WINONA RYDER
( CLICK HERE for MEMBERS version )
" Like , I'm nineteen . What am I supposed to do
, play a judge ? ! "
( When asked why is she always playing teenagers ,
during a press junket for Mermaids in 1990 . )
Born : 29 October 1971 , Winona, Minnesota , USA
Birth name : Winona Laura Horowitz
Nickname : Noni
Height : 5' 4" ( 1.63 m )
Biography :
Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz and named after her the town in which she was born, Winona Minnesota. She grew up in a ranch commune in Northern California where there was no electricity. She is the Goddaughter of Timothy Leary and her parents were friends of Beat poet 'Allen Ginsberg' and once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady" an anthology of writings on the drug experience in literature - this included one piece by Louisa May Alcott. Winona Ryder was later to star as Jo in this author's Little Women (1994). She moved with her parents to Petaluma (near San Francisco) when she was ten and enrolled in acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater. At 13 she had a video audition to the film Desert Bloom (1986), but didn't get the part. Director 'David Seltzer (I)' (qv), however, spotted her and cast her in Lucas (1986). When telephoned to ask how she'd like to have her name appear on the credits, she suggested Ryder as her father's Mitch Ryder album was playing the background. ................... MORE
The “What-Do-You-Like” Guide to Winona’s Films
by Don
A favorite of many of Winona’s fans is “Girl, Interrupted.” It is a serious drama about a girl’s difficulty adjusting to adolescence while spending time in a residential psychiatric facility in the 1960’s. Angelina Jolie co-starred and won best supporting actress for her performance.
Her sexiest performances are probably “Dracula” and “Boys.” “Dracula” is a favorite and seeing Winona “under the spell” is something to behold! “Boys” has a dreadful script, but it also has Winona in a black bra playing out every young boy’s fantasy.
If you like comedies, then you absolutely must see “Heathers” and “Beetlejuice.” These are both cult classics and a lot of fun to watch. Also, don't miss “Reality Bites” and “Mermaids,” both of which are comedies with a serious side to them, and are among her best movies.
If you like period dramas, try “Little Women” and “Age of Innocence,” for which Winona received Oscar nominations. “The Crucible” ostensibly falls into this genre, although it also has powerful allegorical significance as well.
If you like science-fiction then you’ll want to try “Alien Resurrection.” The movie is not based on the best script, but it is still a favorite among some of Winona’s fans. As part of the “Alien” series, it generally holds up well as an action flick.
If you like esoteric indie films, then you might want to try “Celebrity,” “Simone,” and "Looking for Richard." Winona has small parts in these films, but as usual she gives excellent performances.
FILMS
by Keene
With her latest two movies prior to Mr. Deeds performing poorly at the box office, people might have been wondering if it was all downhill from there. People like me were very curious to see how Mr. Deeds would perform, especially since being "the girl" in yet another Adam Sandler movie didn't exactly seem like compelling viewing. However, Mr. Deeds has been the biggest hit of Winona's career. Grossing well over $100,000,000 at the US box office. Whether or not Winona being in the news helped this movies profits I don't know, but it is a lot of fun to watch.
The plot of Mr. Deeds is that ultra nice guy Longfellow Deeds (Adam
Sandler) inherits $40 billion dollars. Winona Ryder plays Babe Bennett,
a journalist who goes undercover as an innocent small-town girl to get a
story on Deeds. You can pretty much figure out how the movie plays out
from here but you wouldn't go to see this movie because of the story.
There are some genuinely funny moments here which I wont spoil. (Though,
my favorite is the part where Deeds is talking on the internet about
Babe.) Plus, fans get to see Winona fighting another larger, woman.
by Jack Garner
Autumn in New York . . . .(is) certainly no classic, but I've seen dozens of far-worse films in other preview screenings. As old-fashioned, sentimental romances go, this well-played Kleenex saga is slightly above average. Think Love Story, but with a May-September twist and a new tag line: ''Love means never having to say . . . you're too old for me.''
Gere is convincing as the film's silver fox. But, thankfully, he allows the script to skewer the age issue repeatedly. He starts as a familiar character we've seen in several of his films over the last decade, but he eventually moves convincingly into uncharted emotional territory. As Charlotte, Ryder moves plausibly from her early star-struck attraction for Will to a more mature approach to a difficult relationship.
