DVD Review HTF Review: Zodiac (1 Viewer)

[donnie_d]

anyone remember sometimes last year or 2005 when someone (i think it's David!) said something like "iam working on something special with Fincher but i can't say what"

was that you David? and what was it?

 

[Ricard Casselha]

David Prior: The "Presidio Heights Crime Scene" animation, which can be found on http://www.zodiacmovie.com, will it be integrated into the DC in some way? I was surprised that it wasn't in the movie, since it's VERY Fincher-y, and VERY well done and complete. Seems like a waste to be put only on to the website.

 

[JonZ]

As far as Im concerned, this movie could have been a hour longer(Ive also followed this case for years)

Se7en was mentioned above. Of Finchers more well thought of films, that one actually has aged the worst for me. I watched it about year or so ago and was suprised how little I enjoyed it.

I think Fight Club is a masterpiece.

 

[TonyD]

about to watch this.

i noticed that there is alsoa trailer for "next" before the perfume trailer and after the dir cut zodiac trailer.
this is in the previews section of the disc.
anyway i wonder how a dir cut would change the film.
the complaint i heard friom a few is that this was too long.

btw was Ruffalo channeling a young Columbo

on the pq of the current dvd.

i noticed a lot of jaggies or stair stepping.
saw it in a few long shots of daytime city overlooks.
on a closeup of a sign on a door.

also what i guess is moire.
about 1hr 23 minutes in i saw something on the jackets of the detectives as they interrogated someone.
really bad on mel nicolais jacket about 1 hr 53 minutes in.

oh and one more thing, kudos to paramount/warners.
the subtitles are fully located within the image and not below into the black bars.



this was using a tosh xa1 ad a mits 73831.

 

[David Prior]

When Fincher first showed that to me, I assumed it would be in the movie too. But it was just meant for the website. The car and Washington/Cherry set were already created for the scene in the film, which was mostly backlot, and they decided to repurpose it for the web.

 

[Ricard Casselha]

Thanks for clearing that up, David. Always a trooper.

 

[JustinCleveland]

David,

I can't speak for everyone, but I was slightly disheartened that I first learned of the director's cut and multi-disc set on the special features on a DVD I would have purchased. I held off purchasing the first releases of "Lord of the Rings" because I knew there were sets coming later, and wanted them. Had I dropped fifteen dollars on this set and found out another edition was in the works six months down the road, I would have been miffed. It's not your fault--instead a lack of communication from marketing.

Looking forward to seeing what comes in the next set!

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I was just re-reading this review, which I had recalled said it was a fantastic disc, because I saw exactly these same issues. I know, I'm watching DVDs larger than they're really intended to be seen, and I know that I don't have the universe's best DVD player, but I hadn't seen stair-stepping that bad... well, I've never seen it that bad on a DVD. It was only occasional, and when it wasn't present the disc was drop-dead gorgeous, but it was really noticeable about a dozen times. (I'm watching on an Optoma H56 running about 110" wide, from a Panasonic DMR-E55 hooked up by component.)

Anyways, I really enjoyed this film -- I was hoping that Fincher would make another police procedural, one that was possibly a little less gimmicky than Se7en (which, that said, I really did enjoy), and boy oh boy did he deliver here.

I don't know how a longer version would be -- it was pushing it, length-wise, for me. I was ready for it to be done about ten minutes before the end. But I'm certainly curious to see it and it'll be a definite rental for me.

 

[TravisR]

I'm assuming the artwork seen in the commercial for the SE is only a mock up because it says 2 Disc Special Edition. If the director's cut will run about three hours and there's (I assume) multiple commentaries, it seems like just the feature will have to be on two discs and then another disc for the documentaries.

I'm surprised and happy to see that author James Ellroy is going to be on a commentary.

 

[Grant H]

I was really surprised to see anybody call this a flawless presentation too.

On my 38" HDTV I saw A LOT of jaggies, aliasing, etc. Otherwise, the video, looked good. But I haven't seen so much aliasing in a long time. Usually my iScan presents excellent 480p.

I have to wonder if there's a problem with the master, or if perhaps some kind of HF filtering is actually quite necessary for 480p material and they're starting to neglect doing this step that might be unnecessary for a 1080p presentation of the same film.

Good movie, glad I rented it, but I certainly wouldn't buy this DVD transfer. I'd hold out for the HD release in hopes the video qualities are remedied, and that both versions of the film are presented. Guess I should have watched the preview for the DC, but didn't know that was among the features. Just seemed like there was nothing on the disc in the extras department.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yup - shimmering galore on this one. It was very good otherwise, but oddly packed with moire effects...

 

[Darcy Hunter]

Yes, tons of shimmering on my Pioneer HD52 played back at 1080i from my Toshiba HD A1. Colours and black levels are excellent, but the "shimmering" and jaggies are sometimes very distracting. I am also glad I held off on purchasing this until the HD is released next year. Re-watching the 1080p trailer at apple.com reveals no jaggies or shimmering on the same scenes (especially the opening SF harbour shot), so it must be some weird transfer issue with the DVD release.

 

[Rich Malloy]

This is one of the worst new transfers I've seen in a long while, and I'm very glad to have only rented it. There needs to be a major improvement in transfer quality for the upcoming releases, as the current one is very disappointing.

 

[Roberto Carlo]

My reaction exactly. I have two DVD players: an OPPO 970 and the Playstation 3 with the latest firmware and this disc looked mediocre on both of them. The word that came to mind while watching it was "uneven." I "got" what Fincher was trying to do, look-wise, but the problems went beyond that. There a lot of DVDs of films from the 1970s that look better than this one.

 

[TonyD]

justin care to add to this on the pq?

i watched this on the 1080i xa1 and the 1080p ps3.
looked just as bad on both.

 

[Don Giro]

Anyone else notice how Fincher used "the evolution of vending machines" to illustrate the passage of time? I though that was a cool, yet very subtle effect: I didn't need the subtitles to inform me that time had elapsed between key scenes.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Since it's a Fincher film I was pretty sure there'd be a gala SE down the road, but I really wanted to see this ASAP so I bought it anyway, and not disappointed. The transfer is a mess, but it's just a stopgap for me anyway.

 

[WillG]

Yeah, I did notice the subtile attentions that the film called to vending machines