Come anticipate David Fincher's "Zodiac"

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no, really. Chuck Palahniuk's other books, those are silly. The Fincher movie only gets silly in the fairly conventional chase stuff in the last reel, but recovers nicely for the Kill Your Inner Iron John ending.

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

haha iron john

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

fight club is unwatchable

and what, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

That's nice

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:00 (seventeen years ago) link

Fight Club is silly and watchable and makes a decent story out of Chuck Palahniuk's work, which is an impressive feat. Se7en had the extremely-detailed set thing going on, with the killer's apartment being the most impressive.

Fincher's thing always seemed to me that every scene had to build and have some sort of payoff, which makes it more impressive that with Zodiac there are a lot of slow burn segments that don't go anywhere but still succeed. It was also a great exercise in using actors without overplaying their strengths, something he kind of used in every other film (loved Forrest Whittaker in Panic Room, though).

mh, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link

The first act of Fight Club, up until the actual Fight Club gets going, is insanely good. It falls apart after that, but I don't know that I even care.

kenan, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Fincher's also drawn to stories with menacing projectionists.

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

the total non-acknowledgement in the film of the premise's inherent homoeroticism (men going literally and figuratively underground to get all sweaty and aggro with each other - gosh what's that about, what would Freud say, etc.) always irritated me... the premise is classic repressed-sexuality-turned-into-violence yawnzville, yet Fincher never seems to acknowledge its basic ridiculousness or have any fun with it. There's a bunch of misdirection about consumer culture and absent father figures (another classic mainstream Hollywood explanation for gayness) and schizophrenia but it all adds up to nothing.

I guess it looks nice though. And I appreciated the pomo porn splice at the end (of a giant cock - gee what's that about) but ugh... so stupid.

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I obv disagree completely, but in brief:

classic repressed-sexuality-turned-into-violence yawnzville...Fincher never seems to acknowledge its basic ridiculousness or have any fun with it.

When he first meets "Tyler" Norton is asked "Do I give you the ass or the cock?" Pitt knots EN's tie for him, Norton pulverizes Jared Leto's face cuz "he wants to destroy something beautiful," etc.

It's a ridiculously FUN movie. esp if you think Brad Pitt looks best soaked in sweat and blood. Also, getting 'beat up' is what seems to be going on at many 12-step groups; I think it's more a satire of "self-actualization" as consumerism.

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

^than consumerism^

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't care for fight club too much but one thing you can't really accuse it of is "not having fun with it"!

it's pretty watchable too i find.

s1ocki, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link


When he first meets "Tyler" Norton is asked "Do I give you the ass or the cock?"


haha okay I totally don't remember that

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Also he's wrapped The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Pitt and Cate Blanchett, from the Fitzgerald story about a man who's born old and ages backwards. I can't imagine that'll make money either.

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 17:02 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't either. I may need to drench myself in Pitt-sweat again.

(xpost)

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 17:05 (seventeen years ago) link

four weeks pass...

it's amazing.
-- s1ocki, Thursday, 1 March 2007 04:04 (2 months ago) Link

qft

That one guy that quit, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 08:44 (seventeen years ago) link

I have a question - when the cops are searching the main suspect's trailer, one of them (Anthony Edwards?) looks at something on floor by the bed. What was it? It looked like a dirty vibrator.

nate woolls, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 10:00 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it was a container of model cement or glue, that the killer had said he used to disguise his fingerprints.

ledge, Wednesday, 23 May 2007 10:03 (seventeen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Loved this film. Loved it. I cannot remember when I have walked out of a cinema so enthused.

Tim F, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 14:16 (sixteen years ago) link

me too. not many non-americans seem to have made the trip.

That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 14:31 (sixteen years ago) link

DVD release in late July

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link

this sits really well in my memory. cant wait to watch it again.

ryan, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link

When I was in San Francisco I kept spotting things from the film. Fincher, for his faults, is excellent at creating a believable environment in his films.

mh, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link

still movie of the year.

s1ocki, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 16:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Bugger me this film was boring.

Ed, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link

do i give you the ass or the...oh, wait.

CharlieNo4, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 16:51 (sixteen years ago) link

Def. the best 'mainstream' movie I've seen this year (Inland Empire was its own special thing) - the time lapse sequence of the building going up, accompanied by Marvin Gaye = cinematic bliss

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 17:36 (sixteen years ago) link

Ed OTM

milo z, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 17:39 (sixteen years ago) link

Sometimes it slips my mind that this movie came out this year, but yeah, it's probably my favorite. Well, that and Superbad which I saw in previews and hasn't come out yet and is a totally totally totally different kind of movie.

Mr. Perpetua, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 17:41 (sixteen years ago) link

omg a character named Pepsi Cheyenne?!

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 17:44 (sixteen years ago) link

hey, people who loved this movie: how much did y'all already know about the Zodiac before you saw the movie? I ask 'cause 1) I really like Fincher, but 2) I didn't love this movie - it looked great, for sure, and was well done, but I already knew all the stuff well enough and it didn't seem to really do much with it to me

J0hn D., Tuesday, 12 June 2007 18:13 (sixteen years ago) link

I didn't know anything about the case really, apart from its being unsolved. I am familiar with almost all the locales in the movie tho (last scene takes place in Ontario Airport lolz)

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 18:17 (sixteen years ago) link

j0hn i knew zippo.

s1ocki, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link

but my appreciation of the film wasn't exactly... documentary.

s1ocki, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 18:26 (sixteen years ago) link

the Ontario airport scene just kilt me 'cause that was my home airport for so long and they got it exactly right! the rest as I say was like a less intense version of the book

J0hn D., Tuesday, 12 June 2007 18:37 (sixteen years ago) link

I want to see a movie of The Devil (in? and?) White City. ZODIAC book was great, I am fully stoked to see this movie. I still hart the Gyllenhal too.

