Everyone remembers Brad Pitt’s early role as the stoner housemate in True Romance, so you may assume that he spent his formative years in Hollywood accumulating a record of similarly silly supporting roles.
However, that film debuted in 1993. He began playing the titular role in Johnny Suede in 1991, the same year he appeared as the hitchhiker in Thelma & Louise.
Pitt could just give laughter to go along with those glances in True Romance, so I guess you couldn’t keep those expressions off-camera.
With the 1994 double-whammy of Encounter with the Vampire and Chronicles of the Fall, it was fully off the rails the following year.
He also starred in the genre masterpieces 12 Monkeys and Seven in 1995.
1. 12 Years A Slave (2013)
A free black man from New York’s upstate named Solomon Northup is kidnapped and sold into slavery. He lived for twelve years in Louisiana before his release.
In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free black man from upstate New York living in Washington, DC, for twelve years with his wife and children.
He is an accomplished carpenter and violinist who performs as a traveling musician with the circus. In October of that year, he accepted an offer to perform in the south on behalf of his master’s son-in-law’s circus company.
The offer includes Northup’s traveling expenses and salary of $1,500 (roughly $37,000 today).
Northup travels to New Orleans, where he meets two men involved in the slave trade: Mr. Ford (a cotton broker) and Mr. Woolfolk (a slave trader). They sell him to Freeman & Sons Trading Co., which operates a sugar plantation.
Where to watch – Netflix
2. True Romance (1993)
The movie is about two people in love with each other and wanting to get married. But their families forbid them from getting married because of their different social statuses.
The movie starts with Clarence Worley, a young man who is a recently freed ex-convict from prison.
He meets Alabama Whitman at a diner, and they fall in love with each other. Clarence proposes marriage to Alabama, but she refuses because of their different social status.
So Clarence decides to kidnap her father so that he can force her family into letting them get married.
Clarence kidnaps Alabama’s father and takes him to a remote cabin where he ties him up and gags him, but the plan backfires when the father gets killed by the kidnappers instead of being rescued by his daughter and son-in-law.
Clarence’s friend Max Cherry finds out about his plan and helps him get rid of the body, but he also gets killed.
Where to watch – Prime Video or Vudu
3. Moneyball (2011)
MONEYBALL is a 2011 American Bennett Miller sports drama film written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.
The 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball team campaign is the subject of the 2003 nonfiction the same-titled Michael Lewis book.
The story follows the Oakland A’s, led by general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), as they attempt to compete with larger market teams by finding new ways to measure baseball player value.
Beane wants to build a competitive team despite Oakland’s limited budget. He employs recent Yale graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) as a young, brash statistician who suggests that traditional methods of scouting players are ineffective in predicting future success; instead, they decide to focus on on-base percentage (OBP) and slugging percentage (SLG).
Where to watch – Netflix, Prime Video, Vudu, ROW8, Redbox. or Apple TV
4. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Quentin Tarantino’s “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS” is a World War II film about a group of Jewish-American soldiers on a mission to kill Nazis.
Inglourious Basterds is set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
The film follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers on a mission to kill Nazis, especially those responsible for the death of Jews and other people in their families.
The film begins with Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) giving his team instructions before they go into France to eliminate as many Nazis as possible.
They are instructed not to take any prisoners or surrender, even if they are captured or outnumbered by the enemy.
The team enters France under darkness and takes out an entire German garrison with little difficulty. Still, they are soon ambushed by two German military police officers at a checkpoint when they try to leave the village after.
Where to watch – Spectrum TV, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, or Redbox
5. The Big Short (2016)
Michael Burry, a Wall Street guru, notices that several subprime mortgages were in danger of failing in 2008.
Burry stakes money from his investors in credit default swaps totaling more than $1 billion in opposition to the housing market.
His efforts caught the eye of other avaricious opportunists, including banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), hedge fund expert Mark Baum (Steve Carell), and others.
These two men combine their wealth by taking full advantage of America’s inevitable economic downfall.
It’s never seen a movie as entertaining as this one. Although there is a tonne of jargon relating to banking and the stock market in this, the characters, writing, and direction make it such a quick and enjoyable experience that you don’t mind.
The only thing that might turn some viewers off is the unsteady and occasionally out-of-focus camera. The cast is excellent, and the editing is superb.
Even though the movie does require some concentration and you will be extremely irritated during the end credits, don’t let the highly complicated subject matter deter you.
