Brad Pitt Tackles Toronto

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-burn12-2008sep12,0,3641422.story

It’s no surprise that McDormand, whose great skills won her an Oscar for playing indomitable Police Chief Marge Gunderson in the Coens’ “Fargo,” knows just where all the jokes are in a character who is so obsessed with Internet dating she doesn’t notice that her boss (Richard Jenkins) is her likeliest romantic match.

What is more of a pleasant surprise is that Pitt, a newcomer to the Coens’ world, is completely at ease with this material as well. With an upswept haircut reminiscent of the one he had in 1991’s “Johnny Suede,” the actor matches McDormand laugh for laugh playing a doltish accomplice who means well but is not really cut out for the espionage game.

Though “Burn After Reading” is as much a nightmare as it is a comedy, helping with the laughs are the film’s exceptional group of unsung character actors who deliver impeccable performances in minimal roles — Jeffrey DeMunn as a cosmetic surgeon, J.R. Horne as a divorce lawyer and J.K. Simmons as a CIA big shot. When Simmons’ exasperated character says of the story, “Report back to me when it makes sense,” he’s summarizing this archetypal Coen venture as well as anyone can.

http://www.dailycardinal.com/article/20376
Pitt and Clooney, the new Godfathers of Cool.

While I still respect De Niro and Pacino as some of the greatest actors of our generation, when Friday rolls around, I’ll be staring at the silver screen watching a different dynamic duo, as they outshine the AARP-eligible stars of “Righteous Kill.” I am speaking, of course, of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who star in the Coen Brothers’ newest film “Burn After Reading.” While Clooney and Pitt have not followed the same career path as De Niro and Pacino, they both exude the same undeniable cool that Al and Rob did in the 80’s and early 90’s. Clooney and Pitt are just 47 and 44, respectively, and have comfortably reprised roles once played by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, the forefathers of cool, in the “Ocean’s 11” franchise. Mix in solid performances in “Syriana,” “Babel,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and “Michael Clayton,” and you’ve got two bona fide stars for the next decade. Heck, even Pacino acknowledges the draw Clooney and Pitt provide, as evidenced by his villainous turn in “Ocean’s 13,” which featured more suave schemes from Pitt and Clooney and more over-the-top histrionics from Pacino.

I can only hope things improve for Pacino and De Niro, because their careers deserve a respectable twilight. Yet, imdb.com confirms that “Righteous Kill” has the duo playing a pair of cops named Turk and Rooster, and the third star of the movie is 50 Cent playing a character named “Spider.”

http://www.makeitrightnola.org

Good Morning all. Happy Thursday, one day to go. Thanks for all the links, articles, videos and pictures. Have a great day and make it a MIR day. I am looking forward to seeing Burn After Reading this weekend. Peace to all.

Good Morning All,
This is a little early morning silly and a lot off topic but I had share. Seems, JJ posters are becoming famous, look at us (not us us but us in the general sense…you catch my drift) being quoted by newspapers and the latest - THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!

No Sympathy for the Sex Addict

Sex addiction is defined as “any sexually related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved ones and one’s work environment,” said Patrick Carnes, the author of the pioneering 1983 book “Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction” and creator of the Web site sexhelp.com. Addicts often vow to stop behaviors such as hours-long sessions with Internet pornography, infidelity or criminal sexual activity, and cannot.

Comments on the Web about Mr. Duchovny seeking treatment show that not everyone is willing to accept that compulsive sexual behavior can be an addiction.

“How do they cure someone’s craving for sex?” asked a commenter on the gossip Web site justjared.com. “Lol this is funny,” wrote another. “I love it!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/fashion/07sex.html

Hmm, do you suppose it has anything to do with the fact that we keep it clean…even when the topic is SEX ADDICTION? I think so! Talk about claaaas-sssy! Teeheeheee :)

Enough gloating!

Thanks bdj for the articles, I like the BP and GC are the Godfathers of cool. Ya darn skippy they are!

