NEW ON BLU (Dec. 31, 2012): 'Looper'

You're a busy person. You don't have time to check the newspaper ads for the latest blu-ray releases. Well, you're in luck, since Popculturology is doing the heavy lifting for you with New on Blu. Check out this column every week for a breakdown of the latest blu-ray releases. To help you impulse buy any of these blu-rays, all you have to do is click on the photo of a case, and you'll be taken to Amazon.

New on Blu is a day early this week due to New Year's Day and the lack of new releases. There's only one new release worth highlighting today, but it's a whopper. This week's featured blu-ray: Looper.

Looper
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, Jeff Daniels
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94 percent

Looper is a once-in-a-decade science-fiction masterpiece. What writer and director Rian Johnson has done with this film is nothing short of amazing, weaving a time-travel tale that is, at its heart, about relationships and the consequences of our actions. Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers one of the best performances of his career, disappears under prosthetics and the facial and vocal tics of Bruce Willis. Willis himself manages to be both menacing and serene in a performance that reminds us that this guy is not only an action star but a real actor too. Emily Blunt should be getting Oscar attention for her performance in Looper, and it's a real shame that she isn't. I adore this film, and I can't wait to catch it again on blu-ray. If you haven't seen it yet, put some of those Amazon or Best Buy gift cards that you got for Christmas to use and pick up a copy.