Autumn in New York marks actress-turned-director Joan Chen's first foray into Hollywood filmmaking. She made her directorial debut last year with the far-different Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl, made in China. Her choice here is to film Autumn with modest, realistic style, favoring the slightly grainy cinematography of Changwei Gu over the ultra-polished approach some other filmmakers might have employed. Good idea. More sheen might have turned the film's sentiment into sap.
by Jay Carr, Boston Globe
"Kaminski brings all the visual oomph one could ask for, but not enough narrative spine, momentum, or substance."
by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"For a thriller about demonic possession and the birth of the antichrist, it's curiously flat."
by Keene
This
drama based on the memoirs of Susana Kaysen (Winona Ryder), a seventeen
year old girl who attempts suicide. She is diagnosed with
"borderline personality disorder" after a very quick interview
with a psychiatrist and put into Claymoore, a mental institution. While
inside, she finds other patients all timid and private, except for one,
Lisa. Angelina Jolie plays the part of Lisa perfectly, she is a
sociopath who is both strong and dangerous. Susana becomes dangerously
close to calling Claymoore home.
Although it may sound like it, Girl, Interrupted is not a clichéd movie at all. It asks some interesting questions involving sanity and freedom as well as terrific performances all around.
by Fabio
Another fanny movie from the master of "politically incorrect" cinema, Woody Allen. On this occasion he doesn't appear in first person, but the cast is excellent; over all, Kenneth Branagh, powerful in his interpretation of the frustrated journalist, who wants to enter into the star-system from the main door, starting from nothing. Little cameo for Leonardo Di Caprio, just returning from the planetary success of the 11-Oscar-winner movie Titanic, by James Cameron; here he's a great movie star, living in luxurious suites, always surrounded by wonderful girls.
Charlize Theron makes the part of lion in this film; she's, in fact, the fulcrum of all the misadventure of Branagh: she's the girl he secretly love and would like to bed. But when he succeeds in knowing her and reaches to go out with her, he falls in total confusion, so that he turns with the car into a shop window! What an awful end for such a grotesque love story… It's time now for Winona Ryder. This time she's a beautiful super for a movie-in-the-movie. When Branagh saw her he suddenly understand she's his twin soul. After a clumsy trial of courtship, finally Branagh succeeds in his aim; but his jealousy will destroy everything. In fact Ryder is a very broad-minded girl, so that he accepts to play a comedy where she does the part of a young lesbian.
The whole film is shot in black & white, as it was something very ancient. Great photography and excellent direction for a milestone for cinematography; good recitation of the whole cast, always able to face the acting. Special mention for the car scenes, that remind the glorious 007 movies with Sean Connery or Roger Moore, with a camera-car in front of actors and the scenes behind moving. Nominal Oscar for Kenneth Branagh for his acting and his adapting capacity for every kind of roles, comic or tragic.
by Keene
A
lot of people hate this movie, I seem to be one of the few who don't. In
this fourth film in the Alien series, Ripley is cloned two hundred years
after the third movie finishes and the Queen which was inside her
extracted. Winona plays Annalee Call a member of a band of pirates
providing human cargo to the military vessel that Ripley is on. Of
course, the scientists new toy breaks loose and runs amok. The movie's
main strength comes from director Jean-Pierra Jeunet's clever use of
lighting and camera angles to create a weird and surreal world. This was
a major change of type of movie for Winona being her first
action/science fiction movie.
by Keene
This is a screen adaptation of Arthur Miller's play. When I first saw this movie I thought it was really great. A couple of years later and after studying the play I saw the movie again and I realized that it didn't have the same power as the play did. Although it's still a good movie with some very compelling scenes. Like in the Age of Innocence, Daniel Day Lewis (playing John Proctor) and Winona Ryder (Abigail Williams) make a great pair.
by Courtney
I was seriously surprised at how little acclaim this movie received. This (as far as my taste goes) is Winona Ryder at her best. She really brought Abigail to life, and I think fit into the roll better than anyone could have done. The film was absolutely incredible, the acting was amazing, and the entire tone of them film kept me wanting more after it was over. While, no, it is not as good as the book, but it was an awesome portrayal of a classic book. Arthur Miller would have been proud.
by Keene
This film follows Al Pacino's effort to create a movie of Shakespeare's Richard III. It's more of a long documentary then a feature film. Winona Ryder has a very small part in this film playing Lady Anne. The films best parts come when the cast are not actually acting, but these are frequently distracted by the uninspiring production of Shakespeare's play. Looking for Richard features a cast including Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin.
by Keene
Despite Winona Ryder best efforts, she can't elevate the abysmal acting of her costars and it's pathetic plot. A group of boys find the unconscious Patty Vare (Ryder) and hide her in their boarding school. Patty Vare is hiding from the police who want her for questioning about a stolen car.
