The Best and Worst of Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "Snowden" star Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Films starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt that I've seen:
Angels in the Outfield
10 Things I Hate About You
Treasure Planet
Brick 
The Lookout
Stop-Loss
(500) Days of Summer
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Inception
Hesher
50/50
The Dark Knight Rises
Premium Rush
Looper
Don Jon
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
The Walk
The Night Before 

Best Performance: 50/50 (2011)
Gordon-Levitt's special ability to cut to the emotional core of every character he plays has allowed to become one of Hollywood's most reliable and celebrated actors. That defining characteristic has never been more apparent than in his mesmerizing performance in Jonathan Levine's 50/50. As Adam Lerner, a 20-something NPR journalist who is diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his spine, Gordon-Levitt beautifully displays the wide array of emotions and crippling internal struggles that come with battling cancer. He deserves all the credit in the world for portraying a cancer patient in such a heartfelt, compassionate and honest way.  

Worst Performance: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a film that I feel gets far more flack than it deserves. It's a goofy, self-aware blockbuster that was exactly the type of mindless fun entertainment I love to see hit theaters in the summer. The only really negative aspect of the movie was Gordon-Levitt's performance as the Cobra Commander, the franchise's infamous main villain. Gordon-Levitt seemed to only be here for the paycheck and his soulless performance failed to match the rest of the film's gleefully over-the-top tone. 

Best Film: Inception (2010)
With its stunning visuals and a mind-bending concept, Inception was a modern throwback to the glory days of sci-fi. Like all great sci-fi films, Inception inspired wonder, featured a cast of colorful, interesting characters and challenged the audience with complex ideas that demanded to be debated long after the movie was over. This is one of the clear standouts in director Christopher Nolan's (The Dark Knight trilogy, Memento) outstanding filmography and will undeniably go down as one of my favorite films of the 2010's.  

Worst Film: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
I completely understand why 10 Things I Hate About You has amassed a cult following over the years. It's portrayal of high school is firmly grounded in reality, the tone is a lot quirkier than most teen movies that were released during this era and the cast is full of likable actors who have a strong chemistry with one another. That being said, 10 Things I Hate About You is a movie that I've never really enjoyed. The jokes mostly fail to land and the characters (particularly Julia Stiles' Kat and Larry Miller's Walter) are dull and borderline obnoxious. I'm a sucker for teen/coming-of-age movies, but 10 Things I Hate About You is a completely expendable movie that doesn't have the laughs or heart that drives the genre's great films.
 
Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of  "The Magnificent Seven" star Denzel Washington.