07/27/2010 12:00 am
Culture
Liz Smith: Angelina Jolie – 'Salt' Is Tasty, and the Star Has Plenty of Pepper!
Also from Our Gossip Girl: The latest on Mel and Lindsay (don't say 'Mel and Lindsay who?') ... Emmy nominee Ann-Margret ramps up NYC's heat wave.
Angelina Jolie in Moscow © Shutterstock
"ANGELINA JOLIE comes across as such an unearthly mix of striking beauty and ass-kicking aggression that few would believe she could ever be just one of the parts of a love triangle."
That’s Jay A. Fernandez in the Hollywood Reporter, musing on the strange appeal of Miss Jolie, the heroine of "Salt" – an action movie originally written for Tom Cruise. (I guess Fernandez forgot she was once part of a love triangle – the Woman Who Stole Brad From Jen.)
Later in this piece, film historian David Thomson chimes in: "She’s too strong, she’s too forceful. And that’s not just her screen character. It’s her public character too. She’s not got that availability for romance. She isn’t really sentimentally appealing. She needs to be doing strong things – crazy things, sometimes – to work onscreen."
Verrry interesting! I’d say Miss Jolie, who is beautiful but not that sexy, is following in the footsteps of such tough screen icons as Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford. Except … both Stanwyck and Crawford were soft and yielding in their youth; they toughened up as they matured into their late 30s and 40s. It was the only way to survive onscreen – kill the woman, embrace the virago. But Jolie has been "kick ass" right from the start. (Even as an out-of-control model in "Gia" or as a pathological case in "Girl Interrupted," there hasn’t been a lot of vulnerability. But, Lord – is she strong!)
And she doesn’t have to play embittered older women, riding horseback or riding roughshod over their men – pathological, menopausal Medusas. Jolie can pick up a lethal weapon and wipe out the men. Without a backward glance. One senses her screen characters do not need a man waiting as the screen fades to black.
The writer declares, "As Hollywood’s lone female action star, Jolie’s an anomaly and has a shelf life."
Well, she is only 35. I think her shelf is safe for a while. She’ll never be a swept-away romantic heroine, but … at 45, she will probably still be convincingly kicking ass. If she wants to. And she has Brad Pitt and their children to keep her busy. Movies don’t have to be this remarkable woman’s life. It’s a nice job. Period.
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AS FOR "Salt," it couldn’t beat Leonardo DiCaprio’s dream-thriller "Inception," but it still came in second with a nifty $36 million for the weekend. It’s exactly what the studio expected, and they also expect Miss Jolie to have "legs" in Variety-speak.
I saw "Salt" over the weekend. I can’t say it is terribly original, but the mere presence of this actress invigorates plotlines gone stale 30 years ago. Don’t go expecting anything to make sense, especially the whippet slender Angelina "kicking ass" like, well, the guy the script was originally intended for – Mr. Cruise.
Jolie attended the film’s premiere in Moscow over the weekend. She wore a blazing red halter-neck gown and proudly displayed her sinewy arms and tattoos. She could put on a pound or ten, but looked spectacular.
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WHO KNOWS what to believe when InTouch magazine blasts out its weekly scoops? But I like these two stories, and hope there’s a kernel of veracity.
Both items concern troubled stars – Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan. According to InTouch, the only celeb who will speak to Gibson is Britney Spears. Apparently, Gibson gave the pop princess some encouraging support when Britney was flipping out a couple of years ago. She feels she should return the favor. Sweet, no matter what one feels about Mr. G.
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Although Mel doesn’t deserve it, I think Britney has a great sense of honor to return the favor when he needs it because he did it for her.
I thought the movie "Salt" was extremely entertaining. You didn’t know if she was a good person or bad with the plot twists. Of course, in real life, she’d need weapons, not brawn, to fight guys. But I think the point is she wasn’t killing the good guys. She used weapons when she killed bad guys. But she beat up and/or killed so many men, I couldn’t also keep track who was bad and who was good to make sure that’s what she was doing. But she made it believable to me…Scarlett Johansen in "Ironman" did a pretty good job too, but Angelina did it for almost 60 minutes compared to Scarlett’s 5 minutes. That was a lot of stunt work even at 5 minutes!!!