How
to Make an American Quilt (
1995 )
by Betinna
This
movie was one of the reasons that convinced me to go out to New York
City to pursue an acting career.
The last statement made by Finn in the movie is one of the most beautiful and most profound ones I have ever heard, I encourage everyone out there to watch that movie for it leaves you feeling good about life and the fact that it is not always perfect either.
It is the story of Finn (Ryder) who visits her eccentric aunts to make a decision about her boy-friend (Mulroney) who had asked her to marry her. She starts to question marriage, if one person can be meant for the other for the rest of their lives. She also learns how important and consequential the choices you make in life can be and how sometimes someone does not find the love of their life in a man or woman but someplace else such as their children.
Finn starts a fling with a local called Leon (Jonathan Schaech), but realizes that he is only a temptation, not the real thing. It is a movie about a young woman on the brink of marriage losing herself and finding herself due to the help and wisdom of all the older ladies who have met at her aunt's house to make a quilt for her. They tell her their life story, some are happy, some sad and she takes all of these wonderful experiences in and learns what is important in life.
by Keene
This
is my personal favorite Winona Ryder movie. Based on Louisa May Alcott's
classic novel of the same name, the film follows the March sisters as
they grow up during the time of the American Civil War. This is the
fifth telling of the book. Anyone who has seen the 1994 version will
immediately recognize the last scene. This remake best captures the feel
of the book with it's superb acting and strong emotions. The film
features an excellent score from Thomas Newman.
by Keene
This
film is a very popular one, though I personally don't find it all that
great. Winona Ryder plays Lelaina Pierce, a recent graduate who can't
decide if she wants to be with the philosophical Ethan Hawke or the
financially sound Ben Stiller. All the characters are Generation X'ers
which is why so many people like it. I suppose the reason I didn't enjoy
this movie was that I thought the guy that Winona's character ended up
with was a real jerk in this movie. This romantic comedy does however
have it's moments, such as when she switches her employer's cue cards.
Also, look out for Just Shoot Me's David Spade.
The
House of the Spirits (
1993 )
by Keene
A rather dull and drawn out story about a family in South America living through political upheaval. Even a cast including Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep and Antonio Bandares can't save this film. Winona's character, Blanca, must endure a harrowing torture sequence, obviously affecting the character and actress alike.
by Keene
This is one of Winona's best movies. Set in New York during the late 1800s, Daniel Day-Lewis is Newland Archer fiancée of the naive May Welland (Winona Ryder). Returning from Paris after divorcing her husband is May's unconventional cousin, Countess Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). Olenska's seemingly obliviousness of the existing customs is why Newland falls in love with her. Newland sees the Countess as the way to escape the hypocritical high society which she has made him aware of. All of this, is beautifully portrayed and explained by acclaimed director, Martin Scorsese. Viewers will recognize the style of narration so frequently used by Scorsese.
Bram
Stoker's Dracula (
1992 )
by Keene
This is Francis Ford Coppola's attempt at a Dracula movie. Forget the fact that everyone is poorly attempting to speak with English accents and many of the films moments are (unintentionally) amusing. What we're left with is, in fact a rather dark and moody horror movie. Winona plays Mina, as well as being a fiancé to Jonathan Harker, she also happens to be the reincarnation Dracula's long lost love. Gary Oldman is outstanding as Dracula while Anthony Hopkins has some rather funny lines as Professor Abraham Van Helsing.
Night
On Earth Winona
Ryder( 1991 )
By Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth" assembles five moments in time, in taxicabs, in the middle of the night, in five of the world's cities. At the end, we have learned no great lessons and arrived at no thrilling conclusions, but we have shared the community of the night, when people are unbuttoned and vulnerable - more ready to speak about what's really on their minds.
Jarmusch is not interested in making each segment into a short story with an obvious construction. There are no zingers at the end. He's more concerned with character; with the relationship that forms, for example, between a tattooed, gum-chewing, chain-smoking young cabdriver (Winona Ryder) and the elegant executive (Gena Rowlands) who wants to cast her for a movie. "I've got my life all mapped out," says the Ryder character, who hopes to work her way up to mechanic. "There must be lotsa girls who want to be in the movies. Not me." The movie doesn't insist that the cabbie is right or wrong; it simply reports her opinion.
