Top Five Movies of Zoe Saldana

For most of these essays, I have seen a great number of the movies that star each of the subjects. In the case of Zoe Saldana, I have to admit that I have only seen two of her movies.

But, wow, were they both worth seeing.

The gorgeous Zoe Saldana

I see a lot of movies and even though I see a lot, I want to be sure to see ones that I think I?ll like. That means looking at the creative team behind a movie, the actors and actresses involved and the story. Even if I like Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and I don?t mind Nora Ephron as a writer and a director, it?s going to take comparing ?Julie and Julia? to the second coming of ?Goodfellas? to get me to see a movie about the start of Julia Child?s cooking career and a blogger who makes every dish from her cookbook. Not that I don?t like small stories, it?s just that when I know I?m not the target audience for a movie, it?s tough to convince myself to go. (I will on occasion though and that?s how I ended up seeing ?The Devil Wears Prada.? I think it?s probably because Anne Hathaway > Amy Adams.)

So, while discussing the top five of Zoe, I figured to give you a glimpse at the three other movies she has made that would make my top five just on the likelihood of going to see them, besides the fact that the beautiful Zoe stars in them. Consider it three appetizers to the main course of her top two movies, two that I think are really worth seeing.

5. Vantage Point

Metacritic score: 40 out of 100
Other actors: Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, Dennis Quaid
Director: Pete Travis (first feature film)

A thriller with the same idea as the classic ?Rashomon? (which according to Wikipedia, has the story-telling device named for the movie) and most assuredly not nearly as well done, but it makes me curious enough to list it as the fifth movie on Zoe?s list. Plus, any connections to ?Lost? still have a swaying effect on me.

4. The Losers

Metacritic score: 44 out of 100
Other actors: Idris Elba, Chris Evans, Jason Patric
Director: Sylvain White (?Stomp the Yard?)

Based on the Vertigo comic written by Andy Diggle, this movie has Stringer Bell, Captain America and one of the Lost Boys in it. Yep, that?s enough to make it #4.

3. Death at a Funeral

Metacritic score: 51 out of 100
Other actors: Peter Dinklage, Keith David, Danny Glover, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan
Director: Neil LaBute

I believe I have already confessed to being a huge Neil LaBute fan, add in this stellar cast (I didn?t list Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson or star of ?Firefly? Ron Glass) and it is easy to see how this ranks above the other two. Well, that and its Metacritic score is the furthest away from the unfavorable level.

2. Avatar

When I list all of the things that I didn?t like about this movie (the dialogue, the characters, the story and some of the acting), you would probably guess that I didn?t like it. That?s true and not true. To this day, I think it was one of the most beautifully imagined pieces of filmmaking I have ever seen. I think the problem is that it could have been really exceptional, and instead relied on stock characters and tired one-liners to try to stitch all of the imaginative scenes together. The mistakes hid the beauty of the film, kind of like Zoe under all the blue Na?vi makeup.

1. Star Trek

On the other hand, the action, the casting and the dialogue in ?Star Trek? still makes me a happy camper. I could go on about combining the stars of ?Hot Fuzz,? ?Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle? and ?Heroes,? but instead I?ll just say that seeing Zoe without blue makeup is enough to get it to #1 on my list.

Agree? Disagree? Which movies would make your Zoe Saldana top five?