Brad Pitt Has Best Movie Chosen By Critics
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Brad Pitt's best rated movie is 12 Years a Slave.
Critics at Rotten Tomatoes are known for ranking movies on a scale of 1 to 100, and their ratings are often considered by audiences when looking for a film. Because of years of rankings, Rotten Tomatoes can examine an actor’s entire career through how well-received the movies were, and they turned this scrutiny to Brad Pitt’s career. Of the 47 movies they listed throughout the superstar’s IMDb profile, 12 Years a Slave topped their list as the star’s best movie.
The film, based on a memoir of the same name, tells the story of Solomon Northup, a Black man who was kidnapped in 1841 and put to work on a Louisiana plantation. In addition to the hard labor, he is subjected to a sadistic boss, swindling overseers, and the indignities of being enslaved, even though he was a free man until his kidnapping. Brad Pitt plays Simon Bass, a Canadian abolitionist who hears Northup’s story and helps him regain his freedom.
Solomon Northup’s story is true. He started out as a Saratoga Springs violin teacher but was targeted by two conmen and lured into what he thought was a prestigious teaching position in Washington, D.C. Brad Pitt played the role of Simon Bass but also produced the film and helped bring Northup’s story to the big screen.
12 Years a Slave earned a lot more accolades besides a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It took home three Oscars, including Best Picture, making it the first film directed by a Black man to win the accolade. The screenplay was adapted from the memoir by John Ridley, who is also Black, and the movie starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o (who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as fellow slave Patsey), and Michael Fassbender alongside Brad Pitt.
The movie is very cruel and difficult to watch due to its depictions of the violence and immorality of slavery, but for the most part, captured this terrible period of American history accurately. Some scenes depicted take poetic liberty, including a scene where a sailor stabs a slave for fighting. However, the Brad Pitt movie met with immediate accolades and earned nearly $1 million on its first weekend, which was a limited release in 19 theaters across the country.
Brad Pitt has starred in or produced numerous hit films since he played his breakout role in the 1991 Ridley Scott feminist anthem Thelma & Louise. He has 86 acting credits to his name, including several uncredited and cameo roles such as The Vanisher in Deadpool 2. This year, he has appeared in three major releases: the Netflix crime caper Bullet Train, the romantic comedy-adventure The Lost City, and the newly released period piece Babylon.
Rounding out the top 5 of Brad Pitt’s films are 2011’s Moneyball, the Quentin Tarantino screenplay True Romance, Tarantino’s World War II fantasy Inglourious Basterds, and 2015’s tale of financial corruption The Big Short. The movies chosen represent a variety of roles the star was credited for but do not include cameo roles such as his appearance in Deadpool 2. With a talented actor like Brad Pitt, the list serves as a sampling for fans and film buffs to enjoy.
