Movie Monday : Christina Ricci

Preciously plump or scarily skinny, Christina Ricci will always be my favorite actress. In my eyes she can do no wrong. I've always loved her precocious, outspoken nature. And she's got that kind of unaware beauty I admire. Not a classic beauty, but edgy and a little dark. Maybe I'm a little bias because she was such a prevalent part of my adolescent years. It was a tough task narrowing it down to five, but here are five of Christina Ricci's movies that I think everyone needs to make sure they see, at least once. In alphabetical order.

After.Life (2009)

 After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified, and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe shes dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Justin Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over to the other side.

Buffalo '66 (1998)

Having just served five years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo)'s first desperate post-incarceration action is to search for somewhere to relieve himself. Oddly enough, the first thing he does is try to go back into the prison he was released from and denied. Then, to impress his dunceish, thoroughly neglectful parents (Ben Gazzara & Anjelica Huston), Billy kidnaps a dance class student named Layla (Christina Ricci) and forces her to pretend to be his wife. Layla allows herself to be kidnapped and it is clear she is romantically attracted to Billy from the start, but Billy all the while is compelled to deal with his own demons, his loneliness and his depression, and it is only at the end that he allows Layla to give him the love and comfort he has been needing all his life.

 Penelope (2006)

This is the story of young woman a named Penelope (Christina Ricci), who is the victim of a curse placed on a wealthy family by a witch. Many generations ago, a witch placed a curse on the Wilhern family that would result in the next girl being born into the clan having the face of a pig. The otherwise-normal girl Penelope is forced to endure life with a pig's snout instead of a conventional nose, which has sent many a potential suitor running off into the streets, shouting in terror. Eventually, she runs away from her sheltered existence and overprotective parents (Richard E. Grant & Catherine O'Hara), to explore the world on her own. As she meets new friends (Reese Witherspoon) and a potential lover (James McAvoy) who doesn't run away, she begins to discover happiness - while all the while her parents believe the only way she can be happy is through an arranged marriage, which they hope will break her curse.

Prozac Nation (2001)

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel (Christina Ricci) is a 19-year-old girl accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She has been raised by her divorced mother (Jessica Lange) since she was two years old and hasn't seen her father (Nicholas Campbell) at all in the last four years. Despite his lack of interest and involvement, Lizzie still misses her father, a contributing factor to her depression. Through a series of flashbacks, it is clear that there was a total communication breakdown between Lizzie's parents, which is soon reflected in Lizzie's own relationship with her mother. Soon after arriving at Harvard, Lizzie decides to surrender her virginity to an older student, Noah (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers). Lizzie proceeds to alienate Noah by throwing a loss-of-virginity party immediately afterwards with the help of her roommate Ruby (Michelle Williams). Although best friends in the beginning, Ruby soon becomes another casualty of Lizzie's instability. Although Lizzie's article for the local music column in The Harvard Crimson is presented an award by Rolling Stone early into the semester, Lizzie soon finds herself unable to write, stuck in a vicious cycle with substance abuse. Lizzie's promising literary career is at risk, as is her mental and physical health. Her mother sends her to expensive psychiatric sessions toward which her father, pleading poverty, implacably refuses to contribute anything at all. After a long period of treatment under medication and an aborted suicide attempt, Lizzie stabilizes and begins to adjust to her life as it really is.

 Pumpkin (2002)

Perky, perfect Carolyn (Christina Ricci) and her Alpha Omega Pi sisters plan to win Sorority of the Year by impressing the Greek Council with a killer charity: coaching mentally challenged athletes for the regional Challenged Games. When Carolyn's assigned to coach Pumpkin (Hank Harris) she's terrified at first, but soon sees in him something she's never seen before: a gentle humanity and honest clarity that touches her soul. To the horror of her friends and Pumpkin's overprotective mother (Brenda Blethyn), Carolyn falls in love, becoming an outcast in the process. As Carolyn's "perfect life" falls apart, Pumpkin teaches her that perfect isn't always perfect after all.

