My favorite movie of all time is on this list. In fact, this movie is the first movie I ever reviewed and that movie started me on the path that lead to me typing this very intro paragraph. If you can guess which movie it is, ten points will be awarded to your SiftPop house.
Ocean’s 11 may be the perfect heist movie. It perfectly sets up the characters, stakes, and motivations, all while revealing just enough of the plan to get us interested, while saving the surprises for while it’s taking place. At the center of it Clooney and Pitt ooze confidence and friendship in a way that the big screen probably hadn’t seen since Newman and Redford jumped off a cliff together. If somehow you’ve missed this pure piece of joy, steal some time sometime soon, and I’m positive your gamble will pay off. (PapaSift)
Interview with a Vampire is one of those films you have to see if you’re a Brad Pitt fan. This film is a classic and still an amazing movie to watch till this day. It tells the story of Louis (Pitt), an 18th century Lord who lost his wife and child and now wants to end his life, but he has a new chance at life when he meets the enchanting vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise). The film chronicles their time together and their turning of Claudia (Kristen Dunst), a 10-year-old girl, who ends up having a healthy appetite. The film’s narrative is present day Louis telling his story to a San Francisco reporter. By the end of his story, reporter Molloy (Christian Slater) wants to be turned, but Louis believes the man isn’t ready for that sort of life. This is by far one of my favorite vampire films. It’s suspenseful, sexy, and dark with just the right amount of blood and gore. It was beautifully made and still holds up over two decades later. Also, Brad Pitt looks so beautiful in this film. The man takes your damn breath away and still does to this day, I may add. I’m praying to the high heavens it doesn’t get rebooted. Let the film continue to be great for years to come. (Chantal Ashford)
Coming smack bang in the middle of the pop culture Zombie Apocalypse, what with The Walking Dead at the height of its popularity and a Zombie movie coming out every other month, World War Z is that traditional, world is ending, everything is terrible, everyone is dying, every breath of fresh air has a bit of poison swallowed down type of movie. David Fincher’s take on the undead invasion is as tense as any of his films, and even more so. These aren’t just fast zombies, they’re sprinters, and when they’re not doing that they’re moving in a way that’s uncomfortable to experience and terrifying to watch (the teeth chattering scientist is one to note). Brad Pitt’s Gerry Lane is stuck in the middle of this mess as a government agent tasked to find the cure and stop the madness from engulfing the entire world – which is no small feat. Along the way you see him pass through trials that would overwhelm even the best soldier. Intelligence, adaptability and a whole lotta luck are his friends throughout the movie, and it’s a thrill to experience the events with him as our conduit. Now, if we could only get the ever-cursed sequel to begin production and deliver us the next phase in this epic story, it would really be the cherry on the bloody cupcake! (Alice-Ginevra Micheli)
Even though Deadpool 2 isn’t exactly considered a ‘Brad Pitt’ movie, it still counts for our list and gives me a chance to write about Deadpool 2. After the huge amount of success the first movie brought in, a sequel was as inevitable as Thanos. Therefore, we have Deadpool 2, a fun comedy, with a surprising amount of heart attached to it. After Wade Wilson loses someone important to him, and gets locked away in a prison for mutants with an adolescent teen who’s fate will impact the future in a disastrously way, he must change the way this kid will see the world before he goes too far and tries to destroy it. (Josh Brolin) plays fan favorite character ‘Cable’ who Deadpool will have to join forces with before the fate of the future is set in place. We also get great secondary roles from people like (Zazie Beets, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Terry Crews and many more) in this hilarious action comedy. Basically, if you enjoy the style of comedy within the first Deadpool, and think ‘Ryan Reynolds’ is charming in his leading roles, then I don’t see why one wouldn’t enjoy Deadpool 2. Fingers crossed Disney goes for an R rated Deadpool 3. (Alex Henderson)
I was first attracted to Moneyball because baseball is my first true love. It’s a movie that has lots of Easter eggs to a past time period in the sport that I love, and I just eat that stuff up. Additionally, I really love the statistics and intricacies of the sport, so this movie is completely up my alley. Now eight years after it came out, I’ve seen it dozens of times and quote it regularly, and this is only partly because it is a movie about baseball. At its core, this is a movie about a man completely realizing what the most important thing in his life really is. For all the success and failures he has had and will have in the future when it comes to baseball, and all the money that it’s made him, nothing really affects who he is as a person quite like the little things, such as being near his daughter and being able to be with her as she grows up. This is all anchored by Brad Pitt’s incredible performance – most of which comes from simple facial expressions. Some of the most moving scenes come due to long closeups on his face as he conveys so much emotion. Come for the baseball, and stay for the hard-hitting emotions. (Robert Bouffard)
How do you know that you have made a big name for yourself as an actor in the 1990’s? You still every scene you can from a big name like Bruce Willis, that’s how! This is the case with the rising star of Brad Pitt and the stage is Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. A strange sci-fi film (like saying any Terry Gilliam film is strange is a fresh observation) that combines some great mystery. Who or what are the 12 Monkeys? How did they kill most of humanity and force the rest underground? Is this all in Bruce Willis’s head or not? But one of the most memorable aspects of the film is the completely unhinged performance of Pitt. A patient in an asylum who has paranoia for everything and a twitchy demeanor that will put you on edge, Pitt’s character is funny and scary and unpredictable. Pitt is the film’s wild card who makes both Willis’s lead character and the audience question whether such a man could destroy most of humanity. Gilliam is at the top of his game with 12 Monkeys and it is a cinematic marvel to behold. It is one of those films that will crawl into your head and not get out so easy. The same can be said about Brad Pitt’s performance as well. (Shane Conto)
