Premium Rush - 超急快遞

Premium Rush (超急快遞) is an 2012 film. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, and Dania Ramirez. The supporting cast include Jamie Chung and Wolé Parks.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee, a New York city bicycle messenger. Wilee picks up a package from Nima, a Chinese immigrant working at a local college. The package is to be sent to a Chinese smuggler to bring Nima's son and mother to the USA. A local loan shark passes the information to a dirty NYPD detective with money problems. The package contains a $50,000 claim ticket. The NYPD cop, Bobby Monday, played by Michael Shannon, goes on a wild pursuit of said package. Will Nima's ticket get to the smuggler or will Monday get it. The rush is on.

This is a good movie. Lots of action, suspense, and an easy to follow story. JGL does it again. Taking on a genre story that makes us care. The cat and mouse chase between Monday and the bicycle messagers was pretty good too.

Where da Asians at? Everywhere. Unfortunately, it was a NYC Chinatown story. You know, that's the only place Chinese ppl exist in major metropolitan cities. And they are always up to no good, always up to some black trade. Will Hollywood always default to this when Chinatown is involved? I have no hope that this will change within my lifetime. Maybe my grandchildren will see some real changes. Until that time, I can only cringe and bare these "Chinatown" inspired movies.

Jamie Chung and Aasif Mandvi played major supporting roles in the film. Jamie's Korean-American, but takes on Mandarin for some parts of the story. Which I thought wasn't too bad, it was noticeably "americanized". But good enough to pass off to the rest of the English only speaking world. Aasif does his thing as the dispatcher, killed it.

I do recommend watching this movie at least once. JGL kills it and Jamie's Mandarin is quite cute.

Lincoln - 林肯

Lincoln (林肯) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the sixteenth President of The United States Of America, Abraham Lincoln. The movie was mostly based on Lincoln's last four months in office trying to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Of America through the house of representatives. The supporting cast ranged far and wide. I would go on IMDB or Wikipedia to see the whole ensemble cast.



Lincoln has just been re-elected as the President of the USA. The war is taking its toll on the nation and Lincoln does not think that the Emancipation Proclamation will hold in court after the war is over. The 13th amendment has already passed the senate and needs to pass the house to seek ratification with the states. Lincoln is also fighting to end the war with a slow takeover of Virginia. The party of Lincoln, the Republicans have more than 50% of the votes in the house, but not enough for the 2/3 vote. Looking to sway the Democrats to his side, Lincoln ask his cabinet to get to work and he puts in time himself. Along the way, we're shown Lincoln's interaction with the soliders of the war, the long lines to address issues at the White House and his family dynamics. Specifically with his Wife, oldest and youngest sons.



This movie was pretty good. I was fairly impressed. Since my childhood days of learning about the US presidents in school, I've always thought of Abe Lincoln as one of the presidents that made an lasting impression on the United States. Slavery had already been abolished in the British Empire and the United States were following suit. Politics seems to rear its ugly head no matter the time. People are dead set to protect their interest. This movie was a reminder that the politics of today was around 150 years ago too.

The Dark Knight Rises - 黑暗騎士:黎明昇起

The Dark Knight Rises (黑暗騎士:黎明昇起) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The supporting cast include Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, and Morgan Freeman. The film is based on the comic book character of the same name. The movie is the third and final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

The movie starts roughly 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight. Harvey Dent was a good guy turned bad by the Joker. Harvey's legacy has been good for peace and bad for crime. Crime is at an all time low and Gotham has forgotten its crime-ridden past. However, in the shadows lurks a mysterious villain. However, since Harvey's death, the need for a vigilante crime was no longer needed and Batman was retired. We come to find out that Bruce Wayne has injured his leg and seems crippled. Satisfied with the way things are, Wayne has given up on life. But the mysterious villain forces The Dark Knight to rise and fight crime again.



The movie was good. The Dark Knight was probably great. This movie was good. Good story. Well characterized heroes and villains and those in-between. Great production value and great acting. Put it all together, you get a film worth seeing and something to talk about after. The Dark Knight Rises is a bit of "more of the same", but The Dark Knight spurned more discussion in terms of who's right, wrong, and those in-between. The Dark Knight Rises tells you who's right, wrong, and those in-between. The extreme nature of some subplots rang hallow, but the story was suspenseful and kept me wanting more.

Looper - 迴路殺手

Looper (迴路殺手/環形使者/時凶獵殺) is an 2012 film. The movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. The supporting cast include Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels, and Xu Qing. The movie is set in 2044, after the collapse of the United States and the emergence of Zhong Guo.



