The iconic Angelina Jolie turns 45 today. Her storied career has taken her everywhere. The actress acts like a dream, directs like a pro, produces with precise acumen. Hence, you name it and she had done it. Since, Angelina Jolie is so amazing. It’s hard to pick her very best films. Here’s a list of the best movies she’s acted in. Her performances were nuanced and commanded attention. Even her not so great movies are somehow elevated by her presence in them. She is one of those versatile artistes who can don various feathers on their hat with aplomb. Wedding Affair wishes the megastar a very happy birthday.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a really fantastic film. It’s probably not saying much. It’s also one of the greatest video game movies of all time. What makes it so enjoyable though is Angelina Jolie. She plays the titular Lara Croft. The plot concerns the Illuminati and planetary alignment. As a result, itreally does feel like a story line that belongs in a video game. Go watch this one if you already haven’t watched Lara Croft’s badass avatar and smoking hot screen presence. What are you waiting for?
Jolie makes it seem like it’s the most important story in the world. If there was no Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, then there probably wouldn’t even be female-led superhero movies today. While there were a few other action movies like Aliens that had female-led performances before it, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was the first movie that actually pushed the envelope for female-led projects.
Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith will likely be remembered as the movie that brought Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together as a couple. But the Doug Liman directed action-comedy is a really enjoyable film of its own merit. The story is about a bored husband and wife who are actually assassins in competing agencies, and they’re sent out to eliminate each other. It’s kind of like True Lies, but slightly better. Brad Pitt is great in the movie, but Jolie manages to outshine him. It’s not the hardest role she’s ever had to pull off. She’s so damn good in action movies. As a result, her performance was expected by this point.
Maleficent (2014)
Disney has been doing a lot of live-action retellings of their classic cartoons lately, and many of them simply keep the same exact story line as the original movie with a few changes here or there. But Maleficent is different. Taking the Wicked approach, it tells the story from the “villain’s” perspective. Hence, Angelina Jolie plays said “villain”.
With Sleeping Beauty being one of the ancient Disney classics, it would take a great deal to modernize the story. But Maleficent manages it with sass. Jolie is both sinister and sympathetic, and you really feel for her. Especially with the horrific “wing-tearing” scene, which even Jolie admitted was a metaphor for rape.
A Mighty Heart (2007)
Even though there was a bit of a brouhaha over casting the white Angelina Jolie as the mixed-raced Mariane Pearl. This is probably Angelina’s second best performance to date. Jolie plays the wife of the slain Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl. The movie feels more like a documentary than anything else. What makes this movie so great is that Jolie tones down the star power and just plays it straight. As a result, making it even more distressing and sad. It’s not a fun or enjoyable movie, but it’s an important one. Most importantly, Angelina Jolie makes it work in her own strong and endearing way.
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