Jarmusch
essentially empties the streets for his night riders. The cities are
lonely and look cold; even in L.A., "it gets dark early in the
winter." His characters seem divorced from the ordinary society of
their cities; they're loners and floaters. We sense they have more in
common with one another than with the daytime inhabitants of their
cities. And their cabs, hurtling through the deserted streets, are like
couriers on a mission to nowhere.
by Keene
Winona's second film with director Tim Burton is a drama about a boy (Johnny Depp) who has scissors for hands and was left alone for years after his "inventor" dies. He is discovered by Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) and brought home to live with her family in the suburbs. Winona is the daughter trying to adjust to the strange new guest in their home. Although the plot and action isn't as good as Beetlejuice this movie is excellent because of it's visual style, especially when Dianne West's character is entering the mansion. This movie is also of interest to fans of Winona Ryder because Johnny Depp was her boyfriend at the time of filming.
by Keene
An amusing story set in the 1963 Kennedy presidency about a young girl struggling to settle into yet another new town. While her mother (Cher) is out being the "town tramp", Winona is trying to practice becoming a nun and at the same time fighting her hormones. This movie adequately balances drama and comedy. A funny scenario in this movie is when Winona thinks she is pregnant from kissing a guy, just like the Virgin Mary in her precious bible. Since her mother hasn't bothered to tell her about sex.
Welcome
Home , Roxy Carmichael (
1990 )
by C.B Salter
"Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael" is Karen Leigh Hopkins quirky script. It tells the story of a 15 year old human stray - Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder). The film failed at the box office, but not for lack of effort from the cast or writer. If you haven't yet seen WHRC, then you've yet to see one of Winona Ryder's best performances.
Dinky's friends are the reject animals she cares for at an abandoned boat. She dresses in black, doesn't brush her hair and writes confrontational poetry. Other kids throw food at her, her adoptive 'Mom' wants to send her to a special school, and her adoptive Dad is sympathetic but entirely ineffective. Without adult guidance or the support of her peers, Dinky drifts from one humiliation to the next, isolated behind her sarcasm, shrouded in her black scruffiness... until three events trigger change:
1. The anticipated return visit of town celebrity, Roxy Carmichael, and Dinky's discovery that Roxy gave up a baby fifteen years earlier. Dinky begins to explore her own identity, albeit under the delusion that she is Roxy's child and that Roxy will take her home.
2. School councilor, Elizabeth Zaks (Laila Robins), succeeds in reaching the deeply suspicious Dinky. She discovers that, beneath Dinky's sarcasm, is an intelligent if fragile person. Some great moments come from this relationship.
3. School popular boy, Gerald Howells (Thomas Wilson Brown), begins to notice that maybe weird is ok, while Dinky decides its ok to "take more an interest in yourself." (Although her motivation for transforming her appearance has more to do with the return of Roxy than with pleasing Gerald).
The film has a dark side and I bet Ms. Hopkins had much more to show us of Dinky's damage. Sadly, the film studio had other priorities. But what is shown is highly evocative: Dinky's black clothes, black bedroom (with elaborate door locks), her suppression of her own femininity and her other defensive behaviors, all suggest past abuse or other trauma.
In WHRC, Winona Ryder uses the emotional force of her eyes and fleeting expressions to convey honesty that was removed from the script by timid movie executives. Watch her real close (I know you will), she is completely ‘there’.
The
great soundtrack fully supports the film. The photography is nice and
the use of candy box colors, especially in the final scenes, sweetly
illustrate the fantasy in which Dinky has been living. What else
can I say? See it! (Several times!) It’s now on DVD
(Region 2 at time of writing) and it sells cheap, as it is still
considered a failed ‘B’ movie. How little ‘they’ know...
by Keene
A
cult classic. Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is in high school with
those popular friends everyone wants as a "friend or a f***".
Along comes Jason Dean (Christian Slater) to save Veronica from the life
she hates. However, he takes it a tad too far by killing her friends
while taking Veronica along for the ride. A great black comedy and one
that every Winona fan should see, even if you're not a fan this is a
great one to start with.
by Courtney
Where do I start? This is definitely one of the best Winona films I have ever seen (and I've seen my share of them). Winona portrays her character with incredible exactness, and is totally believable throughout the entire movie. I was relieved to find her in a dark comedy that would appeal to teens, but was not your "average" teen movie. This is, without a doubt, one that every Noni fan should see.
Great
Balls of Fire ! (
1989 )
by Fabio
Made to follow the plot of Jerry Lee Lewis' life, the movie is generally well done and pleasant. In Lewis' place a wonderful Dennis Quaid, so great to seem untrue. Winona Ryder is Maira, beautiful 13 years-old daughter of Jerry's friend, who falls in love with the man the very same moment she saw him. Alec Baldwin is a faithful protestant preacher, with the illness of God and the mania of serving Him. After a childhood spent in a very faithful family, Jerry decided not to follow cousin's advice, and became to play piano, singing, he white, rock 'n' roll, a typical black music.
