ZODIAC

[Shakesthecoffecan]

So I am starting this thread as I make plans to drive an hour tomorrow to see the premiere of Zodiac, I have my wireless hotspot id'd and will report back when I get out how it went. If a thread already exists, please feel free to merge.

I am psyched for this movie, the trailers I have seen look intense.

[Brokeback_Dev]

i hope Zodiac will be at our local theatre here tomorrow, but if not im driving.

the trailers ive seen are intense indeed.  i cant wait.


 

[Brokeback_Dev]

Zodiac is playing in my local theater.  YAY!  Since im busy tomorrow night im going to the afternoon showing...besides im dying to see it asap.  Im going even if i have to go alone to see Zodiac, but hubby said he would come with me a couple weeks ago. so we'll see.

BBM didnt show in the local theatre till way into february.
I drove 40 minutes to see it for the first time in on January 22.   I carry the ticket stub with me at all times.

I had the opportunity to watch BBM on DVD with someone who drove to Ft Lauderdale to see it on premier night.. 5 hours away.  It was the closest place showing BBM in the whole state of FLA 

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Zodiac is playing in a local theater for me as well, no need to drive an hour now, I will take that as a good sign.

[MaineWriter]

Zodiac is getting good reviews, 86% on rottentomatoes. The biggest complaint I have seen so far is that it is a little too long.

L

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I saw Zodiac at the 1 p.m. showing, it is a long, convoluted tale. I would say it was as hard to follow as "All The Presidents Men" (not just because some of it takes place in a news room) You really have to pay attention to it.

Jake was terrific as Graysmith, the cartoonist whose life is taken over by the Zodiac murders, and eventually he writes a book about it. Wonderful performances by Anthony Edwards and Robert Downey, Jr., lots of attention to detail, the construction of the pyramid shaped building in SF that I can never remember the name of, made me nostalgic for a visit.

A fair amount of gruesome violence in the beginning, but all in all a good suspenseful thriller.

[southendmd]

Another Zodiac viewer checking in.

Overall, good film.  Heavier on the police drama than on the suspense, I thought.  I'm squeamish about violence, but most of it occurs at the beginning.  Long, but engrossing; be sure to pee first. 

Robert Downey, Jr. was fantastic.  I'm not a big Mark Ruffalo fan.  Anthony Edwards looking like Mark Green from ER but with a hair piece. 

Jake was great.  Luckily, they did not give him a 70s hairdo.  Very boy-scoutish, naive, scruffy.  Uses his giant doe eyes to great effect.  You can see the obsession building in him from the beginning. 

It would have been interesting had they shown more of his personal/family life. 

After the show, we were stopped by our local NBC affiliate, and they asked us to comment on the film for the evening news.  We demurred.   

A little trivia to anyone who sees it:  do you recognize the Lee character and from where?

[Brokeback_Dev]

I also have this posted on the The polling Place thread "Jake's new movie Zodiac"  Here is what i wrote last night.

I saw Zodiac today.  It was a good movie.  I was expecting it to be more of a thriller, but actually im glad i wasnt scared out of my wits throughout the whole movie.  The beginning is a bit horrid.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jake have very good chemistry working together on this film.  Jake was quite the Eaglescout and innocent i think, for example when asked do you smoke?  Graysmith answers "Once in High School" Robert Downey Jr's. character was anything but innocent, and easily overlooked by Jakey's character as they forged a working, social relationship.

I think their real lives parallel with the lives of the characters they play in Zodiac.  Jake being the good boy a little less than innocent, as i see him, and Downey Jr being the rebel, as everyone knows he is.   

It would have been interesting if we saw little bit more of Jake's social life, but the Zodiac killer was Robert Graysmith's  life.  Robert Downey Jr. did an excellent job acting.  I was really impressed with his portrayal of  newsreporter Paul Avery, though his antics weren't far from his real life.

I dont have much to say about Ruffalo's character..his acting was good.  Its ashame Toschi didnt crack the case.  So close though.

Zodiac is not an award winning film IMHO, but its very interesting and leaves you thinking..  the whole acting

ensemble together really were a great team..  i give it an A, and I hope to read both books..

[MaineWriter]

A little trivia to anyone who sees it:  do you recognize the Lee character and from where?

Do you mean other Jake movies? He was in both The Good Girl and Bubble Boy....

L

[Shakesthecoffecan]

OMG, yes, I had seen him in both those movies  and when I was watching Zodiac I kept thinking I should know who that was. Wow.  That is very interesting.

Jake really does land some real innocent type rolls. His later Jack Twist is the only one I can think of where he is not an innocent doe eyed guy. Even in The Good Girl, he is still such a kid, a painful, loveable kid.

[southendmd]

Do you mean other Jake movies? He was in both The Good Girl and Bubble Boy....

