The movie picks up with her pursuit of the underground drug trade in Dublin, which she suspects is led by mobster Martin "The General" Cahill (Gerry O'Brien). When Cahill's gang is attacked, she suspects mobster Gerry "The Monk" Hutch (Alan Devine) is responsible. Not deterred by threats or gunshot wounds, she uses thug John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) as an informer to help out her investigation of psychotic mobster John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley). Schumacher's protégé Colin Farell appears in a small role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, (more)
A little known chapter from the Mexican-American War is brought to the screen in this historical drama based on fact. In 1846, shortly before the United States turned its aggressions against Mexico into armed conflict, John Riley (Tom Berenger) and a group of U.S. soldiers crossed the border into Mexico to attend Mass. Riley and his fellow soldiers were Irish nationals who had come to the United States to escape the economic devastation of their homeland, brought on by the Potato Famine. Like many other Irish immigrants, Riley was promised citizenship in exchange for serving a tour of duty in the Army, but the Irish Catholics soon found themselves treated like second-class citizens in the largely Protestant American military. Riley and his men are severely punished for traveling into Mexico, and Riley decides he can no longer abide the United States Army and its treatment of his fellows. Riley engineers an escape from the stockade and the Irish troops travel into Mexico, a peaceful Catholic nation where they believe they will be welcomed. However, as Riley and his men march into the mountains of Mexico, they encounter guerilla leader Cortina (Joaquim de Almeida), who is naturally suspicious of soldiers in U.S. uniforms. The Irish soldiers are taken prisoner and Riley is wounded in the skirmish, but in time Cortina and Riley come to see each other as allies rather than enemies. Riley also falls in love with Marta (Daniela Romo), a Mexican patriot and Cortina's lover. In time, Riley and his men form The Saint Patrick's Battalion and become one of Mexico's most effective fighting units. Tom Berenger served as co-producer for One Man's Hero as well as playing Riley. The film was originally slated for release in the fall of 1998, but was shelved for a year after Orion, the studio which produced the film, was purchased by MGM, who eventually released it in Ireland in August, 1999, and the United States and Mexico later in the fall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Joaquim de Almeida, (more)
The rise and fall of one of the most important and controversial figures in Ireland's struggle for independence is chronicled in this biographical drama. In 1916, the British government ruled Ireland with a firm and cruel hand, as they had for 700 years. When a group of Irish rebels staged a six-day siege at Dublin's General Post Office, only one of the leaders was able to escape execution -- Eamon De Valera (Alan Rickman), an American citizen of Irish blood. A number of De Valera's followers are sent to prison, and one of them, Michael Collins (Liam Neeson), walked out of jail convinced that a new approach was needed to free his homeland from British rule. With his compatriot Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn), Collins formed the Irish Volunteers, who used a combination of terrorist violence and guerilla warfare to attack the British where their defenses were weakest, and employed espionage and a key inside informant (Stephen Rea) to learn what the British planned to do next -- and what they knew about Collins and his supporters. Collins' strategic skills and talent for warfare made a major impact on the British, and he became the hero of the new-born Republican Movement, which seemed to offer a real hope of freedom, despite the violent reprisals of the vicious paramilitary police, the Black and Tans. De Valera, however, was often in conflict with Collins in terms of the methods and approach of their struggle. Collins also found himself in a different sort of conflict with Boland when he fell in love with his girlfriend, a strong-willed advocate of Irish freedom named Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts). Eager to gain support for the Republican cause, De Valera sought economic and military support from the U.S.; when he returned, the Volunteers seemed to have finally won a real victory, as the British government announced that they were willing to formally negotiate with them. While Collins was once the radical and De Valera was the moderate, once negotiations began, Collins sought to end the violence that he saw killing so many young people and was willing to agree to a compromise that would create the Irish Free State. While the agreement would still leave final political control with the British, it would bring a greater self-determination to Ireland, and Collins believed that it was a crucial first step that could lead, in time, to true freedom for his people. De Valera, however, was strongly opposed to the treaty with Britian, and this led to violence among pro- and anti-treaty factions; soon Ireland's most loved leader was now branded a traitor by many of his countrymen. Michael Collins was voted Best Picture at the 1996 Venice Film Festival, and Liam Neeson was awarded the prize for Best Actor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, (more)