Abbott, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 19:35 (sixteen years ago) link

It's good, and if it ends up the best studio film of the year, what an evermore sad world. (It's the ONLY one I've seen unless Idiocracy -- also ludicrously overpraised in some quarters -- counts.)

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 19:46 (sixteen years ago) link

i knew nothing about the zodiac killer. it's not the point, it worked as drama.

this would be the best studio picture in most years, certainly since the '70s.

That one guy that quit, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 19:51 (sixteen years ago) link

It was weird, I saw some "amazing killers" style show on TV a few weeks ago which included a short piece on the Zodiac, I had never heard of him before. And then I read about the film and it was fate.

Tim F, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 14:16 (sixteen years ago) link

still movie of the year.

-- s1ocki, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 16:35 (Yesterday) Link

and what, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link

the rest as I say was like a less intense version of the book

-- J0hn D., Tuesday, June 12, 2007 6:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

i haven't read the book but i don't believe you

s1ocki, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link

I knew a fair amount about the Zodiac (every SFer born in that period heard a bunch about those murders) but I never read the Graysmith book or anything.

Alex in SF, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 15:56 (sixteen years ago) link

My favorite complaint of the movie (I can't remember where I saw this) was that the overhead shot of Geary St right before the taxi cab killing was factually inaccurate because Geary didn't have a bus only lane in 1969 haha!

Alex in SF, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link

roflz

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 13 June 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link

four weeks pass...

There was a Zodiac Killer flick released in 2005, starring Justin Chambers (Grey's Anatomy glowering intern bohunk as glowering drunk cop), Robin Tunney (his wife, mailing in her Drunk Cop's Wife role from the East Coast), & Kieran Culkin (son of Drunk Cop, doing some REAL investigative work). Except for the very last scene (where the actor playing the ZK reads from the last letter the ZK sent to the press, with only an artist's rendition of the ZK onscreen & no music in the background - very creepy & effective!), the flick's a pisspoor Son of Sam ripoff.

-- David R., Wednesday, February 21, 2007 5:29 PM (4 months ago)

^^fuck i thought i was finally watching the fincher one but apparently its this one. that kid does look a lot like macaulay. anyway it wasn't very good

am0n, Thursday, 12 July 2007 03:01 (sixteen years ago) link

ANIMAL CRACKERS

The Macallan 18 Year, Friday, 13 July 2007 06:10 (sixteen years ago) link

the movie makes it look like the main reason he wasn't caught was cuz the murders were all in different jurisdictions.

And because no one had text messaging.
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:19 (3 months ago) Bookmark Link

(finally saw this yesterday)

I think you meant that as a joke, but I thought that stuff really resonated! Especially after Graysmith's 4th or 5th time telling one of the detectives from the 'other' towns some major fact that has always been there but that they were never made aware of.

And that first major 'evidence' exchange:

"I'll send it to you, via the telefax machine."
"We don't have telefax yet."
"Okay, I'll stick it in the mail."

The mail! I mean, Fincher shot this movie straight to hard drive.

And yes, the Lake Berryessa sequence was the scariest murder scene I can think of, from any film. Just horrifying.

Willing to forgive some of the more on-the-nose lines/quirks (yes, "animal crackers"; see also Gyllenhaal going wide-eyed and saying "Not many people HAVE basements in California" during Cellar Roger Rabbit Herringfest); I haven't been this engrossed in anything in a long time.

Ben Boyerrr, Friday, 13 July 2007 11:36 (sixteen years ago) link

it was just one of those films where i knew from the first shot i'd love it. i'm totally irrational about this stuff. also the music, it was funny, my college roommate played that kid loco album all the time so i recognized the first bar but had never heard the whole song...

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 13 July 2007 11:37 (sixteen years ago) link

the one by the lake was v scary but, when he first appeared in his zodiac killer costume, I laughed! it was just after the first (in the movie) murder and, for a second (or more), I thought it was going to be someone dressing up as a "zodiac killer" to scare the people, to shortcut robberies. actually, it was more than that...as he was talking to them and then tying them up, I was still thinking "is this actually the same guy??"

it's weird when you immediately misunderstand something. I mean, I do think it was supposed to be slightly comic, that he appeared in a black outfit w/ a big logo on his chest

the bit right at the start of the transformers trailer where the kid shouts "DAD! NO NO NO!" or something is v weird when you realise what is actually happening

RJG, Friday, 13 July 2007 11:47 (sixteen years ago) link

it was supposed to be a bit comic, which made it even horrid-er. there is a bit of banter about the guy's qualifications or something?

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Friday, 13 July 2007 11:48 (sixteen years ago) link

oh, yeah, the girl is like "he can help you--he's a psychiatry major" or something

I've noticed zodiac watches in lots of shops, recently

RJG, Friday, 13 July 2007 11:54 (sixteen years ago) link


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