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Winona Ryder
Star Chart
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Title:
A Scanner Darkly (WS)
Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder,
Jr. Robert Downey, Woody Harrelson
Summary:
'What does a scanner see? Into the head? Into the heart?' From the novel
by Philip K. Dick - the sci-fi legend whose works-to-film include 'Blade
Runner', 'Total Recall' and 'Minority Report' - comes 'A Scanner
Darkly', brought to the screen by filmmaker Richard Linklater with an
edgy graphic-novel look.
The time: just beyond now. The place: suburbia. The story: a twisted,
funny tale of people hooked on Substance D. And of a government that
cheerfully destroys its citizens - their rights, their relationships -
in order to save them. Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder
and Rory Cochrane play strung-out friends terrified of each other and of
spies, Keanu Reeves plays a spy who's also one of the friends...until
his two personalities begin to split. Enjoy the paranoia. Nobody's
watching you. Really.
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Title: |
Girl,
Interrupted (WS) |
|
Stars: |
Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie,
Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss |
Summary:
 Based
on Susanna Kaysen's acclaimed journal-memoir, Girl, Interrupted bears
inevitable resemblance to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and pale
comparison to that earlier classic is impossible to avoid. The mental
institution settings of both films guarantee a certain degree of déjà vu
and at least one Oscar winner (in this case, Angelina Jolie), since
playing a loony is any actor's dream gig... It's easy to see why Winona Ryder chose to star in (and
executive-produce) this nearly worthy adaptation of Kaysen's book, since
it's a strong vehicle for female casting and potent drama. Mangold
certainly got the former; whether he succeeded with the latter is not so
clear. To be sure, Ryder conveys the confusion and chaos that signified
Kaysen's life during nearly 18 months of voluntary institutionalization
beginning in 1967. But the film seems too eager to embrace the cliché
that the "crazies" of the Claymoore women's ward are saner than the
war-torn world outside, and lack of narrative focus gives way to
semipredictable character study. Susanna (Ryder) is labeled with
"borderline personality disorder," a diagnosis as ambiguous as her own
emotions, and while Jolie chews the scenery as the resident bad-girl
sociopath, Ryder effectively conveys an odyssey from vulnerable fear to
self-awareness and, finally, to healing. The ensemble cast is uniformly
superb, making this drama well worthwhile, even as it treads familiar
territory. If it ultimately lacks dramatic impact, Girl, Interrupted
makes it painfully clear that the boundaries of dysfunction are hazy in
a world where everyone's crazy once in a while.
--Jeff Shannon
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Title: |
Edward Scissorhands
(Widescreen Anniversary Edition) |
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Stars: |
Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder,
Dianne Wiest |
Summary:
Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the
delicate flavour of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The
story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by
an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he
could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone
in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a
pastel-coloured suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated
housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the
local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites
him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty
complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp
fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make
him popular in the neighbourhood--but the mood turns just as swiftly
against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires,
particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim
Burton's movies (such as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice and
Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy but Edward
Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild
black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character
represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option.
Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures
Edward's child-like vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes
horror icons like the vampire in Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a
deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly,
Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare. --Bret Fetzer On the DVD: Tim
Burton is famed for his visual style not his ability as a raconteur, so
it's no surprise to find that his directorial commentary is a little
sparse. When he does open up it is to confirm that Edward Scissorhands
remains his most personal and deeply felt project. The second audio
commentary is by composer and regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman,
whose enchanting, balletic score gets an isolated music track all to
itself with his remarks in-between cues. Again, for Elfman this movie
remains one of his most cherished works, and it is a real musical treat
to hear the entire score uninterrupted by dialogue and sound effects but
illuminated by Elfman's lucid interstitial remarks. Also on the disc are
some brief interview clips, a "making of" featurette and a gallery of
conceptual artwork. The anamorphic widescreen print looks simply
gorgeous. --Mark Walker
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Director: |
Michael Lehmann |
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Stars: |
Jeremy Applegate, Mark
Bringelson, Mark Carlton, Bill Cort, Shannen Doherty |
Summary:
This dark comedy from 1989 was a good showcase for Winona Ryder, playing
a high school girl brought into a clique of bitchy classmates (all named
Heather), and Christian Slater, doing his early Jack Nicholson thing.
While Ryder's character mulls over the consequences of giving up one set
of friends for another, her association with a new boy (Slater) in
school turns out to have deadly consequences. Director Michael Lehmann
turned this unusual film into something more than another teen-death
flick. There is real wit and sharp satire afoot, and the very fusion of
horror and comedy is provocative in itself. Heathers remains a kind of
benchmark in contemporary cinema for bringing surreal intelligence into
Hollywood films. --Tom Keogh
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Title: |
Beetlejuice
(WS/Full Screen) |
|
Stars: |
Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Annie
McEnroe, Maurice Page, Hugo Stanger |
Summary:
Before making Batman, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton teamed
up for this popular black comedy about a young couple (Geena Davis and
Alec Baldwin) whose premature death leads them to a series of wildly
bizarre afterlife exploits. As ghosts in their own New England home,
they're faced with the challenge of scaring off the pretentious new
owners (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones), whose daughter (Winona
Ryder) has an affinity for all things morbid. Keaton plays the
mischievous Beetlejuice, a freelance "bio-exorcist" who's got an evil
agenda behind his plot to help the young undead newlyweds. The film is a
perfect vehicle for Burton's visual style and twisted imagination, with
clever ideas and gags packed into every scene. Beetlejuice is also a
showcase for Keaton, who tackles his title role with maniacal relish and
a dark edge of menace. --Jeff Shannon
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