The Experimenter

Our Winona is back on her game in this film about the infamous obedience studies conducted by Dr. Stanley Milgram in the early 1960s. I first learned about these studies the same way so many have - in my introductory psychology class in college. Milgram found that the majority of his subjects (65%) would continue to inflict pain on another person if a person in authority told them to do so, even as the "victim" (a confederate in the experiment) screamed in pain.

My Psychology 101 class is also where I also first learned about Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and was told that it would be unlikely that any IRB today would approve such a study. I was, therefore, surprised to discover that a study conducted as recently as 2009 Jerry Burger's "Obedience Lite" showed similar results to Milgram's. I sit on the IRB at the university where I work and wonder how Burger's study was written that he able to get approval. Our Board is pretty aggressive about our role in protecting human subjects. A few of our colleagues have expressed their disapproval with us when faced with our denial of their applications, but for most of us our concern is foremost on the human subjects, and not on what the experimenter wants. It is a tricky space. There are often risks associated with studies. Any risk must be outweighed by the importance of what might be discovered.

Our Winona plays Milgram's wife Sasha. She is fascinated by the studies and watches both transfixed and horrified as she sees participants struggle with their consciences, believing they are inflicting severe shocks to an innocent person. These scenes are uncomfortable to watch, even though the audience, like Sasha, knows that it was all a deception. Milgram and his cronies appeared to show no signs that they were bothered by this. All seemed academic to them, and in fact, they laughed at many of their subjects and how easily they were fooled. Were the experimenters torturing their subjects by insisting they continue with the study? Milgram and his co-researchers apparently never saw themselves that way. How far should we go in the name of science? Where do we draw the line? What role should deception play in the pursuit to scholarship? This is an excellent and thought-provoking film.

Final Verdict: Four Croquet Balls

Strangers with Candy 3:10

Our Noni' stars in the final episode, entitled The Last Temptation of Blank.

Noni with Virginia Williams and Amy Sedaris

We have had all three seasons of Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy on DVD for some time, mainly because we are huge fans of the star's brother. We watched the first season and part of the second years ago, but eventually it surpassed even our low threshold of offensiveness, and we never finished the series.

Pam recently discovered, however, that Our Winona appears in the final episode, so we pulled it out of the back of the DVD cabinet and watched the last show.

Ryder plays super-cool Fran and takes on loser Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) as a project (wasn't there an episode of the Brady Bunch with the same plot?). Ryder plays more of a mean-girl "Heather" and less of a "Veronica" though.

Like any good sitcom, this story had three unrelated threads: the main one, another one about overly animated Dungeon's & Dragons players, and a third one about closing the school. A corrupt administration turning the school into a shopping center is mainly a device for killing off the series. But since the process begins while school is still open, with various classrooms becoming Sunglass Huts or other retail spaces, it also serves as a metaphor for the creeping marketization of education in America.

For the sake of project completeness we watched this episode, but actually ended up using this opportunity to purge our DVD (and VHS) collection. The entire series is now in the donation box waiting for next month's pick up.

Final Verdict: Three Croquet Balls

Staying Cool

Maybe it is just an indication of how much our recent viewing of The Last Word had lowered our expectations, but this film was a bit more fun, with at least a few clever bits in the writing.

Henry McCarthy (Mark Polish) is an author of low-brow nonfiction who attempts to Stay Cool as he returns to his high school as a commencement speaker. He attends classes and events for several days in an effort to "reconnect" after almost two decades away from school. Decidedly low-key antics ensue.

Our Noni is Scarlett Smith, Henry's old flame, though the romance never burns bright enough to warrant the use of her fiery first name. Although Henry pursues her early in the film, he is equally interested in Shasta, a flirtatious student played by Hilary Duff. She pursues Henry as he pursues Scarlet, but nobody involved seems to realize that a love triangle has been formed. Henry simply drifts back and forth between the two in alternating scenes. It was actually rather refreshing to see nothing come of this triangle. There was no stupid scene in which one of the women involved "discovers" Henry with the other woman, and then makes the type of ugly face that movie directors think women make when they see such, which is then followed by the woman not talking to the guy for a long time, then coming back around to him in the end. None of that happened. It was also pleasing to see Duff's character played with more agency than one would normally expect in a film about high school hi jinx.

Some tension does develop between Henry and Scarlett's Neanderthal old boyfriend Brad. Her ex is as overplayed as is Henry's gay friend, known simply as "Big Girl." Chevy Chase as Principal Marshall is the only character to develop beyond a single dimension, or at least to play his single dimension with some imagination.

The film does have a couple of small brushes with relevance. Watching this during commencement season here in the Boston area, we were interested in the school administration's attempts to pre-censor Henry's speech. Student-led protests have led to a few cancellations in our area, for politics rather than prurience. It is during a "safety drill" in the library that Henry learns -- to his only slight dismay -- that preparations for active shooters have become routine in schools. Both issues are touched upon only lightly, though, as this film does not stray far at all from a predictable path.

"The library is still a sanctuary for the socially challenged."

Even the disparagement of the library is clichéd, though we can thank the writer for not putting any librarians in glasses and tight hair so that we could see them magically unfurled later in the film.

