*** Official ZODIAC Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

Even better: my best friend's boyfriend is named Lee Allen! Yes, I've given him crap about that!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I expected a long movie but I thought this one moved by very quickly. I SHOULD have been bored: I already knew many of the facts and I knew the story would have no true "ending". Nonetheless, it went by smoothly. I felt much more tired and worn-out after the boring 84 minutes of Reno 911! than I did after 160 minutes of Zodiac.

Not Fincher's best flick - nothing will ever top Se7en - but very good...

 

[JonZ]

"in fact, two films strung together."

I knew the end was coming when Graysmith went to the store to see Allen. I was suprised it came so quickly after the comments about the Graysmith section being "too long" Id heard from a few reports.It just didnt seem like a long time to me from when Toschi dropped out of the investigation to the hardware scene. Ill have to keep track of how long it is next time I see it, but it didnt feel like a hour an 20 minutes to me at all.

"nothing will ever top Se7en"

The last time I watched Seven, it didnt sit well so me. Maybe Ive seen it too many times.

 

[Tim Glover]

Very true Robert. It was a good film. Just had me doubting since so many really loved it. Perhaps I will take in another viewing. I almost always appreciate films MUCH more after a 2nd time.

 

[Nathan V]

The scene with Philip Baker Hall, in his garden, where Jake questions him and we first hear the name "Rick Marshall," for some reason that scene always gives me intense chills. Perhaps the context in which it is said; it reminds me of the creepiness of the railroad man's testimony in JFK, the knowledge that there are other people out there, and we don't know what they're doing.

The very same car used to abduct the lady with the baby is parked in front of the house with the creepy basement that Jake visits.

The humor sprinkled throughout the film came through much more strongly the second time ("Does it bother you that people call you retard?"). Our audience was enthralled in the grasp of the film, hanging on every word. I love it when that happens.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Eric Peterson]

I thought that this was an incredible film, and easily Fincher's best since "Se7en". Although, it is also the least Fincheresque film that he has done to date. I wonder if this was intentional or not? In the past, several reviewers have held his visual style against him.

I thought that the length was fine and I was never bored during the 2-1/2 hours. Hopefully, the full 3 hour cut will make it to DVD, and since Fincher is always very involved in the DVDs of his film, I would consider this a near certainty.

This certainly give me good hope for 2008, as this film was easily as good as anything that I saw during '06 or '07.

The only two downsides to this film had nothing to do with the actual film. First, the trailers attached to it!! (One bad scary movie after the next. I wanted to scream and not because the trailers were scary!!). Also, those damn anti-piracy dot patterns were everywhere on this film. If I hadn't been so involved, I would have considered asking for a refund. Where should complaints be fed about this? Is this controlled by the studio or a separte anti-piracy organization. I must be one of those freaks that has no problem seeing these supposedly invisible patterns. They are horribly distracting.

 

[Andy Sheets]

The only trailer at our showing that didn't look like an instant self parody was Shooter. Every other - a collection of horror and suspense films - looked like it could have been designed by someone looking to mock Hollywood filmmaking today

 

[JonZ]

Yea the trailers were really bad.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Really? Aside from the "Bank of America Tower" shot and a few aerial shots of San Francisco, I didn't feel Fincher's influence that much.

 

[Nathan V]

"Fincher" doesn't mean CGI shots and violence. There's a lot more connective tissue to his films than that. Zodiac has the same brand of perfectionism, pessimistic outlook, compositional sense, dreary urban environments, technical proficiency, and fetishistic attention to detail that all his other films do. Not to mention those green filters.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Cal S]

Yeah, for that alone it was very Fincher-y.

I loved the film. Doesn't beat Se7en or Fight Club for me, but I thought it was greatness.

I thought Ruffalo was fan-freaking-tastic.

The stabbing scene is one of the most disturbing mainstream scenes I've ever seen.

It was weird seeing old Norm Son-of-a-Gunderson be so creepy.

Did I miss John Mahoney? IMDB lists him as Riverside Captain. If he was in there, then we have a father / daughter reunion of sorts from "Say Anything"

 

[Colin Jacobson]

That's what those were? I thought they were some form of subliminal things Fincher put there on purpose!

 

[Patrick Sun]

I see all the dots as well, but I've simply given up being perturbed by them anymore. They are here to stay.

I didn't notice John Mahoney either.

 

[Rhett_Y]

Cal S..

I agree with the stabbing scene... I mentioned it in the review thread. I didn't see any green dots.....

 

[Sam Favate]

I hope word-of-mouth helps this movie. I was stunned that it came in second to Wild Hogs, of all films, last weekend. Not that I am overly concerned with the horserace of box office weekends, but this is quality filmmaking and I would like to see it do well, so studios get the message that this type of thing should be supported, instead of, you know, Wild Hogs II: Wilder Hogs.

 

[BrettGallman]

Don't worry about Zodiac or Fincher. As Terry pointed out in the Box Office thread, Fincher's movies haven't performed well historically in the theaters, but go on to gain a pretty large audience on home video. Because of this, Fincher will always have artistic clout with studios. In fact, I think someone pointed out that he's already been given the go-ahead on his next project that boasts a budget of $120 million.

 

[Andy Sheets]

It's an R-rated serial killer movie. There's no way it wasn't going to be beaten by Wild Hogs.

While I hope it has legs in the theaters, I do think this is the kind of movie that's going to make a bigger impact on dvd. It's just not the kind of movie that's going to inspire an immediate "TOTALLY AWESOME, BABY!!!" reaction from the average filmgoer. I think a lot of people will have a lukewarm reaction and then come back to it later on when they realize it's still rattling around in their heads while other films have faded away.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

...and the bad guy is never caught. Another reason why.

 

[Cal S]

Glad I'm not alone. And oddly enough, Ione Skye is not listed on IMDB (of this date, it may update)

 

[TravisR]

Both times that I saw it, there was a mostly older crowd there and movies with an older demographic seem to have better legs than, say, an action movie marketed to 18 year old guys.

Granted, I'm looking at it from one theater so it may be totally different everywhere else in the country.