Loopers are hitmen that dispose of victims sent from the future. JGL plays Joe, a drug addicted Looper from Kansas. Loopers who kill their future selves are sent a huge severance of gold and are than retired from the trade. When Joe hesitates to kill s future self played by Bruce Willis, the story gets interesting. Joe than tries to unsuccessfully kill his future self many times and now has a bounty on his head. On the run, he finds a farm run by Emily Blunt's character, Sara Rollins and her ~ten year old son. It is there that the new reality unfolds and things start to change. The old year has an agenda that unfolds as the movie progresses. The current Joe is just trying to make it out alive.

This movie was pretty awesome. The story is the main reason. Backed by an amazing performance by JGL and Emily Blunt, this is a must watch for time altering Sci-fi geeks. The love stories that unfold in this movie are quite heart warming too.

50/50 - 活個痛快

50/50 (活個痛快) is an 2011 film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) and Seth Rogen. The supporting cast includes Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston.

JGL plays Adam, a radio script writer. His best friend and co-worker Kyle is played by Seth Rogen. Adam finds that he has cancer. His girlfriend is initially supportive, but cheats on him. They break up. The majority of the movie is mainly Adam dealing with his cancer, the treatment, the decline, and the comeback. Kyle is seen as a selfish guy at first, but totally does what's in his friends best interest.

The movie was enjoyable. I had a good time watching. However, its not a subject matter I care for. As I've lost family members to cancer myself, its not a pretty sight. Sometimes its a slow decline. Sometimes it changes your life in an instant. JGL is masterful in going from secure, insecure, confident, shy, and ambivalent all in the span of the movie. For Rogan and JGL fans, its a must watch.

Inception - 全面啟動

Inception (全面啟動) is a 2010 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, and Dileep Rao. The film is helmed by famed director Christopher Nolan.

The Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb
Ken Watanabe as Mr. Saito
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur
Marion Cotillard as Mal Cobb
Ellen Page as Ariadne, the Architect
Tom Hardy as Eames
Cillian Murphy as Robert Michael Fischer
Dileep Rao as Yusuf

The Story
A group of hired guns will go into a person's dream to extract valuable information. The way they do this is via a technique developed by the US armed forces to "share dreams" But these team members aren't just sharing dreams, they have roles to fill. A architect is someone who builds the dream and there are the guys the run missions in the dream. Dom and Arthur are a team and look for architects to make their living. Mr. Saito is looking to one up his competition and hires Dom. But this mission is different. This mission isn't to extract information but to plant an idea, Inception.

A must see for any movie fan of suspense trillers. Since the story is based on suspense and slow reveals, my synopsis is going to do the film justice. Its also a movie that's commanded quite a few discussions around the ending and beginning.

You'll get the highest of recommendations from me to watch this film and to watch it on the big screen.

(500) Days of Summer - 戀夏(500日)

(500) Days of Summer [戀夏(500日)] is a 2009 film out of the US. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. This is the film debut of acclaimed music director, Marc Webb.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hansen and Zooey Deschanel plays Summer Finn and they are a couple. The movie moves in an episodic way through their relationship. However, instead of the conventional start to finish, this movie starts with the break up and flashes back to different points in their relationship. The 500 days is the number of days that Tom is "in love" with Summer. Along the way, we jump from the beginning to the middle, back to the beginning, and towards the end. The movie may jump back and forth to play off specific significance events or behaviors from the different times in a non-linear fashion.



It's actually better not to know the plot, but just know that this is a mind trip film. It's one of those films that comes along every so often from a fresh new director that just blows me away. The last couple of movies that did this to me were Napoleon Dynamite and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (ironically both are from 2004). The story, movie feel, the production value and tricks, and actors all combine for something so harmonious.

I've been a Zooey Deschanel fan since her turn as a big sister in Almost Famous. Although all the movies she's done in-between not be my cup of tea, this movie was made so much better because of Zooey. In that role as a woman who's lost faith in love and how she finds it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt been around for ages. As Tom Hansen, he goes from "eh", floating in the clouds, to the depths of rejection, what a masterful performance.



The music was also like a soundtrack of my elementary school days to the modern emo/folk stuff. The soundtrack to the movie complemented and helped move the story along. Because the meanings of the songs and the "followers" of the music was also reflected in the personalities of the two leads.

I can't give this movie enough praise. It's one of those movies that can be raved about and also live up the expectations.

The film was also based in downtown Los Angeles. I had worked in downtown Los Angeles for 5 years and many of the sites they were at reminded me of those days. And the blade runner building was also a feature.

One note is that Asians are quite lacking in this film. If you've been to downtown Los Angeles, there are a host of Asians there, most offices would feature many more Asians than presented in this film. And when they were a focus, it was for the butt of a joke. The only sour note to an amazing film.

Marc Webb, the director of the film has been a music video director for the past ten years. Maybe that's why music is such an important aspect of the film. Webb is also the director for the Spider-Man reboot. It's too bad as I would have liked Webb to have channeled that indie spirit into another couple of films.