Movie Monday : Johnny Depp

 It's no secret that Johnny Depp is my favorite actor. He is the sexiest man alive; and he is an amazingly talented actor. I love every single one of his movies. I'm sure they will each have their turn being included in my Movie Monday posts. But this week we are just going to focus on five titles. These are the ones I never get tired of watching, no matter how many times I see them. Listed in alphabetical order.

Benny & Joon (1993)

 

In a small town, an auto mechanic named Benny (Aidan Quinn) is devoted to taking care of his mentally ill sister, Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson), who can barely function alone in the real world despite being a talented artist. This relatively stable situation is shaken up when Benny is obliged in a poker game to welcome another player's relative, Sam (Johnny Depp), to his home for a few days. When Sam arrives, he quickly makes an impression with his quietly eccentric ways which emulate the antics of the great silent movie comedian, Buster Keaton. Without Benny's full knowledge, Sam and Joon find themselves drawn to each other to the fullest degree. However when Benny finds out, it creates a rift in the siblings as they struggle to accept their relationship is profoundly changing with the presence of this odd newcomer.

Cry Baby (1990)

 Allison (Amy Locane) is a "square" good girl who has decided she wants to be bad and falls hard for Cry-Baby Walker (Johnny Depp), a Greaser. Spoofing Elvis movies and Juvenile Delinquency scare films of the '50s, this movie follows the adventures of Cry-Baby who, though he is sent to juvie, is determined to cross class (and taste) boundaries to get Allison back.

Dead Man (1995)

 Dead Man is the story of a young man's journey, both physically and spiritually, into very unfamiliar terrain. William Blake (Johnny Depp) travels to the extreme western frontiers of America sometime in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Lost and badly wounded, he encounters a very odd, outcast Native American, named "Nobody" (Gary Farmer), who believes Blake is actually the dead English poet of the same name. The story, with Nobody's help, leads William Blake through situations that are in turn comical and violent. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away. Thrown into a world that is cruel and chaotic, his eyes are opened to the fragility that defines the realm of the living. It is as though he passes through the surface of a mirror, and emerges into a previously-unknown world that exists on the other side.

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

 In a castle high on top of a hill lives an inventor's greatest creation - Edward (Johnny Depp), a near-complete person. The creator (Vincent Price) died before he could finish Edward's hands; instead, he is left with metal scissors for hands. Since then, he has lived alone, until a kind lady called Peg (Dianne Wiest) discovers him and welcomes him into her home. At first, everyone welcomes him into the community, but soon things begin to take a change for the worse.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

 Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) is a drug addled journalist. He is sent to cover a motorcycle race as an article for his magazine, but then the situation escalates into him and his psychotic attorney (Benicio Del Toro) searching for the American dream, aided by almost every drug known to man in the boot of his red convertible.

Movie Monday : My Perfect Pair

Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. They have been in four movies together over the years. The latest was a documentary on the infamous gonzo journalist, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. The three that count are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, and The Man Who Cried.

In 1998 they did their first film together. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It is about an oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer. They travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades. Johnny Depp played the part of the oddball journalist, Raoul Duke. Christina Ricci plays Lucy. A girl who has come to Las Vegas to meet Barbra Streisand. Her role in the movie is minimal, and Lucy has limited interaction with Raoul Duke. But the chemistry between the two actors is undeniable.

In 1999 they come together in Sleepy Hollow. Johnny Depp is Ichabod Crane. Christina Ricca plays Ichabod's love interest, Katrina Van Tassel. The energy between them is electric. Leaving you wanting to see more.

In 2000 The Man Who Cried came out. Christina Ricci plays Suzie; a young refugee traveling from Russia to America in search of her lost father. Suzie falls in love with Cesar; a gypsy horseman played by Johnny Depp. This is the first sex scene the two have ever done together. Very steamy.

To my great disappointment, the two haven't worked together since. In my mind, and on my movie shelf, the two always seem to merge together. They make the perfect pair, and I want to see more of them together. Hopefully this will come to fruition in the near future.