Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  Here’s fun bit of nonsense. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Wilee, a bike courier in New York. The ‘premium rush’ of the title is a special delivery that just has to get there on time. We are introduced to the exciting world of bike couriers in a fast paced opening as Wilee goes through what’s involved, and we get a load of on screen graphics and ‘what if?’ moments as Wilee analyses situations in a moment as we see the various possible outcomes play out – most of which have the riders wiped out. The film opens and closes with the familiar sounds of The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ but this is no teenage wasteland - most of the cast, Wilee included, look like they are in their 30’s. Wiley works for an agency and has a rival in Manny and an off on girlfriend in Vanessa. They all have great tech kits and hearing, which lets them make and take calls whilst navigating NYC traffic. The thin plot concerns the delivery of a paper slip which is a Chinese money transfer receipt worth $5...

  For our second look at a Michael Shannon film I’ve booted up his second appearance in the risible 1996 conspiracy action thriller ‘Chain Reaction’. I hadn’t seen this film before as it looked rubbish and having now watched it and confirmed this to be the case I’ll never have to watch it again. Unless I do a Brian Cox retrospective which is unlikely. Hmm ‘Rushmore’ though… Going forward I will pick a random Shannon film from my spreadsheet using Random.org. If I don’t have the file in my library I’ll go for the one above it and if it’s a Boardwalk Empire entry I’ll go to the last block that I haven’t seen. More fun doing a random film than plodding though in consecutive order. I’ll note the file number from my list (1-93) so you’ll know where it falls in the oeuvre. Anyway, I wanted to watch this next given that Shannon’s ‘Groundhog Day’ debut was a meagre two scenes and I wanted to see how he had progressed in his second credit, which took three years to appear. Guess wh...