Winona Ryder films: Best to Worst (all her films)
As you can probably tell, I have a bit of a thing for Winona.
The top 10 may be different to my other list "The Best of Winona Ryder" but that list is meant to be the films that give the best an all-round view of Winona's career (so for example Star Trek was left out because her part is pretty small). This list judges her films by themselves.
I've seen Turks & Caicos but I've chosen to leave that out because I consider it to be a TV drama program rather than a movie (or TV movie) Looking for Richard doesn't count because it's a documentary (ditto other documentaries she's appeared in) and Being John Malkovich just uses a bit of archive footage of her (at an awards show).
The top 10 may be different to my other list "The Best of Winona Ryder" but that list is meant to be the films that give the best an all-round view of Winona's career (so for example Star Trek was left out because her part is pretty small). This list judges her films by themselves.
I've seen Turks & Caicos but I've chosen to leave that out because I consider it to be a TV drama program rather than a movie (or TV movie) Looking for Richard doesn't count because it's a documentary (ditto other documentaries she's appeared in) and Being John Malkovich just uses a bit of archive footage of her (at an awards show).
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- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsNatalie PortmanMila KunisVincent CasselNina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.I think this an amazing film, a thrilling journey into madness. And it's perfect that Winona was cast as the veteran performer who up-and-coming Natalie Portman takes the place of. You have to admit there's a real-life parallel there.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppWinona RyderDianne WiestThe solitary life of an artificial man - who was incompletely constructed and has scissors for hands - is upended when he is taken in by a suburban family.The beginning of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's longtime collaboration and one of their best.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsAlec BaldwinGeena DavisMichael KeatonThe spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.The first proper Tim Burton film (with Pee-Wee's Big Adventure he was more of a hired gun), with bags of originality and charm and the Tim Burton-isms feel completely fresh - the expressionist set designs, the costumes, the Danny Elfman score and stop-motion sequences. Lydia Deetz is the most Tim Burton-esque characters ever and one of Winona's most iconic roles.
- DirectorNicholas HytnerStarsDaniel Day-LewisWinona RyderPaul ScofieldA Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
- DirectorRichard BenjaminStarsCherBob HoskinsWinona RyderAn unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.Sweet, quirky, slightly corny but lovable little film. Winona is so convincing and endearing as a naive, confused, virginal 15 year old (she was about 18 at the time) I think it's one of her best performances.
- DirectorMichael LehmannStarsWinona RyderChristian SlaterShannen DohertyAt Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.Personally I feel it's slightly overrated and you can tell it didn't completely live up to scriptwriter Daniel Waters' dream (he originally wanted it Stanley Kubrick to direct it) but Christian Slater steals the show with his Nicholson-esque coolness. One of Winona's best performances as well.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallA directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.Flawed but occaissionally effective adaptation of a good but very difficult to adapt book. Most notable for being the film that won very soon-to-be Hollywood's hottest actress Angelina Jolie her Oscar.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsSusan SarandonWinona RyderKirsten DunstJo struggles for independence and sometimes clashes with her beloved mother and sisters Meg, Amy and Beth. She also contends with their cranky Aunt March, their impulsive neighbor Laurie and kindly linguistics professor Friedrich Bhaer.Winona does a good job (she even earned a Best Actress Oscar nom) in this solid adaptation of a classic children's story.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsChris PineZachary QuintoSimon PeggThe brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.Successful reboot of the Star Trek movie franchise. Only a small cameo role for Winona though (playing Spock's mother)
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsMichael KeatonWinona RyderCatherine O'HaraAfter a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsWinona RyderCatherine O'HaraMartin ShortWhen a boy's beloved dog passes away suddenly, he attempts to bring the animal back to life through a powerful science experiment.Admittedly it does feel like Tim Burton is repeating himself again, but I still liked this. It had a nicely dark sense of humour and great performances from it's voice cast. Winona however gets disappointingly few lines as schoolgirl Elsa Van Helsing (a bit like a hybrid of Lydia Deetz and Rina from Lucas)
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsWinona RyderGena RowlandsLisanne FalkAn anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.Typically quirky and eclectic collection of stories from Jim Jarmusch. Winona is cast against type as a tomboy cabbie/grease monkey.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsGary OldmanWinona RyderAnthony HopkinsThe centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
- DirectorBille AugustStarsJeremy IronsMeryl StreepMaria Conchita AlonsoA rancher, his clairvoyant wife, and their family face turbulent years in South America in this adaptation of Isabel Allende's best-seller.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsSigourney WeaverWinona RyderDominique PinonTwo centuries after her death, a powerful human/alien hybrid clone of Ellen Ripley aids a crew of space pirates in stopping the aliens from reaching Earth.
- DirectorMichael AlmereydaStarsPeter SarsgaardWinona RyderJim GaffiganIn 1961, famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of radical behavior experiments that tested ordinary humans' willingness to obey authority.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsKeanu ReevesWinona RyderRobert Downey Jr.An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.The rotoscoping is bold but sags somewhat because much of the running time is taken up by the drug-addled characters sitting around talking nonsense (might sound funny but it's not really) with an irritating Robert Downey Jr. producing the most verbal diarrhoea.
- DirectorBen StillerStarsWinona RyderEthan HawkeJaneane GarofaloA documentary filmmaker and her fellow Generation X graduates face life after college, looking for work and love in Houston.
- DirectorDavid SeltzerStarsCorey HaimKerri GreenCharlie SheenA socially inept fourteen-year-old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends - Cappie, an older-brother figure, and Maggie, the new girl with whom he is in love - fall for each other.Sweet but quite dated 80s high school movie with a performance from tragic child star Corey Haim that shows what could have been. A very young and untested Winona debuts as a shy classmate with a unrequited crush on the title character.
- DirectorJim McBrideStarsDennis QuaidWinona RyderJohn DoeThe life and career of wildly controversial rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis.Silly but entertaining, and the music's still great. Then-18-year-old Winona makes a fairly convincing 13-year-old (as Lewis' underaged bride)
- DirectorBen StillerStarsBen StillerOwen WilsonChristine TaylorAt the end of his career, a clueless fashion model is brainwashed to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia.Winona has a short cameo playing herself in this funny Ben Stiller comedy which now has a bit of a cult following.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsKenneth BranaghJudy DavisLeonardo DiCaprioThe fortunes of a husband and wife differ drastically after they divorce.Average Woody Allen film with Kenneth Branagh playing Woody Allen. Winona gets 4 scenes but is certainly believable as someone he'd fall in love with at first sight.
- DirectorRebecca MillerStarsRobin WrightAlan ArkinMike BinderAfter her much older husband forces a move to a suburban retirement community, Pippa Lee engages in a period of reflection and finds herself heading toward a quiet nervous breakdown.Another recent minor supporting role for Winona but I think she made the most of it.
- DirectorGary FlederStarsJason StathamJames FrancoWinona RyderA former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord.Wasn't expecting much but actually it wasn't that bad. Winona, playing a ex-biker gang groupie, doesn't get that much to do apart from acting as a go-between for James Franco's meth dealer and a biker gang but it's a new kind of character for her and she just about pulls it off.