By the way, PT I read your comment about blacking out GC’s face in BAR. So. Uncool. :(

BBL…going to cry in my cereal.

lulu @ 09/11/2008 at 4:25 am

It’s September and BAR was a small budget film with only 2300 theater release., not expecting it to reach a BO record as TDK or Iron man, but I think it won’t flop. in fact, modestly success.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

I’ll go out on a limb at this stage and predict that BAR will do about the same as Babel - US$100+ world wide. But unlike Babel, I think most of the BO will come from North America and English speaking countries. Comedies don’t translate very well into different languages.

greetings fans

THE BEST OF BRAD PITT

By Kim Morgon

When “Inside the Actor’s Studio” host James Lipton requested the thespian insight of Brad Pitt, the actor declined. Why? Though Lipton has featured the likes of Jennifer Lopez on his smarmy chat fest, Pitt’s reason was modest: He said he didn’t have a “sufficient body of work” to account for the appearance.

Oh, but we beg to differ. The sandy-haired hunk has been one of cinema’s biggest stars for nearly 15 years. He’s an actor who, in spite of his almost obnoxiously pouty good looks and occasional lapses in judgment (”Meet Joe Black,” “Seven Years in Tibet”), has weathered his worst critics by taking chances. And though the media are obsessed with his every move (a relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow, marriage to and separation from Jennifer Aniston, and his ceaselessly chronicled relationship with Angelina Jolie, now complete with six children), he’s been smart to never oversaturate himself. Not by choice, anyway. He keeps a relatively tight lid on his personal and professional life, and lets his work speak for itself.

The upcoming Coen brothers comedy “Burn After Reading,” in which he plays a dopey exercise instructor, is no exception to his risk-taking. And we can’t wait to see his comedic chops up against the likes of George Clooney (in their fourth screen collaboration), Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich. And his performance in the eagerly anticipated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is already receiving Oscar buzz, both for director David Fincher and his ultimate muse, Pitt. So, small body of work or not, we’re sorry, Brad — we’re officially giving you your own top 10 list, detailing your greatest performances. It’s a list that will, for sure, expand through time, and one that should prove to detractors once and for all that Brad Pitt is not just a pretty face.

10. ‘Thelma & Louise
Though Pitt had appeared in pictures before director Ridley Scott’s beloved female-bonding road movie, his entrance was so star-making you could literally feel the audience’s hot-and-bothered awe. In some cases, gasps could be heard by female popcorn munchers. Clad in good-ol’-boy Levis, a T-shirt and cowboy hat, his devilishly charming scoundrel seduced Geena Davis’ smitten Thelma in one of those steamy sex scenes that make husbands uncomfortable. No viewer cared that his character eventually steals Thelma’s money — the camera loved him. His James Dean-like good looks and agreeable, naturalistic demeanor were absolutely effortless. Though Pitt had struggled for some time before this splash (as an extra, doing commercials and a soap opera role), the collective thought was, “Where did this guy come from?” And you just know former casting agents everywhere — the ones who second-guessed his big-screen appeal — openly wept.

9. ‘Kalifornia’ (1993)
Pitt had played a role slightly similar (abusive, druggy pimp) and with the same co-star (Juliette Lewis) in the made-for-TV movie “Too Young to Die,” but in “Kalifornia,” he upped the anger ante to serial killer. Unkempt, bearded and smarter than he looked, Pitt’s sociopathic Early Grayce was an unsparing portrait of violent lawlessness. Scary but still sexy, Pitt’s performance was simultaneously gritty and sickly seductive, which is the very reason David Duchovny’s character was fascinated by him. And it’s an intriguing, ballsy follow-up to Pitt’s family-friendly “A River Runs Through It.”

8. ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ (2004)
Yes, “Ocean’s Eleven” was a better movie. But that was George Clooney’s film. “Ocean’s Twelve” belongs to Brad Pitt. Though he is engulfed by the combined high-wattage superstar ensemble of Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould Bernie Mac and Don Cheadle, Pitt manages to make the crime sequel his (starting with the initial, hilarious cameo scene by Topher Grace). Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan, the well-dressed crook/Danny Ocean team member, Pitt is beautiful, affable, charming and clever without being cute. It’s a terrifically unpretentious performance in a glossy, designer suit of a movie but one in which you never doubt Pitt is a movie star. Director Steven Soderbergh amusingly plays with one reason why we go to movies — eye candy — and then allows the candy (Pitt) to be immensely likable and intelligent in the process. It really is tough to be that attractive and that congenial, but Pitt has the knack.

7. ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ (2005)
How do you get through this picture without bringing up the dreaded “Brangelina” moniker, the supposed nonaffair (but, please, we’re all adults here) that gave Liz Taylor and Richard Burton’s “Cleopatra” frolic a run for their money? Well, you can’t. Even if whatever was really happening between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt once director Doug Liman called “cut!,” it doesn’t much matter; it’s all there on screen: the chemistry, the sexiness and the wit. A violent but at times hilarious and smart satire on the eventual boredom of married, suburban life, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” delivers the goods, with big guns, big lips, big set pieces and big stars. It’s a movie star movie, and for those of us who enjoy our gods and goddesses larger-than-life, it lets us revel in the glamour while dissecting, with unexpected twists and turns, scenes from a marriage. As husband-and-wife assassins who wake up to discover they are their next hits, the Smiths’ typical greeting of “Hi, honey! I’m home!” takes on a whole new dark double meaning, largely thanks to Pitt. A star who can poke fun at his image, he did something that doesn’t happen very often: He made Angelina funny.

6. ‘True Romance’ (1993)
You’re on your way to becoming the biggest movie star in the world and what is the next role you choose? Lead in wacky romantic comedy? Starring role in important period piece? Headliner of an action-adventure thriller? No, no and no. How about a hippie pothead who tokes from a honey-bear bong? Probably against his agent’s advice, Pitt decided on Floyd in “True Romance,” a barely articulate stoner who was in a mere few scenes. He could have been a simply funny afterthought to Christian Slater’s protagonist. And yet, if you ask any Pitt fan to list their favorite Pitt performances, Floyd will invariably be mentioned as a peak moment. Showing his comedic chops, Pitt creates an understated yet hilarious dude stuck in the middle of drug dealers and mobsters who is comical and endearing. If an Academy Award for best supporting, supporting, supporting actor existed, Pitt would have won.

5. ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ (2007)
There’s so much about this gorgeously shot, thoughtful, wonderfully acted movie that was ignored, misunderstood and badly buzzed, that anyone who loves it feels absolutely perplexed. What were critics and audiences not seeing? Or, given many of the complaints concerning the picture’s running length (just past 2 1/2 hours), what is wrong with viewers’ attention spans these days? Who knows? In any case, director Andrew Dominik (who crafted the masterful “Chopper”) gave Brad Pitt one of his greatest roles as the iconic, moody outlaw Jesse James. Sure, Mr. Pitt’s a little older than young Jesse, but never mind — the man suits the tabloid-attracting, charismatic and, by all accounts, good-looking western anti-hero beautifully. One completely understands why Casey Affleck (in a career-defining performance) as the legendary backstabber (or shooter) Robert Ford works as both agent of death and love-struck groupie — an almost Valerie Solanas to James’ Andy Warhol. Though Pitt, one of the biggest stars of our time, more than likely had to dig deep into James’ bouts of psychopathology (or return to his role in “Kalifornia”), he surely related to much of the picture’s message concerning celebrity: It’s toxic and weirdly sublime

4. ‘12 Monkeys’ (1995)
Pitt turned down a lead in the critically lauded audience hit “Apollo 13″ to appear in Terry Gilliam’s demented, bizarre vision of sci-fi dystopia times 10. In a brave, purposefully over-the-top performance, Pitt played the seriously wacked-out fanatic Jeffrey Goines, an insane-asylum inmate who also happens to be the head of a radical animal-activist group who may or may not have something to do with the virus that has destroyed 99 percent of humanity. Got that? Pitt’s wild-eyed, fast-talking and perpetually twitching performance garnered him a Golden Globe and his only Oscar nomination to date.

3. ‘Seven’ (1995)
Director David Fincher was the best thing to happen to Brad Pitt, who, even with a past Oscar nomination, was still fighting his stereotype as a simple pretty-boy lead. In “Seven,” Fincher worked the movie star to perfection, understanding the actor’s strengths and weaknesses and infusing them into a hot-headed character who’s not as smart or cool as he thinks he is. As a cocky, newbie homicide detective, Pitt worked wonderfully opposite a somber and darkly reflective Morgan Freeman as the two track down Kevin Spacey’s famed “Seven Deadly Sins” serial killer. Pitt had never shown such range. When he’s turned into an ire-filled mess by the film’s head-in-a-box finale, it’s both heartbreaking and morbidly bleak.