A serious weakness in "Salt" was the unconvincing story line of her love for her wimpy husband. Otherwise, the steely character was as believable as anything Tom Cruise would have us believe. She reminded me of the take-no-prisoner style of the wonderful Lena Olin.
Did you just say ‘Willie Nelson and Lindsay Lohan’ in the same sentence? Okay, that makes sense: raspy-voiced redhead outlaws must stick together. And industry news gets more and more like an elaborate game of spin the bottle in the rec room of our collective psyche.
Angelina may not be sexy to you yet, but wait til she brings the kids over for Sunday-morning pancakes. That’s when it all comes together, I expect.
So, Brad Pitt is property that can be purloined by Miss Jolie? I have never understood the fascination with Jennifer Aniston. Everytime I see her in an interview, she comes off as a dumb, uninteresting blonde. Her movie career hasn’t exactly taken off, and she seems to be unable to let go of the "I got dumped" story.
Brangelina, however, use their celebrity to help the poor and disadvantaged, adopt children, get good acting roles, and make $$$making movies.
I don’t know whether Angelina "stole" Brad, but they both seem to believe in service, and family, and the world is better for it.
Are you serious? It took years before she even addressed it and I haven’t seen her discuss it publicly, ever. As for the tabloids and gossips, yeah, you hear them talk about her alot.
Garbo, she isn’t. But to her credit, she hasn’t been a whiny butt either. Let Jolie have Brad, I say. If they’ll cheat for ya, they’ll cheat on ya, I say.
Some of us really have tired of the "Flash and Trash Girls" and of "Big Bad Daddy" Mel Gibson. Hollywood has not only lost any sense of a moral compass but has apparently lost its collective mind.
As for the "scandalous" Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie some of us have also tired of the "Vestal Victim" Jennifer Aniston whose "celebrity" of late seems to be tied solely into the self-projected role of the "wronged woman." Let it go, dear.
BabySnooks, we’re on the same page as far as the depiction of "poor, wronged" Jennifer. I have a feeling that Ms. Aniston knows exactly how to manage her press image: the sweet, girl next door heroine of lost love at the hands of a predatory woman; then - usually just before her latest cookie-cutter romantic comedy - arrives in the theaters, there’s the required "co-star romance" to drum up a bit of press; then the inevitable "broken hearted Jen" retreating to the beach at Cabo with her trusted gal pals for margaritas, sun and plenty of shots of her (and I admit to real jealousy on this score) amazing figure in a bikini … . it’s all scripted, it’s all hooey, and in a way, I think Jennifer is laughing all the way to the bank.
I haven’t seen Salt yet, since it’s been so darn hot around here that I’m just hunkered down home, but it’s on my list. I did drag out into mthe humidity, though, for Inception, and it was an incredible visual treat - DiCaprio was terrific - ALL of the cast delivered great performances - although there were some plot points that were shaky, and I’m still asking myself the question, "What in the Sam Hill actually happened there?" But definitely try to catch it on the big screen - incredible CGI effects and it should be in the running for Best Editing come Oscar time.
As for MELtdown Gibson? Liz, I know he’s news (I wouldn’t say newsWORTHY, God forbid) but could you declare a moratorium on this horrible story? Please - give us a respite from the endless, abusive and frightening rants, the counter-accusations, the whole sordid mess? I usually love a good "off the rails in Tinsel Town" story, but this one is really so disgusting that I - for one - am yearning for it to disappear. How about some updates on more folks with real class: the great Judith Peabody who passed this weekend, for instance? Here’s a gal who raised millions and millions for AIDS research, never met anyone she didn’t charm, took personal care of her gay friends - and even strangers - during the height of the crisis - and always managed to dazzle whenever she entered a room? Now there’s a gal with a legacy.
As for Lindsay Lohan’s dysfunction (and that of her father and mother) - again: no mas. please? I wish her the best. I hope she gets better and figures out that the world owes her exactly what it owes everyone else: nothing. Nothing but the chance to use it or lose it. Woman up, LiLo! Get yourself together and move on.
Dear Susan…Everybody knows how to handle their press. Do you think Miss Jolie does not? Jolie and Mr. Pitt are not parenting six kids all by themselves. But the nannies, mannies, chefs, and various assistants do not pop up in the paparazzi pics. Nothing wrong with getting help if you can afford it, but Miss Jolie is not exactly raising kids in…well, let’s say the poorest parts of this great country.