We're in the 50-60s: in these years rose the star of Elvis Presley. At first musical managers didn't want to en-gage Jerry, because they thought his music couldn't be sounded with piano; but he astonished them all. In a very little time he reached the top of the chart, putting some smashing hits at the number one (between these there's the one which give the title at the movie, Great Balls Of Fire!). His life became more and more beautiful day by day: he finally ob-tained to marry Maira, even if, at first, her father was not so glad about the idea his 13 years-old daughter marry a man almost 30 years elder than her.
But the problems didn't be long. And his life changed: as in a moment he became famous all over the world, in a moment he lost everything. He went in Europe to promote his LP, but press broadcast his marriage with who they called a child, and so public opinion was all against him; they boycotted his concerts and auditions, so he came back with his wife in their house in the United States, where he passed the rest of his life, alone. But, also in disgrace, a positive note arrived, because Maira was pregnant!
Good direction, wonderful Quaid and quite good Baldwin in the place of the maniac preacher. Ryder, barely 18 years-old, was convincing in the part of the little girl. Special mention for the scenario-writers, who succeeded in making a hero of a musician, however without distorting history. Very positive standpoint of the movie is the soundtrack, and the mailing of the plot, which permit the viewer to listen to some great hits of a wonderful musician of the old 60s, in my opinion wrongly forgotten.
by
Janet Maslin, New York Times
''1969'' is awash in the problems that arise from these domestic
situations, building up to a painfully self-congratulatory ending in
which the whole town where the story takes place rises up in protest
against the Vietnam War. The film is lively only insofar as the actors
are able to make it so. Mr. Sutherland, not terribly convincing as a
reluctant innocent in the midst of the sexual revolution, is likable
anyhow, and so is Mr. Downey, even if the screenplay gives each of their
characters a cute side. Winona Ryder, the beautiful young actress who
plays Mr. Downey's sister, has such fascinatingly offbeat timing that
she becomes a lot more interesting than her role.
by
Keene
A
highly imaginative and funny film directed by Tim Burton. This was
probably Winona's first really good film. Alec Baldwin and Gena Davis
are perfect as the recently deceased couple who are trying to rid their
home of it's new yuppie residents. While Winona is the dark and morbid
daughter, Lydia. When the ghost couple fail miserably in scaring away
the family, they call in the help of a "bio-exorcist", Michael
Keaton, who is hilarious as Beetlejuice.
by Don
I
saw this for the first time recently on DVD. It was an important
film for Winona because it was her first leading role and she gave a
good performance.
She has a Texan accent all the way through the film, which is quite
amusing for somebody with Cal-hippy roots. It's about a teen-age
girl growing up in Texas, who lives on a farm with her difficult
grandfather, and then moves to the city to live with an even more
difficult mother. Somehow the girl survives. I like this film
because it feels real; it doesn't have the usual Hollywood gloss. The
script is realistic about how it's characters will turn out.
My initial expectations were not that high, since Squaredance took
absolutely nothing at the box office. I was pleasantly surprised by this
film. It definitely deserved to do better than it did. It has several
good performances, including Rob Lowe as a retarded guy. However Winona
really carries the whole film. That's a lot of responsibility for
somebody in their first leading role. Her performance is an amazing
display of raw talent. She must have been really crushed when the film
didn't do well.
By Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The first loves of early adolescence are so powerful because they are
not based on romance, but on ideals. When they are 13 or 14, boys and
girls do not fall in love with one another because of all the usual
reasons that are celebrated in love songs; they fall in love because the
other person is perfect. Not smart or popular or good-looking, but
perfect, the embodiment of all good.
But it would be tragic if this film would get lost in the shuffle of "teenage movies." This is a movie that is as pure and true to the adolescent experience as Truffaut's "The 400 Blows." . . . “Lucas" was written and directed by David Seltzer, who obviously has put his heart into the film. He also has used an enormous amount of sensitivity. In a world where Hollywood has cheapened the teenage years into predictable vulgarity, he has remembered how urgent, how innocent and how idealistic those years can be. He has put values into this movie.
It
is about teenagers who are learning how to be good to each other, to
care, and not simply to be filled with egotism, lust and selfishness,
which is all most Hollywood movies think teenagers can experience.
"Lucas" is one of the year's best films, and although its
three stars are all teenagers, I doubt if anyone of any age will give
more sensitive and effective performances this year.
................. WRFP
