best film: The Tree of Life. I’ve seen it twice. I was mesmerized but perplexed the first time and then blown away the second time. It has some of the greatest imagery in the art form’s 100+ year history. It’s always nerve-racking when proclaiming a film a masterpiece after only two viewings, but I do think, if forced to choose, it’s Malick’s best film of all-time which would put it in the top 40 of all-time and I currently have it as the best film of the 2010’s decade. Pitt’s performance is worthy of any great actors Mount Rushmore—it’s largely a silent performance filled with superior moments of acting. Pitt has been in strong contenders to compete for this slot. Fight Club continues to grow on me nearly 20 years later and I feel like it could creep into my top 10 of the 1990’s, Seven is superb, The Assassination of Jesse James is a full-blown masterpiece and it may be joined by Inglourious Basterds amongst the 10 best from the 00’s decade the next time I update that list.
best performance: The Assassination of Jesse James requires celebrity for this role and Pitt is a large presence (he’s used in the same way by Tarantino just two years later). Pitt is perfect here- ominous, melancholic and cryptic. I think it’s the clear choice for his best single performance though the captured moments of pantomime brilliance in Malick’s masterpiece , the acting during the devastating finale in Seven, and the total captivation of his Tyler Durden character in Fight Club give me pause.
stylistic innovations/traits: Pitt has been known as just about the best looking guy on the planet for 25 years but his performances are extremely varied and unarguably captivating despite his good looks. He’s gone out of his way to avoid clichés, ugly himself up, and taking on challenging roles with auteurs. He has 20 films in the archives and counting, He’s paired with a great top 100 all-time auteur (Fincher- 3X), been in some of the best films of the last 20 years (Tree of life, Fight Club, Inglourious, Jesse James) and has great depth in the filmography. Between Fight Club (1999) and Babel (2006) I think Pitt felt a little lost (this is Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Troy—but then seemed to rededicate himself to pursuing art over commerce and the ensuing run from 2006 thru 2013 was really impressive featuring 8-9 films that belong in the top 10 of their respective years— very few actors historically can match a run like that with their entire career– and this doesn’t even include his two best Fincher films or his rise to fame in the 90’s.
directors worked with: Fincher (3), Andrew Dominik (2), Soderbergh (2) and then once with Tarantino, Malick, Iñárritu ,The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Steve McQueen, Terry Gilliam
Top 10 Performances:
- The Assassination of Jesse James
- Fight Club
- The Tree of Life
- Seven
- 12 Monkeys
- Moneyball
- Inglourious Basterds
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- A River Runs Through It
- Ocean’s Eleven
Archiveable films
| 1991- Thelma and Louise |
| 1992- A River Runs Through It |
| 1993- True Romance |
| 1994- Interview With a Vampire |
| 1994- Legends of the Fall |
| 1995- Seven |
| 1995- Twelve Monkeys |
| 1999- Fight Club |
| 2001- Ocean’s Eleven |
| 2006- Babel |
| 2007- Ocean’s Thirteen |
| 2007- The Assassination of Jesse James |
| 2008- Burn After Reading |
| 2008- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
| 2009- Inglourious Basterds |
| 2011- Moneyball |
| 2011- The Tree of Life |
| 2012- Killing Them Softly |
| 2013- Twelve Years a Slave |
| 2015- The Big Short |
Love your work! I wonder what is your opinion about Fury, Snatch and A River Runs Through It.
@George– thank you very much for visiting the site and the kind words about my work. I think A River Runs Through It is very good. Pitt’s performance, the voice-over from Redford, the photography and period details in Montana and rich source material/adaptation– all worthy of praise. The other two I’ve seen once and didn’t find them worthy of the “archives” if you will and haven’t revisited. I’d be willing to check out both again- I have a buddy who is very knowledgeable on cinema who is a big fan of “Snatch”- perhaps I should give it another shot.
@Drake Thanks for answering! I totally didn’t notice A River Runs Through It in the archives. My bad. I only asked because I enjoyed them. I just want to say that you’re my favorite critic and I appreciate the time you take to write these things.
@George— Wow! I’m honored. Thank you.
Lol Brad Pitt the 23rd best actor of ALL-TIME??? He’s barely one of the 30 best actors alive, let alone ALL-TIME.
@Lucas. That’s a common misconception. You aren’t alone in being wrong on this.