I’m sorry, but the whole "Jennifer is a whiner’ thing is false. I could count on one hand and have digits leftover the times she has actually addressed the issue of Brad and Jolie—on her own. It is inevitably mentioned in every story on her, but I hardly think she can control that. Because if she demanded, "don’t mention that" you can be sure it would be mentioned and her demand seen as more of her "not getting over it" or using it for publicity. There is no winning in celebrityland. What’s wrong with being good-looking, forty-ish, divorced and looking for love? (With a nice career) Plenty, apparently.
Mel and Lindsay? Ugly stories but newsy.
"Salt" is terrif. Jolie is amazing. Wait until the weather cools down a bit. This one will still be playing a months from now.
I certainly don’t see Jennifer Aniston "whining" or even "pining" but I do see her manipulating, rather than managing, her press.
The tales the tabloid reporters could really tell. About who feeds what to whom. Usually the best friend who appears to be the worst enemy but who really is the best friend.
I do agree with Susan she laughs all the way to the bank over it.
Doris Day is Hollywood’s "Vestal Virgin." Jennifer Aniston is Hollywood’s "Vestal Victim."
Mr. wOw, I guess I didn’t express it evenly, but I agree. Brad and Angelina have plenty of help raising their kids, cooking meals, scheduling their lives for them, and both are - like Jennifer Aniston - seasoned pros at the publicity management game, all right. A friend who worked as an estra on Salt told me Angelina’s support group was massive - but said AJ was funny, smart and a real professional. Not one minute late for calls, right on target with lines and incredibly focused on the action scenes. But an entourage? Oh, certainly!
I don’t think I would disagree with you on the count of times Aniston has mentioned the break-up, either. She made a couple of comments in the early days and then clammed up. And my comment about her laughing all the way to the bank - I’m sticking by that. I agree she can’t control the tab-rags and their many crazy stories. That being said, I think she’s a shrewd player, Mr. wOw, and she uses this ongoing myth - the archetype of poor, cheated-upon sweetheart - for everything it’s worth. And why not?
It’s a game, all right - she plays it to the hilt. And frankly, I think she is having a perfectly splendid life. (Seen pictures of her house? Wowza, Mr. wOw! She may not have control over her press, but she sure has great style. And money from what she can control: to let the mythical archetype laid on her by others run its course to boost her career, add a couple of zeros to her paycheck, look great and live very well, indeed.)
I think what I’m saying here is that while loads of folks buy into the poor, pitiful Jen legend, rich, rockin’ Jen is one smart little cookie. As I said - she’s laughing all the way to the bank.
It’s sort of like a long con, well-planned and gorgeously executed. But then, all stars run the con as long as they can. I’ll always be on Team Angie, I guess, but I see your point. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t once the press tags you as effectively as Jen has been, and I give her credit for living well. (Best revenge, and all that?)
Aiming to see Salt this weekend, and looking forward to it. (Hope to catch a glimpse of my pal in one or two of the crowd scenes, and to enjoy Angelina in full throttle!)
Saw Salt over the weekend. Perhaps a bit over-the-top on action sequences and a little under-developed on plot lines, but it was a fun movie.
But please. Angelina Jolie is NOT Hollywood’s "lone female action star." Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez (Resident Evil), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Kate Beckinsale (Van Helsing), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) and who could forget Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor (Xena)? There are many more…
My beef, though, is that a few of these actresses are just not believable as action heroines. Jolie in particular has the moves, but she’s just too thin. Her body was perfect for the North Korean prison scenes; not so much for credible ass-kicking. Muscle mass counts in a fight, and she doesn’t have it.
Our whole celebrity culture doesn’t make sense to me, I’m sorry to say. But still I’m drawn to it. It’s as if the gods and goddesses of mythology now live and play out their sagas in Hollywood. Go figure….
Susan Gabriel
author of Seeking Sara Summers
(a novel about falling in love with your best friend)
Thanks for mentioning Ann Margaret. Hers is one of those everlasting marriages so rare in show business. I lived in Midway City in the late 1950s, next door to a couple related to Roger Smith. He was either a brother or a cousin, she was Japanese. Nice people. Way back then Roger Smith was battling Myastemia Gravis. I’m glad to hear he’s still with us and with Ann Margaret. My husband and I enjoyed her show in Las Vegas years ago. She’s a true entertainer and a gracious lady.