Too late, jjd430, it IS a cult classic. And this is probably Brad Pitt's best role ever.
I'd have to say his best role was Fight Club.
My feeling about Brad Pitt in general, is that he was getting by on his looks when he started-- you wanna see a terrible performance, watch him in Meet Joe Black, or Interview With The Vampire.
Both of those movies, he was supposed to be an immortal, supernatural being--- and he tanked; he looked & sounded just like what he was, a good-lookin' guy from Hollywood...
But something happened-- before Fight Club, Pitt just 'got it'. Just listen to his voice in Fight Club.. how much control he has, his ability to convey these ideas and emotions.
Not sure what happened, but somehow a light just 'clicked on' for him, and he escaped being a 'pretty boy' and became a solid, impressive actor ever since-- he's still believable even in something like 'Ocean's 11' a throwaway little series of popcorn movies.
I was impressed by his work in Twelve Monkeys--- but I also think he was supposed to be a bit over-the-top, as most of the film is done as slightly surreal and comical.
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cassbtt
14 years ago
I'd have to say his best role was Fight Club.
I'd say the subtlety in his performance in "Se7en" was up to par as well, which came a bit earlier.
Here's an old thread you'd like:
Similarities Between Fight Club and 12 Monkeys (possible spoilers):
http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/board/nest/160806089Sorry, some of the old links are out-of-date; IMDB doesn't keep them long enough.
So, I've reposted the 12 Monkeys/Brazil similarities here just for posterity:
From my observation, here are some of the interesting similarities between these two masterpieces.
The scripts were written 10 years apart, by different people, but the films shared the same director. It took me 20 minutes to think up this list, so there're probably a lot more. There are spoilers!
- recurring dream (Brazil, of Sam saving Jill, as escape from reality) and 12M (James Cole's airport dream, as haunting nightmare of reality)
- terrorists (Brazil, anti-paperwork rebels) and 12M (the 'Army of the 12 Monkeys' animal rights activists); both are metaphorical but basically red herrings to the real story
- going through x-ray security (Brazil, Mother's executive toy for Sam; 12M, Dr. Peters' biological samples)
- back to the executive toy in Brazil, in 12M there's Lt. Halperin's funny, sloshing 'great wave' time-wasting toy on his desk when he's questioning Dr. Railly
- obviously, the dystopic future led by technocrats, where "paper" rules (Brazil) and "technology" rules (12M), yet it's the dependency on paper and technology that's produced the horror
- the solitary hero believes that 'love will conquer all', with his dream girl from 'another place/time'
- the whole in-vehicle thing, a few scenes each, where the hero/heroine spend time in a vehicle riding to/escaping from somewhere, he "abducting" her but she doing all the driving
- at the beginning, both heroes in a 'cell': Brazil's Sam in his frustrating, dead-end job, and 12M's Cole in his actual cell as a prisoner
- both have an emphasis on consumerism to quell the masses; any "troublemakers" are dealt with by either "interrogation" or "locking them up in asylums"
- both films have background clips from 'other' movies/advertisements on throughout, representing 'escape' or sending 'messages'; in fact, T.V.'s and computer monitors are everywhere in both films, as interface between people and the reality of movies/commercials and information
- both have airplanes (or flying wings) that will 'take them away' to a nicer place: Brazil, safety, from the trolls, and 12M to Key West, but both are phony escapes
- The hero might just be getting away at the end, but doesn't
- The big 'escape' scenes at the end: In Brazil, Jill doesn't survive but Sam survives, in a vegetative state. In 12M, James doesn't survive but Kathryn survives to experience the nightmare to come
- Every form and process is numbered in Brazil, and every employee is numbered (Sam is DZ/015), and prisoner is numbered in 12M (Cole is 87645); in both, every human being is catalogued and processed like cattle
- both have a sort-of friend who ends up not being particularly helpful: Brazil, Sam has Jack; 12M, James has Jose. In both cases, Jack/Jose are "just following orders", though Jose is empathetic and Jack is not at all empathetic
- Transformations: Jill become Sam's mother in Brazil; in 12M Kathryn shifts from examiner to ally to lover but also undergoes a physical transformation in Cole's dreams and in reality. Sam/James, on the other hand, do not grow or transform.
- Both Sam and James "know" or "suspect the truth"; everybody else is a dolt; Sam has his "quest" to find Jill, and through her "freedom"; James has his "quest" to find "information about the virus", and through that finds Kathryn
- it's a stretch, but a "beetle" or flying bug "causes" Brazil to start its story, and in 12M Cole is picking beetles, bugs, eating spiders, etc.
- An opposite: In Brazil, the fake world (Sam's reality) is concrete and autocracy and the real world (beyond the roadway signs) is a wasteland and polluting power plants; in 12M the fake world (James' reality) is an underground prison (under a power plant) and the real world outside is a recovered natural wonderland (future) or modern life (past)
- needless to say, in both Sam's and James' real worlds are lots of conduits, tubes and pipes!
Links to "Twelve Monkeys" Pages
www.tempesta-tormenta.ca
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Nomouth
14 years ago
Yeah, kinda forgot about Fight Club and Oceans. I'd call that neck and neck with Goines. And YES he is laborious to watch in Interview.
____
Well, dumb me down! Just keep the spinoffs comin.
My God, it's full of stars! - Dave Bowman
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