Top 5 Performances - Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie

Lest the onslaught of paparazzi nonsense envelop their careers completely, let's remember that both these actors are very, very capable talents in their own right...

Pitt

5. Fight Club

One of the most effective utilization of star power onscreen, Pitt blazes the screen with his overwhelming presence and makes an indelible impression as the one and only Tyler Durden. He plays off Edward Norton's more understated performance particularly well, and while it's one of his simpler roles in term of where the character exactly stands, it's certainly one of (arguably the) most memorable of them.

4. Burn After Reading

It's fantastic how such a naturally 'cool' actor, as Pitt showed in the likes of Fight Club, Snatch, Inglorious Basterds etc. can often step outside of his comfort zone and play complete loser, doofus characters. His early career featured one of them in True Romance as a very, very lazy stoner, and here in the Coen Brother's screwball comedy he's a hoot every minute as Chad, a gym instructor with very little stored up there and a great deal of laughs to spread. I love every moment of his performance here from his interactions with John Malkovich's abrasive FBI agent, and his final exit which could not be more perfect.

3. Se7en

Some hate the performance for purely the final scene. I see no problem with it; people react to grief in different ways, and while Pitt's David Mills might react in a bit of a peculiar way, it doesn't take away from the power of the moment, and anyway even if it did, the rest of his portrayal of a hotshot detective pulsates with such charisma, energy, enthusiasm and conviction, finding some great chemistry with Morgan Freeman and slowly depicting a rather fascinating arc for his character.

2. The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Overshadowed by Casey Affleck's towering (though that's probably the wrong way to describe Robert Ford) performance, Pitt's performance as the legendary outlaw Jesse James is nevertheless an excellent utilization of his strengths as a dramatic performer and status as a superstar. He's good at being the harsh and ruthless criminal figure and fits in with Andrew Dominik's vision of James as a legend, but what impresses me most about the performance is the more sensitively played side of James' weaknesses and more fallible side which leads Robert Ford to become disillusioned by him.

1. The Tree of Life

I re-watched this recently, and while it's still far from the standards of The Thin Red Line and Badlands, it's grown on me a great deal. One aspect of it I've always loved is Pitt's performance as Mr O'Brien. I've always been perplexed at how bad his performance in Twelve Years a Slave was as he's so good at bringing out the sensitive moments of poignancy and fatherly love here when the film requires him to bring it. What's great however is that Pitt never plays Mr O'Brien simply one way or the other. He's a harsh and strict father figure, a hypocrite to an extent, but one thing that's never in question is his love for his family. It takes what could've just been a prop to Malick's vision and makes it into a fully fledged, heartfelt and heartbreaking character. His 'apology' scene to his son is perhaps the highlight of his career.

Jolie

5. Mr and Mrs Smith

A film that may prove to be unwatchable for some in the future? Um, perhaps, but personally I never liked it all that much, as well as feeling that it contained one of the more dull Pitt performances in recent memory. Jolie, on the other hand, I enjoyed quite a bit throughout this spy comedy as a seductive and deadly assassin, which Jolie plays with the appropriate amount of sass and gravitas, but with a slight comedic edge that works quite well too.

4. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Again, don't really care for the film. Jolie though is pitch-perfect as Lara Croft, from the prim and proper accent to the physical portrayal of the character in each of the action scenes, and even manages to make the ridiculous central plot and emotional backdrop work despite the film being rather paper-thin in those regards.

3. Maleficent

Another film I didn't really care for, despite having a very intriguing concept and a solid creative team behind it. Sharlto Copley is one of the worst villains in anything in recent memory, the visual style is decidedly unimaginative, and it completely sells out it's 'subversive' intents with a finale that's oh-so-generic Disney. Jolie, though, is fantastic initially as the EEEVIILLL Maleficent, completely eating up everyone else in the cast with her brilliant villainous portrayal. The 'cutesy' touch the film gives her character as the film progresses doesn't quite work, but she manages to mend it into her performance well enough and succesfully manages to make us care for one of the House of Mouse's most notorious sorceresses.

2. Changeling

An intriguing sort-of procedural merged with domestic drama, Jolie stars as a real-life single mother Christine Collins who's lost her son, and is reunited with a boy - who isn't her son. The resulting film isn't flawless and is sometimes undermined by a somewhat workmanlike direction by Clint Eastwood, but Jolie carries the film admirably with her rousing and defiant portrayal of a woman who won't back down from finding her son, whatever the cost. There's a few 'Oscar-y' scenes in the mix, but I think they work through Jolie's sterling work.

1. Girl, Interrupted

The film which was her true breakout, won her her first Oscar, and is to this date her career peak for a good reason. Girl, Interrupted is not a flawless film but it's endlessly intriguing. The script and storyline is actually extremely derivative over films with similar topic matters like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but what enlivens it are its characters. Aside from Winona Ryder (who should never be given a bland role), the whole cast is stellar, with the late Brittany Murphy particularly worthy of mention as Daisy. Jolie's turn as Lisa, the Randle McMurphy-esque rebel, who's equal parts charming and manipulative. Jolie is fantastic every moment onscreen in never shying away from the unsavoury qualities of the character, instead reveling them to create a supremely hateful but also somewhat sympathetic character, and makes the ending of the film more poignant than it probably deserves.