The Best and Worst of Brad Pitt (2019)

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Ad Astra” star Brad Pitt.

Film starring Brad Pitt that I've seen:
True Romance
Seven
12 Monkeys
Fight Club
Snatch
Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Twelve
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Ocean's Thirteen 
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Burn After Reading
Inglorious Basterds
The Tree of Life
Moneyball
Killing Them Softly
World War Z
12 Years a Slave
The Counselor 
Fury
The Big Short
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood

Best Performance: Inglorious Basterds (2009)
From his memorable cameo in True Romance to his recent acclaimed leading role in Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood, the writing of Quentin Tarantino always brings out the best in Pitt. As terrific as he was in both of the aforementioned titles, his first leading role in a movie by the notorious filmmaker is my favorite role of his career by a considerable margin. Badass Nazi hunter Lt. Aldo Raine is the perfect vessel for his easygoing charisma and sly comedic delivery. Not to mention, he's a fantastic foil for the horrifying antagonist Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz).

Worst Performance: The Tree of Life (2011)
Alternating between yelling at his kids and staring up at the picture-esque sky for over two hours results in Pitt's character becoming the most boring dad in the history of cinema.

Best Film: Fight Club (1999)
David Fincher brings Chuck Palahniuk's darkly hilarious satire about lonely men who try to compensate for their inability to feel anything by engaging in increasingly destructive acts of violence to life with a fearless sense of clarity that flawlessly captures the incendiary tone of the novel. Strong, disturbing social commentary that's as relevant as ever today aside, Fight Club also features several sensational, transformative performances (Edward Norton, Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto) and an all timer of a twist ending (for those who haven't had it spoiled ahead of time at least) that wraps things up on a stunning note.

Worst Film: The Tree of Life (2011)
The Tree of Life was a landmark film for me because it birthed my overwhelming hatred for meandering indie dramas that believe they are conveying the most important messages ever conceived by mankind. In this story about "the meaning of life", Terrence Malick celebrates his own artistic vision with such overwhelming pleasure that this might as well have been a solo porno. By the time the first hour featuring Sean Penn staring out the windows of skyscrapers, flashbacks of his parents (Pitt, Jessica Chastain) staring at the stars with him and shots of outer space to remind the audience that humans are just small dots in a massive universe (so deep!!!!!) wrapped up, I began to think that this would be the perfect for an apocalyptic event to occur. While the world ending would definitely suck, at least it would spare me the pain of enduring another 90 minutes of this self-congratulatory, pseudo-intellectual trash.

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “The Day Shall Come” star Anna Kendrick.