Where to watch – Disney+ Hotstar
6. 12 Monkeys (1995)
Going back in time is difficult, as James Cole (Bruce Willis) discovers the hard way. James is enlisted for a mission that will return him to the 1990s while imprisoned in the 2030s.
He is to go there and gather information about a new plague that is due to wipe out the vast bulk of humanity.
However, except for the hysterical Jeffrey (Brad Pitt), he receives little support, especially from medical gatekeepers like Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe).
It refers the audience back to the time travel theme of the movie.
A criminal named James Cole, played by Bruce Willis before he became completely uninterested in anything, has been sent back in time from the grim year 2035 to gather a sample of the virus that will eventually wipe off most of humanity and leave behind a lifeless and empty Earth.
Researchers hope to someday use the sample to create a vaccine.
The human mind is not designed to handle time travel; in the movie’s subjective 1995, James just comes out as irrational, and his knowledge of the end of the world emphasizes this.
Where to watch – Hulu, Tubi – Free Movies & TV, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu, or Redbox
7.Thelma & Louise (1991)
Meek housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) goes fishing with her independent waitress friend Louise (Susan Sarandon).
However, when Louise shoots and kills a man who attempted to rape Thelma in a club, their vacation turns into a flight from the law.
Thelma decides to flee with Louise to Mexico.
Thelma develops feelings for the attractive young robber J.D. (Brad Pitt) while on the road, and the sympathetic Detective Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) tries to persuade the two women to turn themselves in before their destinies are decided.
Where to watch – Spectrum TV, Philo, Prime Video, Vudu, or Apple TV
8. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
The 1950s television Western actor Rick Dalton appeared in earned him notoriety and wealth, but In Hollywood, he is now having trouble finding meaningful work that he no longer recognizes.
He spends spent most of his time partying and remaining idle. s his free time with Cliff Booth, his unassuming best friend and frequent stunt double. He spent all; Rick’s neighbors are Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate, a filmmaker and aspiring actress whose lives were permanently altered by the Manson Family.
Where to watch – Roku Channel, Spectrum TV, STARZ, Vudu, Prime Video, ROW8, Redbox. or Apple TV on your Roku device
9. The Tree Of Life (2011)
One of three brothers, little Jack (Hunter McCracken), is growing up as a member of the O’Brien family in small-town Texas in this profoundly philosophical picture by famed director Terrence Malick.
Jack’s relationship with his father (Brad Pitt) is tense, but he gets along well with his lovely mother (Jessica Chastain).
As a grownup, Jack (Sean Penn) wrestles with existentially significant problems as well as his past and attempts to make meaning of his upbringing.
Where to watch – Netflix, Hotstar, Voot
10. Ad Astra (2019)
Clifford McBride oversaw a mission into outer space thirty years ago, but the spacecraft and its crew were never seen or heard from again.
Now, to learn the truth behind his father’s disappearance and a secret power surge that jeopardizes the equilibrium of the cosmos, his son, a fearless astronaut, must set out on a dangerous trip to Neptune.
Roy finds out that the cosmic calamity was caused by a volatile chain reaction that started from the deep-space station that Roy’s father, Clifford McBride (Jones), was tasked with leading decades before after attending a top-secret conference with the SpaceCom brass. The mission was to travel to Neptune to look for evidence of intelligent alien life outside Earth.
Cliff McBride, however, lost contact and was thought to be dead.
Roy’s new objective is to visit Mars to contact his missing father. Sadly, the anti-matter reactor on board the spacecraft emits ferocious shockwaves that could wipe out all life on Earth. This is a perfect sci-fi adventure filled with twists and turns.
Where to watch – Netflix
11. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
George Clooney’s dapper Danny Ocean is a leader of men.
The sardonic, charismatic robber has just been granted parole from a New Jersey prison for a few hours when he already has his following scheme in motion.
Adhere to three principles:
- Play the game as if you have nothing to lose.
- Don’t harm anyone.
- Don’t steal from someone who doesn’t deserve it.
Danny plans the most artful and complex casino heist in existence.
By swinging to the rhythm of the heist, Steven Soderbergh and his stylish cast succeed where Lewis Milestone failed with the original Vegas male model Rat Pack in the 1960s.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001), which purports to be a remake or reworking of the entertaining but frequently uninspired heist classic starring Frank Sinatra and company, is one of director Steven Soderbergh’s most blatantly commercial movies.
An exciting, giant, colorful, fun-loving lark of a criminal picture that flies because the charm of its ensemble replaces what could have been a calculated approach without personality or creative involvement.
