Saturday At The Movies – Three From Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Over the holidays the Queen and I managed to catch a few movies together, all of which had one unifying factor.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Who would have thought the kid from 3rd Rock From The Sun (and a few episodes of Roseanne) would become one of the best actors in the 2010’s. Not only that, but I’d consider 2012 a huge breakout year for JGL, who stared in a series of strong films, all of which deserve your eyeballs. In the case of The Dark Knight Rises, you probably did catch him, but you may have missed Looper and Premium Rush. So this Saturday At The Movies, consider this a three for all with a heavy slant on our new favourite actor.

Emily McGuiness reviewed Looper here when the film first hit theatres (check it out here), so the Queen and I were very keen on checking it out for ourselves. Suffice to say, we were very impressed. It was a subtle science fiction, not too far from where we are now, but the story of time travel never feels alienating for those who might dig that genre. What really impresses is Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young Bruce Willis. He simply nails all of Willis’ mannerisms and vocal cadence – it’s an astounding performance cum pastiche. There are some who didn’t love the makeup job that made JGL’s nose closer to Willis’, but I was actually very impressed with the work – the scene where the two sit across from one another is classic sci-fi, and reminiscent of the legendary DeNiro/Pacino diner sit down in Michael Mann’s Heat.

Looper was a modest hit, but made significantly more money than Premium Rush, which finds Joseph Gordon-Levitt staring as a death-defying bike courier named Wiley who is carrying a package that bad guy Michael Shannon is desperate to get his hands on. From a plot perspective, Premium Rush is lacking – I could never quite make heads or tails out of what was exactly so important about the package until the ending. However, I still dug the film, in part because of JGL’s lead performance (Shannon also delivers big time), but also because of the stellar chase scenes that director David Koepp but together. Ignore the plot and just get into the high voltage action moments and you won’t be disappointed.

The final JGL flick we watched wound up being Lincoln, which was our choice for a New Year’s Eve day date movie. The Queen and I were debating flicks to venture out to see and, knowing that JGL had a role in the film, it wasn’t to hard to choose. That being said, while he’s solid as the title character’s oldest son, the film absolutely belongs to Daniel Day-Lewis, who is simply astounding as Lincoln. Ably directed by Steven Spielberg, the film clearly hinges on the lead performance, and Day-Lewis does more than deliver – he embodies the character to the point that the performance is simply hypnotic. I felt as thought I was watching the real Lincoln on-screen. It’s an unbelievable performance and should net Day-Lewis his third Oscar.

So there you go – a holiday season that gave the gift of movies, all featuring solid work from Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Check one out, check ’em all out – you won’t be let down.