Wino Forever

(Yes, I'm a mega tourist. Future posting: me flanking Meryl's star.)

Inspiration for career retrospectives have been hitting me over the head lately. This is the result of spending the last week hobbling around with an endless sickness.

Being laid up on the couch leads to many a movie a-thon (with a mixture of crafting and book reading), but when my head is calling to be laid down on a pillow, nothing cures a sickness better than movies.

Being comforted by film favorites always eases away some of the crappy feeling blues. Especially, for me, those movies that have the strongest familiarity after being loved for a lifetime.

(treasured shirt nearly in tatters)

There is only one raven haired, pixie cut rocking, cool ass actress, that defines all of the above for me; Winona Ryder.

Not only my style idol since Elementary school, but her movies have been, and always will be, counted among classics in my book.

Fittingly, much like my Cage retrospective last week, Ryder is also currently in the spotlight starring in both the incredible Black Swan and The Dilemma being released today.

Directed by Ron Howard, I will give The Dilemma a chance before I release an opinion about it, but mostly only because of the people involved.

Alright, back to it, I present: Best-O-Winona

Not based on critical acclaim, merely Justine Acclaim, but for that kind of list check out something Rotten Tomatoes threw together.

Mermaids



The movie that keeps giving. First my mom got me addicted, and now it has become, if you haven't seen it, the number one thing I make people watch .

Starring Ryder and CHER (for the love) as mother and daughter, this 1960's based tale finds Cher moving her family from state to state in order to avoid being tied down to a man, job, or ever cooking an entire meal (her specialty cooking involves only crafty Hors d'oeuvre's).

Ryder and Cher's scenes together are some of my favorites and are one of the best representations of a realistic, dysfunctional, mother/daughter relationship. Mermaids is also the beginning of Ryder being the narrator to EVERY movie she is in (seriously, take a look back at her movies), and her interior monologues as a naive teenager are hilarious. Especially those thoughts involving her crush on hottie school bus driver, Jake Ryan.

How To Make An American Quilt



That short video just put a smile on my face. 

Not gonna lie, this might be mine and my friends biggest guilty pleasure movie in existence. People tell me it's cheesy, and I just don't see it. Just yesterday, on my sickbed, I popped in my treasured copy on VHS. After many, many viewings, this movie still gets me every time and the reasons are endless.

The movie follows Ryder's character, trying to finish a college thesis during the summer, and how she finds herself among her Grandma's quilting group, where much is learned from the ladies past stories about love.Crafting, stories, crafting, crafting; I want nothing more than to be these women, but much later in life.

The soaring Thomas Newman score utterly slays me, and adds a beautiful touch to all of the scenes. Also, it doesn't hurt that it boasts the classiest cast in cinema history, including; Bancroft, Burstyn, and MAYA ANGELOU. Enough said.

Little Women

Little Women has been recently discussed in my Christmas movie blitz, but because it is a feature on Winona it can't be forgotten.

There have been many adaptations of the classic Alcott story and Josephine March has been played by great women, including, Katherine Hepburn, but nobody stands up to Ryder in that role.


Reality Bites



During high school, I remember watching Reality Bites, and day dreaming about how fabulous it will be to flit around life post college in my 20's. Well, those days are here, and as much as I love this movie, the fact that I have caught up to the age of these characters is surreal and panic inducing.


Edward Scissorhands



Why are people afraid of this movie? Is it because Hot Topic has decided to claim Tim Burton? Well, that's a load of crap, and I'm proud to count this as a Top Ten, of all time, worthy film.

Another incredible cast leads this modern day fantasy about a scissored handed young man living in a dark castle, towering over an even scarier location; suburbia. Once taken in by a family (the amazing Diane Wiest and Alan Arkin) Edward falls in love with their daughter, played by Ryder. Their movie relationship leads into creating one scene that I can never see enough (above clip).

Also, back to the narrator business, Ryder as an old woman is too good for words.  


Heathers




Lunch time poll; Who loves their dead gay son? The classic lines are endless, as seen in the above video, and the writing as a whole is definitely what makes Heathers timelessly enjoyable.

There is really nothing else out there like this original and incredibly dark comedy. Is it possible that one movie can contain death by Drano, someone named Martha Dumptruck, the pure depiction of evilness in the Heathers, and the duo of Ryder and killing maniac Christian Slayter? Yes, all of the above.

Although, people have tried to mimic it and its influence still reigns over pop culture. Without Heathers, there would be no; Mean Girls, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, or basically anything else involving evil bitchy teens.

It's all just so very. 

Lucas



Ryder may not be the star of Lucas, but she still plays a huge part in making this 80's movie about a unique high school-er more than just another teen movie. Where some movies in the same genre, can be flitty and forgettable, Lucas has you  honestly rooting  for the underdog.


Honorable mentions: Girl, Interrupted,  A Scanner Darkly, Beetlejuice, and quite surprisingly a great, really emotional 2010 TV movie called, When Love Is Not Enough (which just recently nabbed Ryder a deserved SAG nomination).