Zodiac

[Wheaty Petestraw]

Has anyone seen this movie yet? I'm not normally too interested in new releases, but this one looks like it could be good.

[RobtheBarbarian]

Not yet, but I might. I'll get over my personal dislike of the Spider-Man kid if I hear the movie is good.

Thing with a movie based on the Zodiac Killer is that (if I'm remembering an old History Channel show correctly) the Zodiac was kind of.... goofy. For a serial killer. He ran around in a silly costume with horoscope symbols painted on it, and I believe he wore his thick-rimmed glasses on over the pillow case-like hood. His victims also had an unfortunate habit of living through vicious, repeated stabbings and multiple gunshot wounds and going on to describe him to the police. Somehow they never caught him. He did have a pretty unique take on the whole murder thing, though. Something about collecting slaves for the afterlife. He could have been a real badass if he wasn't such a knucklehead.

[Sharktopus]

Not yet, but I might. I'll get over my personal dislike of the Spider-Man kid if I hear the movie is good.

You mean Jake Gyllehaal? He's not Spider-man, but he does bear a striking resemblance to Tobey Maguire. In fact, when Maguire hurt his back filming Seabiscuit, Gyllenhaal nearly replaced him in Spider-Man 2.

[ScottotD]

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to this!

[6079SmithW]

A three hour genre movie full of actors I don't like about a serial killer who was never caught, all from a guy who used to direct music videos? Where do I sign up?


(Actually, I do really want to see this. Se7en is one of my favorite movies, and though Fincher movies aren't always great, the ones with halfway decent source material and concepts have been (I'm a fan of the re-edit of Alien 3, and the Game had its moments.) I wish he'd got Pitt back though, they seem to work really well together. Oh, well.)

[RobtheBarbarian]

Not yet, but I might. I'll get over my personal dislike of the Spider-Man kid if I hear the movie is good.

You mean Jake Gyllehaal? He's not Spider-man, but he does bear a striking resemblance to Tobey Maguire. In fact, when Maguire hurt his back filming Seabiscuit, Gyllenhaal nearly replaced him in Spider-Man 2.

*gasp* I hadn't the slightest idea. Spooky.. maybe the Peter Parker glasses he wore in the trailer threw me off.

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

I guess I am the only one who has seen it. It was a really really good film. You didn't feel like it went on too long either. The murder scenes are pretty chilling too. Especially the couple at the lake. I had bad dreams about that one.

But I totally recommend going to see it. Black Snake Moan, too.

[Sharktopus]

A three hour genre movie full of actors I don't like about a serial killer who was never caught, all from a guy who used to direct music videos? Where do I sign up?

[rant] I really hate the term "genre movie." What the hell does it mean, anyway? Every movie belongs to at least one genre, so how come scifi/fantasy/horror movies get lumped together as "genre"? Plus, I don't think Zodiac really qualifies as a "genre movie," anyway, does it? [/rant]

But I totally recommend going to see it. Black Snake Moan, too.

Black Snake Moan has the best poster ever:

[KissKissBangBang]

I saw it last Sunday, it was really good. Creepy though


Also Robert Downey Jr gave a good performance.   

[ScottotD]

and though Fincher movies aren't always great,

Examples?

[Sharktopus]

and though Fincher movies aren't always great,

Examples?

Well, he has disowned Alien3, but the studio ended up editing it without his input, so you can't really blame him for how it turned out. (It's not like it was Resurrection bad.) Panic Room sucked pretty hard, but mostly because there was only about 30 minutes of story stretched to 112 minutes of film.

[ScottotD]

I thought Panic Room was fun.

[Sharktopus]

Panic Room featured excellent performances by Jodie Foster's cleavage and Forrest Whitaker's lazy eye.

[ScottotD]

Jodie Foster doesn't have cleavage.

[6079SmithW]

A three hour genre movie full of actors I don't like about a serial killer who was never caught, all from a guy who used to direct music videos? Where do I sign up?

[rant] I really hate the term "genre movie." What the hell does it mean, anyway? Every movie belongs to at least one genre, so how come scifi/fantasy/horror movies get lumped together as "genre"? Plus, I don't think Zodiac really qualifies as a "genre movie," anyway, does it? [/rant]

It definitely is, police procedural is an established and very specific genre. That said, I was using the term somewhat ironically, since it tends to be a term of sneering dismissal people use to describe anything that comes out in what used to be consistently b-movie genres, which as you say means sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, along with western, thriller, and a few others. 'Romantic comedy', on the other hand, doesn't count as a genre, even though it's twice as repetitive as most of the others.

Honestly, I generally use it as a positive term, since 'genre movie' in filmic terms means there are a series of unsaid rules that are laid out before hand and I get to watch either the craftsmanship of putting them together beautifully, the cleverness of subverting them, or the amusing stupidity of screwing them up.

Jodie Foster doesn't have cleavage.

That's what makes the performance so awe-inspiring. But yeah, Panic Room was trying to hard to be Hitchcock in a jail cell, and that's not what Fincher does best. It's a decent movie, and I see no reason for him to be embarrassed that he made it (unlike the release version of Alien 3, which is one of those things where you watch it for the good parts, not because it's a good movie) but it does demonstrate that the man doesn't always succeed.