20 Essential Movie Performances That Will Define 2015

7. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Edward Snowden (Snowden)

Release Date: December 25 The Movie: Oliver Stone returns with his latest political thriller, revolving around Edward Snowden's leaking of classified NSA surveillance information in 2013. The Role: Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Snowden himself, and though he bears almost no visual likeness to him whatsoever, there's hope that his consistency as a performer will serve him well here. Why It'll Define 2015: The actor has two potential Oscar roles this year (the other being as Philippe Petit in The Walk), but given the timeliness of the Snowden issue, that seems like the more likely candidate for awards love, even with a writer-director as inconsistent as Stone. It'll be hard for Gordon-Levitt's work not to be the talk of the town unless he somehow phones in his performance, though whether he walks the Oscar red carpet or not really depends on the more hit-and-miss Stone. For those who thought the Snowden documentary Citizenfour was too dry, hopefully this will be a sexier alternative.