The Joseph Gordon-Levitt Rises

You might think I just saw a band wagon rushing past.  Is that the 'Loving Joseph Gordon-Levitt' bandwagon I cried as it shot by me bursting at the seams?  Yes it was and though it's been filling up rapidly for years now and picking up speed like it picks up passengers, it's definitely time I jumped on board and yelled his name from the rooftops.

But why now?  Well for me it's less the successes of the last couple of years.  Inception had him scrambling around in a revolving corridor in probably the best fight scene of the decade and 500 Days of Summer had him moping through probably the best romantic comedy I've ever seen.


But JGL's upcoming slate is the real reason I'm getting so excited now.  Nolan's trilogy-closer The Dark Knight Rises is obviously going to be huge but with so much secrecy surrounding it and JGL's character John Blake not being well-known from the comics, it's hard to know how big a role he'll be playing.  With Bane and Catwoman to fight against, and Commisioner Gordon out of action, perhaps JGL's cop will be a vital ally for Batman.  We'll see.  This trailer certainly doesn't have any answers:



Less exciting but still proving his importance and popularity in Hollywood right now is Gordon-Levitt's casting as Abraham Lincoln's son in Spielberg's long-awated biopic.  Lincoln is played by Daniel Day-Lewis and so it should be a huge treat to see these two multi-hyphenates perform together.

But I digress.  The real reason for writing here is that JGL is in two of the most exciting films of 2012.  Rian Johnson's Looper re-teams the star with his director on high-school neo-noir Brick.  This was the film that way back in 2005 really brought JGL to the attention of so many.  Released soon after the grim and critically-acclaimed, but far from mainstream, Mysterious Skin, these films cemented JGL as a new king of cool indie films.



Looper however sees the star and director go mainstream.  With Bruce Willis, time travel and a clever sounding premise that the director has compared to the Terminator films, this ones got me dribbling with anticipation.  The synopsis on IMDB sums it up as 'A killer who works for the mob of the future recognizes one of his targets as his future self.'  A few more details are available over at Dark Horizons.  As soon as there's a trailer, I'll be posting.  There is a pic here.

Then later in the year will be the release of Tarantino's Django Unchained where JGL will be starring with Leo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx.  After Inglorious Basterds and letting the let downs of Kill Bill Vol.2 and Death Proof fade into distant memory, I'm super excited for this.  Tarantino and DiCaprio and now JGL for good measure.  This can't fail surely.  Apparently it's about 'a slave-turned-bounty hunter who sets out to rescue his wife from the brutal Calvin Candie, a Mississippi plantation owner'.  No trailer as yet.

But for those who need a JGL fix sooner, watch out for this one.  50/50 is released in the UK in late November and looks like a very funny but potentially very moving drama.  Starring Seth Rogen and JGL, it's about a young man diagnosed with cancer and given a 50/50 chance of survival.  It could be incredibly bad taste but judging by the trailer, it looks like a great comedy drama with a quality lead performance from Gordon-Levitt.  And here's the trailer:



So 50/50, Looper and Django Unchained.  If the JGL bandwagon has any room left, get on board now before it's too late.  2012's going to be huge.