As the gorgeous lousy boy who plans the impossibly high score, George Clooney is all slick charm, and Brad Pitt, as the obedient lieutenant, gets along smart-alecky with Clooney. Their humorous behavior lubricates the film.
Where to watch – Netflix, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, or Redbox
12. A River Runs Through It (1992)
Paul (Brad Pitt) and Norman (Craig Sheffer), the Maclean brothers, have a largely idyllic life in rural Montana while fly fishing.
The brothers, the sons of a preacher (Tom Skerritt), eventually grow apart when Norman leaves for college in the east, leaving his disobedient brother to cause havoc at home.
When Norman comes home, the brothers resume their boat trips and evaluate their current location and future course of action.
Paul, Maclean’s younger brother, and his family are central to his narrative. The picture excels in this area.
Paul is incredibly endearing but distant, affectionate but reserved. Those close to him want to assist him, yet they are helpless. They attempt to do good yet end up harming. For every one of them, the outcomes are hopeless.
The Maclean men’s love of fly fishing remains the center of their lives despite their challenges.
Red- ford has once more produced a neutering impact.
He is willing to demonstrate fishing as an art but not as one that requires even trout-sized amounts of blood.
Where to watch – Prime video, Disney plus, HBO max, apple TV
13. Fight Club (1999)
After his magnificent apartment is damaged, a melancholy guy (Edward Norton) suffering from sleeplessness meets a weird soap salesman named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and soon finds himself living in his dirty residence.
The two bored men create an underground club with severe rules and engage in combat with other men who are tired of living boring lives.
Their harmonious relationship begins to deteriorate when Tyler becomes attracted to Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), another support group crasher.
In David Fincher’s genuinely bonkers “Fight Club,” the narrator is a sleep-deprived wage slave who feels so cut off from the life that he starts going to support groups.
He begins with testicular cancer in men.
He sobs in the arms of those whose woes he pretends to share and achieves momentary liberation by giving up all hope. He soon developed a dependency on recovery groups.
Every night he discovers a new group—sickle-cell therapy, bowel cancer—until the appearance of another “tourist” like himself, the glum-faced, chain-smoking Marla.
Where to watch – Amazon Prime Video
14. Fury (2014)
The Allies launched their last offensive in the European theatre in April 1945. Don “Wardaddy” Collier (Brad Pitt), an Army sergeant with combat experience, leads a Sherman tank and a five-man crew on a treacherous mission inside enemy lines.
Wardaddy and his soldiers are surrounded by an inexperienced soldier (Logan Lerman) and are hopelessly outnumbered, outgunned, and facing impossible odds as they attempt to attack Nazi Germany’s core.
In David Ayer’s latest World War II movie, Fury, that oppressive feeling of claustrophobia permeates nearly every scene.
The film chronicles the tale of a battle-scarred American tank regiment. It is set in April 1945 as the Allies are moving into Nazi Germany, and eventually, Hitler is digging in and waging one more desperate effort.
This band of brothers, led by Brad Pitt’s stoic Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier has endured hell together, from Africa to France, Belgium, and now Germany.
Although their long march is almost finished, you wouldn’t know it by looking at their grime-covered features and troubled, thousand-yard eyes.
Where to watch – Freevee, Spectrum TV, Prime Video, Vudu, ROW8, Redbox. or Apple TV on your Roku device
15. Burn After Reading (2008)
When Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), two gym staff, find a CD containing the memoirs of a former CIA analyst (John Malkovich), they perceive an opportunity to make enough money for her to have life-altering cosmetic surgery.
Naturally, things get out of hand for the two idiots and everyone around them.
It’s impossible to miss this Coen Brothers masterpiece. Simply enjoyable and funny, this movie is.
The intriguing plot is enjoyable, and the characters are expertly portrayed. Excellent work from the entire cast. Perhaps the Coens’ lightest.
Where to watch – Spectrum TV, Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, or Redbox
16. The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford (2007)
Jesse James (Brad Pitt), known as the quickest pistol in the west and notoriously unpredictable, organizes his upcoming grand robbery while launching preventative strikes against anybody attempting to claim the bounty the law has put on his head.
Robert (Casey Affleck) and Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), Jesse’s newest recruits, have a growing enmity for the outlaw.
They shoot Jesse anytime they see an opportunity to do so, but their acts are exposed when his fame grows to the point of being almost mythological.
