Angelina
Jolie
By:
Nicolette Karter
I love this lady.
She is an amazingly talented actress, not to mention a good person, with all of
the humanitarian work she does across the globe. {She recently got The
Academy’s Do-Gooder award (not the actual name) for all of her work helping
those in need.}
But we are here
to talk about her movies. Now, she’s done a lot, I mean I haven’t seen
everything, so out of the ones I have
seen, I’ll talk about five of them. Not necessarily my 5 favorite or most well-known
or ones she got awards for, but some that I like (& have seen) & think
she did a good job with.
First up: Mr. & Mrs. Smith. This is
one of her funnier roles, which aren’t as common for her as action-y or
dramatic roles; it’s a shame because she’s pretty funny. That said this is
primarily an action movie, seeing as the premise is about a married couple who
find out they married an assassin. And a rival
assassin at that. She obviously plays Mrs. Smith, opposite Brad Pitt’s Mr.
Smith; they met on the set & now have 6 kids & are engaged. I really
love this movie, partly because it manages to have several genres tie together
so well, a quality I like in movies (when they pull it off). It’s an action
movie about assassins, a romance about a couple who try to figure out their
feelings about their spouse when a big secret is revealed, yet it accomplishes
this with wit.
One of her much
less light-hearted roles is as Lisa in the critically-acclaimed Girl, Interrupted, for which she
won a SAG, Golden Globe and an Oscar.
It’s about a group of women (mainly Winona Ryder’s Susanna) in a psychiatric
hospital during the 60’s. All the acting in it was great, but her work was
phenomenal, she deserves all those awards. It might make you cry, or you might
be heartless, but it’s one of those movies that are supposed to strike a chord
with you in some way or another, especially because it’s a true story.
Hopefully not a true story is Angelina’s movie Taking Lives. Not that serial
killers don’t exist; it’s just that this bad guy is so good at his (job? No;
passion? Hobby?) killing that it’s scary. Scary good though, especially in this
movie where Ethan Hawke comes forward with information about a serial killer
that Angelina Jolie is helping the police track down. The twists & turns in
this are amazing, and one of my favorite psychological thrillers. Plus, for a
serial killer movie, there were some missed opportunity for blatant gore, which
some people may not like but anyone who’s read other horror-esque reviews of
min now I’m a chicken when it comes to grotesque horror movies.
Another thriller,
but with less horror and more romance, is Original
Sin, costarring Antonio Banderas & Thomas Jane. A wealthy single
man (Banderas) decides to marry a plain American woman he knows through an ad
in the paper, but finds she’s gorgeous (I mean, she’s Angelina, just look at
her) & becomes putty in her hands. Unfortunately for him he lives in a
thriller & no one is who they say they are in the beginning of this kind of
movie, so she deceives him. She takes all his money (which was a lot) &
leaves him heartbroken, so he decides to find & kill her. This is movie
about love, & it’s rated R, so I would recommend not watching this with your
parents or on a first date. Things can (& probably will) get quite awkward hint, hint.
In the Land of Blood and Honey
isn’t starring Ms. Jolie, but it was both written & directed by her, so I
thought I should add it. I’m not a huge fan of war movies, but I thought this
looked decent (& honestly I was curious about how she would do
writing/directing). And I think she did an amazing job with it. It’s about the
Bosnian civil war, mostly centering on 2 people on opposite sides who loved
each other before the war, & still do, despite impending death &
destruction looming over them. It was really well done, especially for her
directorial debut. Being in the business her whole life, she probably learned a
few things along the way, but still great for a first effort.
Anyway, I think
she is an amazingly talented actress, not to mention so beautiful (& that’s
coming from another girl. If junior high taught me nothing else, it’s that I
should hate her for being prettier than me but I just can’t).She could have
just coasted by on her good looks, but no, she puts her best foot forward in
her career, humanitarian work, & personal life. A good person and actress
all the way around; good for her. What do you guys think of her? And if there
are any other actors/actresses you want me to write about, just let me know.
Here are trailers for all the movies I just reviewed, though please note that the trailer for Girl, Interrupted is misleadingly funny. The actual movie isn't as funny overall as the trailer, so know that now:
^ Mr. and Mrs. Smith
^Girl, Interrupted
^Taking Lives
^Original Sin
^In the Land of Blood and Honey
No comments:
Post a Comment