I broke a long streak of not seeing movies in the theater when I went to Zodiac at 12:00AM Friday. Earlier in the day I had seen a billboard promoting South Point showing premiers at midnight on Thursdays. I thought “hey, new movies, very few people, right up the street, and I can go when I get off work”. It would have worked out well, except I forgot I’d be forced to watch trailers which no one can seem to assemble without exposing all of the first 2/3rds of a movie. I’ve been avoiding trailers recently for that reason and haven’t been reading plots that often.
Such was the case with Zodiac. From the title I assumed it was about the Zodiac killer. I knew the director was David Fincher and that it was rating quite well on Rotten Tomatoes. Fincher has been criticized in the past for an excessive use of CG. The only obvious use in this film is the construction of the Transamerica Pyramid to mark the passage of time which works really well. Although advertised with Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal, they’re just a small part of incredible cast. Everyone does a great job; I particularly liked Mark Ruffalo (funny because his character sounds like a young Columbo) and his partner Anthony Edwards (Revenge of the Nerds). It was an enjoyable movie, not mindblowing, but definitely interesting if you can tolerate the 160 minute length.
Here are all the other movies I saw last month:
Borat – I never expected to see this movie. I don’t like candid camera/people getting screwed with type of stuff. Luckily for me this movie actually has a plot and is truly hilarious.
Catch Me If You Can – Yeah, it’s good.
Code 46 – Excellent biopunk. Set in a future world where cloning and genetic manipulation are common place and heavily regulated to prevent strain weakening. Successfully places the viewer inside a complicated world without having explain every little detail. Worth checking out if you’re a fan of Gattaca.
I Am Sam – Feel good
Mystic River – Good
The Woodsman – Feel bad, but it’s good. Kevin Bacon plays a recently released sex offender. Definitely worth watching.
Lawrence of Arabia – I was planning on seeing it eventually and happened to watch it on TMC one afternoon while working at Ryan’s. Imagery reminded me of Tintin.
Kinsey – I enjoyed this. Some of the comedy comes from characters stating sexual myths that were believed at the time. I couldn’t help thinking of this pornographic image.
Harvey – Great movie. Really funny stuff. “Years ago my mother used to say to me… ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.”
Rear Window – I wasn’t sure if I had seen this movie since I can recognize spoofs of it so easily. I didn’t realize the ending wasn’t the same as the Simpsons’ episode.
American Psycho – Rewatched it because CK had recently seen it. Still enjoyed it.
Rize – There are so many bizarre things in this world that need one definitive expose on them.
Munich – Meh.
Lewis Black Unleashed – This is the special they repeatedly show on Comedy Central.
Sleep With Me – Meh. Watched it because a friend mentioned Tarantino’s monologue about Top Gun being about homosexual love in the movie is like this trailer.
2046 – I was tricked. This isn’t SciFi. It looks great though if you can stand subtitles.
Revolution OS – More history than I ever knew about free software, open source, etc. I was caught off guard when Netscape had such a major roll. We’re kind of a big deal.
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children – It’s CG that’s the only thing I got out of it.
Nacho Libre – This is funny?
This post caught my eye because you mentioned Zodiac! I really want to see this movie. I guess the same producer or director made the movie “Panic Room”, which I really enjoyed! When it comes to the other movies you’ve seen, their names are unfamiliar to me. I guess that is because I am one of the few people in the world that hardly watch television. I’d rather be active and stay busy. But enough about me. I can’t wait to see Zodiac now.