Beginning with a masterfully staged train heist that serves as both a plot point and a tone barometer for the director’s pastoral, melancholy set design and storyline, the movie then regretfully follows the pathways that Jesse James and his young lover Robert Ford take. This is undoubtedly Pitt’s film; his James, insouciantly radiating a piercing, unreadable density reminiscent of Joe Pesci’s work with Scorsese, is a genuinely enigmatic appearance constantly obscured behind perverted glass, heavy smoke, or even his own visibly beaten-up visage.
Early reports suggested Casey Affleck’s Ford would be the man to watch out for come awards season.
Though ultimately, the film’s primary goal is to make you wonder about every aspect of its cheeky title.
Where to watch – Prime Video, Vudu, or Apple TV
17. Killing Them Softly (2012)
Rival thief Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) chooses low-life thug Frankie (Scoot McNairy) to carry out his scheme to plunder a card game supervised by mafia henchman Markie (Ray Liotta).
Ben Mendelsohn, Frankie’s less-than-ideal choice for a collaborator, manages to steal the mob’s money despite their combined incompetence.
In response, Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a mafia enforcer, is hired by Markie’s superiors to eliminate the culprits.
Comparatively, Killing Them Softly is witty, intelligent, and slender—more like a short film than a novel.
Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn are hired by an aged bottom-feeder (Vincent Curatola) to attack a card game with the idea that the game’s owner (Ray Liotta) will be held accountable.
However, angry reprimands invariably follow when this expectation isn’t realized.
These are administered by a mysterious hired gun (Brad Pitt) and his support staff at the direction of a gentle mob cutout (Richard Jenkins) (James Gandolfini).
Where to watch -The Roku Channel, STARZ, Spectrum TV, Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox. or Apple TV on your Roku device
18. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008)
Born in strange circumstances, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) presents as an elderly man who matures backward in a nursing home in New Orleans.
12 after his birth, he meets Daisy, a young child who comes and goes in his life as she grows up to become a dancer (Cate Blanchett).
Despite his life’s many bizarre encounters, Benjamin is driven by his connection to Daisy and the expectation that their paths will cross at the ideal moment.
The screenplay, by author Eric Roth, is also funnier than the typical Fincher writing, particularly in its opening act.
Due to this, Fincher can be slightly more subtly hilarious in his visuals, which is unusual for the director.
The most significant issue with the movie is undoubtedly caused by Roth’s work, which a second viewing affirmed rather than made me think about. With finer wrapping paper and no boomer revisionism, Benjamin Button is Forrest Gump.
Where to watch – Hulu, paramount, plus
19. Sleepers (1996)
After nearly killing a man, four young buddies from Hell’s Kitchen are sent to reform school.
The guards abuse them severely there. Billy Crudup and Ron Eldard’s characters, John and Tommy, become hitmen who kill their abuser after realizing who he is years later.
Another group member, the assistant district attorney, is prosecuting their case.
The best-seller by Lorenzo Carcaterra claims that four New York pals were sent to reform school in the summer of 1967 due to a careless and tragic prank.
There, the guards mistreated them physically and mentally.
Two of the lads, now gangsters, confronted one of their former tormentors in 1981 and killed him.
Another of the bare four buddies served as the district attorney and secretly plotted with the defense to achieve a not-guilty result while ultimately revealing the horrible behavior of the guards.
Where to watch – HBO Max, Spectrum TV, Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, or Redbox
20. Megamind (2010)
Although the most intelligent supervillain, Megamind (Will Ferrell) is the least effective
Megamind is more startled than anyone when he finally vanquishes his lifelong foe after being repeatedly thwarted by the heroic Metro Man (Brad Pitt).
However, Megamind has no meaning in life without Metro Man, so he creates a new foe who quickly finds Being a villain more enjoyable than being a hero.
3D glasses—now essentially required at theaters—were not the only factor.
It was the actual plot, similar to other recent computer animations.
This was partially planned since Megamind is a satire, one of DreamWorks Animation’s preferred genres.
However, even as satire, it drifts into familiar territory.
The metropolis of Metro City, which is filled with glittering contemporary renditions of art deco architecture, is guarded by Metro Man.
Megamind turns into a laughingstock and the dread of the city. Even though he is intelligent, he is a loser.
As he abducts her for the nth time, local television reporter Roxanne Ritchie, played by Tina Fey, makes fun of him.
Simply put, Megamind cannot pronounce words correctly; he even pronounces Metro City as “Managed to meet” as “atrocity.”
Where to watch – Netflix, Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox, Apple TV