2. ‘Snatch’ (2000)
After botching accents in films like “The Devil’s Own” and “Seven Years in Tibet,” a game Pitt would finally get one right in Guy Ritchie’s flashy crime caper “Snatch.” More interesting, however, is that the accent was his own creation and, hilariously, something barely anyone — even the characters in the film — could understand. As a rough, grubby gypsy boxer set up as a ringer by two promoters, Pitt looked the part, but his Cockney, whatever-the-heck vocal stylings were the topper, resulting in a movie that would be dull without him. Pitt was able to swipe a movie from that great scene-stealer Benicio Del Toro, confirming that his unusual performance was the correct move. Now that we think about it, we’d have loved to hear him explain that one to James Lipton.

1. ‘Fight Club’ (1999)
The greatest role in Pitt’s career and one, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had any guts, that should have earned him at least a nomination. But “Fight Club” was too scary and likely too downright subversive for the Academy or the masses. A “Clockwork Orange” for the new millennium, the film cast Pitt as Tyler Durden, the transgressive, prankster alter-ego of Edward Norton’s splintered psyche and head of Fight Club, a movement for disgruntled men to violently get back at society. The film re-teamed Pitt with “Seven” director David Fincher, who understands how to be subversive within the Hollywood system. Fincher consequently took the ideal hunk of Pitt, all grunged-out and glamorous, and turned him into something seditious and satirical. And Pitt got it. Dangerous, cruel, sexy and smart, he proved the perfect figment of Norton’s frustrated, IKEA-obsessed and ultimately insane imagination. Fincher’s casting of Pitt was smart on many levels. By using Pitt’s star persona as a comment on how most guys can only dream of envisioning themselves, he deconstructed how we watch and feel about movie icons. So when Tyler yelled at his Fight Club recruits that they would never be movie stars, the scene worked as both a hard truth and a delicious satire. Absolute genius.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/best-of-brad-pitt/?GT1=28101

I sorta agree with this list except it doesn’t have Interview with a Vampire. I suppose I should be grateful it didn’t have Legends of the fall. I’m sorry but I did not like that movie (Alex…don’t be mad , I know it’s your favorite movie and I tried I did but I couldn’t stomach it)

bdj,thanks for all the articles

African Girl,thanks for the article

B.O. Weekend Tracking: Perry’s ‘Family That Preys’ Seems Headed to Win

The Coen Brothers return this weekend with their follow-up to Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men. The quirky, comic spy thriller Burn After Reading (Focus) stars Oscar winners George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton along with Academy Award nominees Brad Pitt and John Malkovich, and the reviews are very good (71% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but Ethan and Joel have never been sure things at the box office. The success of No Country, however, has put this movie in position to be the biggest wide opening for a Coen Brothers film ever, surpassing Lady Killers ($12.6M) and Intolerable Cruelty ($12.5M). I am pegging Burn After Reading for a possible $13.6M 3-day.

EXCLUSIVE FANTASY MOGULS PREDICTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND OF 9/12
1. The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) - $18M
2. Righteous Kill (Overture) - $16.1M
3. Burn After Reading (Focus) - $13.6M
4. The Women (Picturehouse) - $7.3M
5. Tropic Thunder (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $5.3M
6. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros) - $4.2M
7. Bangkok Dangerous (Lionsgate) - $4.1M
8. The House Bunny (Sony) - $3.5M
9. Traitor (Overture) - $2.1M
10. Babylon A.D. (Fox) - $1.7M

http://www.hollywood.com/news/BO_Weekend_Tracking_Perrys_Family_That_Preys_Seems_Headed_to_Win/5309917

Hey all. I’m not reading all these posts!!! LOL

I hope everyone is doing ok

Look what someone emailed me. I don’t know if it’s been posted but it’s so cute.

Angelina Jolie singing Purple Rain at age 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMiWRyIMsrs

LOL here’s Angelina singing New York New York.

Enjoy because these can be taken down any minute. I don’t think it’s too bad since we are like a fan club here and love these little bits from the past. The quality is bad so no other outlet would use this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw0iZ6CYmbU&feature=related