When you have a film come out that is the first work of Leonardo DiCaprio in four years and since winning his first ever Academy Award, you would think you have to go for the Leo. I felt that way! I went for the Leo but I really stayed for the Pitt. Cliff Booth will go down as one of Brad Pitt’s greatest characters and Pitt injected a lethal dose of cool into this picture. The cast is stacked to the roof with talented actors but it is Pitt who stands tall as the cool and mysterious Booth. A stuntman turned driver of a former TV cowboy, Booth loves his dog, smokes weed, aggressively drives, and beats up Bruce Lee in his spare time. Who can top that much cool? The appropriate response would be NO ONE. What is cooler than using some parkour to get on a roof to do handy work? What is cooler than confronting the might of a ranch full of cultists? What is cooler than taking it to Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet? Once again, the appropriate response would be nothing. Live through the Golden Age of Hollywood with Leo, Margot Robbie, and Brad Pitt (in one of his most layered and effective performances). (Shane Conto)
There have been many great war films throughout movie history, arguably one of the most underrated being Fury (2014). Written and Directed by David Ayer, Fury tells the story of a battle hardened Tank Commander and his ragtag crew fighting throughout Germany towards the tail end of WWII. The film’s perspective isn’t clear cut black and white like other films based out of this era such as Saving Private Ryan. Not all of the American Soldiers are portrayed in an altruistic fashion, they are heavily flawed in some respects and sometimes are no better than the Nazis they are fighting against. Fury doesn’t want to show the conflict as clear cut black and white, it is more concerned with displaying the shades of gray that appear in horrific conflicts. Ayer does an excellent job of showing his characters being chipped away by the atrocities of war and showing how once good men could be molded into cruel monsters. He also provides times of levity, such as when Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier D(Brad Pitt) and his men are telling jokes or being playful with one another. These moments give glimpses of the men they are when taken out of moments of peril. The cast really elevates the already impressive material by really embracing the complexities of their characters. Brad Pitt, Shia LeBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal all accurately portray men growing closer through conflict. While they get irritated by one another, they still appear as true brothers in arms and most of all, friends. Fury is a film that should not go unrecognized and should be applauded for its writing and ferocious tone. David Ayer created something very special with this WWII film. (Joseph Vargas)
You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece! If you’ve never seen Inglorious Basterds, know just a few things. First, Brad Pitt is the top billing, but there are so many amazing characters in this movie and each of them are just as great as Brad Pitt. Here’s the plot of the movie, summed up in one quote: We’re in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’.Brad Pitt plays Lt. Aldo Raine, who assembles a fierce group of Jewish-Americans to go independently hunt Nazi soldiers during WWII. During their escapades, they encounter a plot to assassinate Hitler, involving the British SAS and a French Jew whose family was slaughtered by the Nazis. Christoph Waltz gives his best performance (which is saying a lot) as Colonel Hans Landa, there are scenes that are the most intense Tarentino has ever crafted (specifically the opening and the scene where Waltz meets Melanie Laurent). Everything leads to an exciting and hilarious finale that is only something Tarentino can pull off so masterfully. Inglorious Basterds is pinnacle Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Tarentino as a writer, Tarentino as a director, and ultimately it makes it my favorite Tarentino movie. This movie is the one that made me fall in love with Tarentino’s works and when the movie ends, it is so satisfying, but you can’t help but want some more of this world and a glass of milk. (Aaron Schweitzer)
Walk into any film school student’s dorm today and you’ll probably see a poster for Fight Club. That’s saying something, because this movie is 20 years old. That just goes to show you the impact that Fight Club had on a culture and how it defined a generation of film nerds. Growing up I was always a huge film buff, but watching Fight Club is what made me wanna explore all genres of film and dissect every last detail I could from them. I guess you could say that outside of Star Wars, this film has impacted me the most. It’s visceral, cerebral, and hard to shake. It’s one that sits with you and stews in your brain and makes you wanna explore its deeper themes and messages that are just layered so brilliantly throughout the film. Fight Club is a masterpiece in every sense of the word and is David Fincher’s master stroke. From its endlessly quotable lines, to its uncomfortably hilarious dark humor, it sets itself apart from anything that’s ever come out before and is truly original. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the performance of Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden. He’s wickedly charismatic as this pseudo-cult leader and pulls the role off with such charm and wit you can see why all these people follow him. It’s a tour de force performance that I think will go down in history as one of—if not—Brad Pitt’s defining role. (Ben Davis)
Honorable Mentions:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher’s fantastical drama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was a divergence from the white-knuckle thrillers for which he became known beforehand, but what a welcome divergence it was. Based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the movie follows the titular character (Brad Pitt), who’s left on the doorstep of a nursing home in New Orleans, which is run by a wife and husband named Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) and Tizzy (Marhershala Ali) Weathers. Upon finding Benjamin, they see that he has the appearance of an elderly man and ages backwards. As he becomes younger, Benjamin will embark on a series of adventures that will introduce him to the beauty and heartbreak of the world. I know that the screenplay follows many of the same beats as “Forrest Gump”(both films are written by Eric Roth), but everything else about this movie is so superb, that it’s easy to forgive this. The romantic chemistry between Pitt and Cate Blanchett, who plays Daisy Fuller, is so strong that you can feel the love between them that continues to grow throughout the passing of the decades. You will inhale every minute of the over two-and-a-half-hour runtime as you see the world through Benjamin’s eyes. (Vincent Abbatecola)
Also See:
Seven, Snatch, The Big Short, True Romance, 12 Years a Slave, Legends of the Fall, Burn After Reading, Contact, A River Runs Through It, Thelma and Louise, The Tree of Life, Megamind, Mr. and Mrs. Smith