Final verdict: The high side of three croquet balls; a good-enough diversion for non-fans and better than some of the other mediocre works that characterize Noni's work in the decade of the Aughts.

Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael

In one of her quintessential brooding roles, Our Winona plays Dinky Bozzetti, an outcast who shuffles through life with her all-black wardrobe. Her best friends include several dogs, a pig, a turtle, and a goat. Adopted as an infant, Dinky is convinced that Clyde, Ohio's favorite daughter -- the famous Roxy Carmichael -- is her biological mother. As the whole town prepares for the arrival of Carmichael for the first time in fifteen years, Dinky becomes more and more convinced of her roots.

Verdict: Four croquet balls; Noni plays to her strengths, which play well with the Melissa Etheridge soundtrack.

Edward Scissorhands - Surrealism at its best

Edward Scissorhands is the 1990 vehicle that introduced Johnny Depp (as Edward), Our Winona, and the enigmatic director Tim Burton to many mainstream audiences, while putting Vincent Price and several other established actors in quirky roles that they appeared to relish.

Edward is Price's Frankenstein-like creation, almost complete except for the hands, which are improvised from a series of rather imposing sets of scissors. As with Mary Shelley's original, he looks menacing, but is gentle, as revealed by his demeanor, his Marcel-Marceau facial expressions, and a Wizard-of-Oz, Tin-Man-with-a-heart allusion). As with Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, this is a monster with considerable sexual appeal.

Our Winona plays his love-interest, Kim. Edward lives in a big black mansion atop a mountain that rises inexplicably from the cul-de-sac neighborhood lost in both space and time. Those who dwell at the bottom of the hill live in monochromatic, prim little pastel houses with perfect lawns and shrubberies. Devises such as CD players, big screen television sets, and rotary dial phones proliferate, making it difficult to discern which decade the residents occupy. The timelessness and faux perfection presage the Wisteria Lane sets of Desperate Housewives, and blogger charismagick argues that the film is Tim Burton's answer to The Stepford Wives.

When the Avon lady (Dianne Wiest) comes calling to Edward's home he is introduced for the first time into suburban life. At first his novelty is a big hit with the housewives -- particularly Kathy Baker, who steps way outside the type she established in Picket Fences. His sex appeal eventually becomes too big of a burden for him, isolating him from all of his potential supporters.

All except for Our (lovely) Noni, of course. The final showdown in this film is reminiscent of Heathers with Our Winona in a fight-to-the-finish with her bully boyfriend, played but not overplayed by Anthony Michael Hall as an obligatory trope in the mainstream-girl-rescues-misunderstood-outcast film that this is.

The contrast with Her Greatest Work is in the nature of the heroine she plays -- the long auburn hair makes her a more classic high-school beauty than the brooding, close-cropped Veronica.

Director Tim Burton created a wonderfully believable make-believe world, with some scenes reminiscent of Latin American magic realism. He gave the make-up artists an additional challenge in the scenes that bookend the film, presenting Our Winona as an elderly grandmother for the opening and closing storytelling scenes.

April 10, 2026 update -- James could not help but notice this allusion in the daily post of the (unofficial) National Park Service LEGO Vignette page. 

Final Verdict: Four Croquet Balls



Lagniappe

Watching this movie we could not help but think about our own loveable, yet lacerating, monster.

Perry Scissorhands

Lucas - Winona was robbed!

In honor of the 17-year cicadas who recently became one (each) with the windshield of our 2004 Saturn Wagon during a drive through Pennsylvania on route 84, we re-watched the only film we know of that features said insects. Iconic '80s child stars Corey Haim stars as Lucas along with Our Winona, Kerri Green, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Charlie Sheen (who plays a sensitive guy - go figure). Although Our Winona gets some top billing, her role in this film isn't all that great. She plays a girl with a pathetic puppy-love crush on a geek who has an even bigger puppy-love crush on someone else, who in turn likes someone else. Ah, high school.

This appears to be her first film; she performed ably, and it seemed she could have taken on a bigger part. She did have one scene with a bit of screen time, but clearly was not used to her full advantage.

Final Verdict: 3 croquet balls

Heathers - One of the best films ever made

On the occasion of my twenty-fourth birthday, back in 1988, I read a review of a movie called Heathers in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. I remember the phrase "dark comedy about teenage suicide" which immediately intrigued me. I have always preferred satire to the typical "rom com" or utterly unbelievable "action film" rot that is usually produced by Hollywood.  I shared the review with my husband, and we made plans to go to the movies that night.

The movie was clever, funny, dark, and (best of all) set in Ohio (our home at the time). We were the only people in the theater laughing when Christian Slater as (J.D.) holds up a bottle of Perrier water explains to Our Winona (asVeronica) that it is a "perfecto homosexual artifact". When Veronica protests he goes on to say "this is Ohio. I mean, if you don't have a brewski in your hand you might as well be wearing a dress." 

I don't know how many times we've seen this film - more than ten but less than twenty. We never get tired of it. It is fresh and funny every time. The writers did a great job of creating something that is so intrinsically '80s without becoming dated.

The original and best, "Mean Girls" film, a timeless classic. 

Final verdict - 5 croquet balls

Lagniappe -- Global Pandemic Update

See  our WWND post for a 2020 update.