Next to face the final cut is all round nice guy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I remember watching him in Third Rock From the Sun back in the day and never would I have predicted that, fast forward 17 years (yes it's been SEVENTEEN YEARS since it started), he'd be featuring as one of my favourite actors. You know how these child star stories tend to go: one way (cough...Lohan) or another ('whatever happened to...?'), but old JGL hasn't fallen to the wayside yet and won't be any time soon! Now before we start I have to get one confession out of the way - call me controversial but 10 Things I Hate About You isn't going to feature in my top 5. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but just not enough. We're talking JGL of the last four years or so - let's get started...
5. 50/50 (2011) - Be prepared - you'll laugh, but you will definitely cry too. This is a tear-jerker. Make sure you don't do what I did and watch this on your own (bad move) otherwise you may find yourself an inconsolable, sobbing mess, but it's only because JGL's performance is SO good. He plays a young guy who's diagnosed with cancer with a 50% chance of survival - a serious topic treated with care and touches of humour in all the right places. And did I mention his lovely little friendship with Seth Rogan? Can you deal with that combination?! It's almost too much. I vote they re-make Knocked Up and replace Katherine Heigl with JGL.
4. Inception (2010) - I know, I know, that old chestnut. Sorry to repeat myself but it had to be done. After my love of 500 Days of Summer had been firmly cemented (more of that later), this was the film that showed me that JGL could be versatile, and boy do I love me some action-packed Levitt. Bringing us on to...
3. Looper (2012) - Again, a film boasting a wonderful combination, this time JGL alongside Bruce Willis. Here he plays an assassin hired to kill people who are sent back in time. Again, like Inception, we're talking layers and it definitely took me a bit of time to wrap my mind around it, but I like a good brain teaser. Here's a tip: press pause, take a minute to get over the makeup intended to make him resemble a young Brucey (Willis, not Forsyth), press play and concentrate. It's not one to watch when you're about to fall asleep on the sofa, but definitely worth your attention.
2. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - First thing's first: let's talk about Tom Hardy’s
bizarre and somewhat comedic voice. It's weird, you can’t deny it - he sounds a bit like Brian Blessed…everything is very pantomime villain. But give it a few minutes and you're used to it. The film has
a great balance between visually stunning, fast-paced action and aspects of the
story line focussed around Bruce Wayne’s personal life but for me, the
twists were the icing on the cake. I just did not see them coming. Maybe I’m a
bit slow, but nonetheless I made an actual noise of surprise. Add JGL to the mix as a young police officer with more than loose links to Batman and you've got yourself a winner! Basically, you get my drift, it's brilliant.
1. 500 Days of Summer (2009) - This is not only in my top 5 JGL films, but definitely gets a spot in my top 5 of all time. I've seen it on more occasions than I care to admit and could probably recite most of the script, if that was ever a skill that would come in handy. It's a love story, but not your usual soppy romance where you can predict everything that's going to happen. It's melancholic and painful but at the same time genuinely really funny and don't even get me started on the soundtrack! This is where my adoration of Gordon-Levitt all started and is probably the reason behind my somewhat irrational dislike of Zoey Deschanel - no-one breaks JGL's heart and gets away with it (can you tell I have trouble separating actors from their characters?).
So that's it, my rundown of films featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt - we go from time-travelling hit man to love-sick romantic and all with impeccable acting skills. JGL, I salute you!
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