His acting skills is so underrated !! Maybe because he often subtle (Tree of Life,Jesse James…)
Your Brad Pitt top 10 list is hard to argue with. Pitt is a tremendous actor who potentially deserves to be in the top 15 best actors of all time. With that being said, I disagree with one movie on your top 10 list and it’s Seven. It’s a phenomenal movie, Pitt’s acting is superb, but I believe a lot of credit also goes to Morgan Freeman. Seven is worthy of making the archival list and being replaced with Seven Years in Tibet (surprisingly not on either list). The film is beautiful in every way from story to landscape and is historically accurate. Pitt’s role as Heinrich is an enriching role that emotionally transforms a narcissist into a humble human. It’s not a basic adventure movie that focuses on two explorers, but has elements of war, friendship, religion, and loyalty which constructs a profound story.
Thanks for publishing your ideas and I look forward to reading more from you!
@Jacob – thanks for visiting the site and the comment. I’ve seen Seven Years in Tibet and didn’t think it was great but admittedly it has been a long time. I can’t put it ahead of Pitt’s work in Seven. I don’t think Morgan Freeman being great in it as well (so is Kevin Spacey in a smaller role) detracts from Pitt’s achievement.
My top 15 of his best performances :
1 – The Tree of Life
2 – Ad Astra
3 – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
4 – Fight Club
5 – Seven
6 – Moneyball
7 – Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
8 – Twelve Monkeys
9 – Inglourious Basterds
10 – Babel
11 – Burn After Reading
12 – Ocean’s Eleven
13 – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
14 – Thelma & Louise
15 – True Romance
Not disagreeing just wondering, what puts Pitt ahead of other current stars, most notably Cruise and Depp. While Cruise and Depp haven’t been nearly as good this last decade, I find their best performances to be better than Pitt. I think Magnolia and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are all timers while Pitt’s best performance, which I don’t know, I guess would be Fight Club or Se7en aren’t nearly as good. He has gotten much more respect from me this past decade though. I do disagree however with DiCaprio’s placement at 20th, I don’t really think he has a masterpiece film (inception is close) and I think that hurts him.
I love Cruise but Pitt just acted in better movies. Seven, Fight Club, Jesse James, Inglourious Basterds, Tree of Life & OUTH.
I like Depp in the 90’s, I think he lost himself with Disney (but love Public Enemies).
I think neither Depp nor Cruise (or even DiCaprio but it’s a unpopular opinion) had a better performance than Pitt (Tree of Life) or a iconic character like Tyler Durden.
@James Robbins— thanks for the comment and how you approach it here. You could be right about Cruise and Magnolia– it is a big, bold, brilliant performance in a masterpiece. I don’t see a big difference between Depp in Fear and Loathing vs. Pitt in Fight Club or Jesse James…. I mention it on my page on DiCaprio so I don’t need to belabor it here but I do think DiCaprio has been in multiple masterpieces
Well, I see now that you think DiCaprio’s been in some masterpieces. That’s fine and him at 20th, Pitt at 23rd and Cruise at 30th doesn’t really bother me at all, actually I’m glad because a lot of critics talk negative about them just because they are handsome and do well at box office, but I guess I just don’t think Depp should be that far behind at 68. I just checked his page and he had like 19 archiveable films which is quite a bit, I agree that Disney kind of ruined him but Marlon Brando called him his successor which means something.
I was wondering what do you think of Spy Game by Tony Scott. I watched it recently and I found it pretty good, worthy of the archives. It felt kind of as a passing of the torch from Redford to Pitt.
@Edwards- I’ve seen it, but I remember being disappointed by the results with the talent involved. I agree it does/did feel like a kind of passing of the torch between the two actors. I owe it a revisit- I want to do a full Tony Scott study at some point.
While going through my Malick study I just finished up on my viewing of The Tree of Life (2011) and I have to say Pitt’s performance has really grown on me, the 1st couple of times I did not find it very impressive and I have to admit I was dead wrong, it’s one of his finest performances, it obviously doesn’t jump out at you in the same way as say Tyler Durden but he really nails the 1950s father archetype, the strict disciplinarian. Admittingly performances are not quite as vital to Malick’s films as most other directors and maybe I just haven’t given enough credit to the acting in prior viewings. But I think it’s an important film for Pitt as it demonstrates his impressive range which I think some people (myself included) underestimate.
@James Trapp- We’re certainly on the same page here. Well said!