L

Very good, Leslie, but I was thinking of something more, umm, iconic. And a bit older.  And no Jake. 

I'll give you a hint:  ducks and stamps.

[twistedude]

Another county heard from. very well done movie. I recognized the guy, but can't remember from were...if IMDb is (finally!) up and running again I'll go look him up, that's what.

I got a little Zodiac button, the circle with the cross in it, on black. The theater also handed out some great DVDs to people with lucky tickets.

When the criminologist said "I never saw anybodythat  ambidextertous," I raised a fist in triumph...but it turns out, I was wrong...probably.

[Scott6373]

At two hours and forty minutes without commercial breaks, "Zodiac" would have faired better as a CBS miniseries, with commercial breaks, than a feature film.  Director David Fincher seemes to have consciously toned down the imaginative muse that served him well in his other films.  The result was, despite moments of true thrill and fear, a laconic, drawn out and at times downright boring film.

I could immediately understand why the film treatment of Robert Graysmith's true-crime bestseller would be very difficult to translate into a film that could sustain the level of fear and entertainment that it needed in order to succeed.  The time period stretched over some twenty years, with periods when nothing happens.  Zodiacs own sporadic communications with the authorities could well have caused the collapse of this screenplay, which after the first hour leave the movie goer feeling like it was time to go to bed and watch the rest the next night.

While there were some excellent performances, and some brave attempts at excellent performances, the actors portraying the two main characters were the weak links in the film.  Both Mark Ruffalo as Inspector David Toschi, and Jake Gyllenhaal as San Francisco Chronicle political cartoonist, turned true-crime author Robert Graysmith, seemed miserably miscast. Neither actor were of sufficient age to carry off their respective roles, and in the case of Gyllenhaal, he appeared to de-age as his charectars obsession with Zodiac began destroying everything in his life.  There was very little in the way of flesh to his portrayal of Graysmith, which made it difficult to care about why he became so enthralled with the serial killer.  Ruffalo faired better as Toschi, in part, because much of his performance was paired with the ever entertaining Anthony Edwards as his investigating partner, who eventually requests a transfer off the case and out of the homicide department.  Stand out performances from Robert Downey Jr as the self-destrucitve Chronicle crime reporter Paul Avery, and John Carroll Lynch as the only real suspect in the killings kept me watching whenever they were on screen.

The screenplays largest fault was the far to quick fading of Toschi's obsession, and Graysmiths taking up of the investigation.  It was around the time that Toschi began to not care, that I also began to feel the same way.

[MaineWriter]

By and large, Scott, I agree with you. I don't think I'd be quite as harsh overall, but I do think that there were opportunities missed that could have made this a much better movie.

Jake was great to look at but unfortunately, he is rapidly turning into an actor who plays...Jake. He had so many Jake mannerisms and expressions, which were also Jack mannerisms and expressions. When he was Jack they were new to me (since I hadn't really paid attention to Jake in the other movies I had seen him in), but then came Jarhead with Jake playing Jake and now this.

L

[ifyoucantfixit]

     Well im not sure what people were seeing ,, but obviously not the same movie that i saw...Yes it was long.  However we knew that going in.  It did not seem over long to me at all.  I found it facinating and totally captivating, from the beginning until the end...and, i thought the acting by all the ones in the movie, complete, and great.  In fairness, to the people that saw a different Jake, it is because he didnt overplay his role.  If he had (fleshed)
out his role, or shown more of himself, and or his family.  It would have been
concieved as an actor using his celebrity to be a prima donna.  He played the
part as the character he was cast to play.  He wasnt supposed to be a romantic leading man.  He was a nerd. and a nerd with a particular facination..that was puzzles..He found the ultimate puzzle to solve.  He then
proceeded to solve, said puzzle, and he was still a nerd..I dont know one nerd that is particularly interesting, as a character.  Except for maybe Bill Gates. and that is merely because he is a very rich nerd..
     Secondly I thought Mark Ruffulo was specially great.  I thought he played
the part of the normally take charge cop, that was increasingly frustrated, both by the case, and the superiors, giving him no help in trying to get the man under arrest.  He was, also not overshadowing, to the story.  Anthony
Edwards was his usually believable self, and charming, and funny and a great
pal that takes his partners,, people treats everywhere with them, in order\
to keep him pacified. 
     Of course the character of Avery was well played and very memorable as
Robt. Downey Jr. always is.  His character was more meaty, and he also had
the added advantage of playing himself to a large extent.  That was predictably cute, and endearing..Loved the part with the aqua velva drinks...
     Which brings me to the rest of the review of this teriffic movie.  It had
volumes and volumes of humor..Making it worth the watch for that, if nothing else,, I have not read the book, but I am assuming that was written
in and converted to the movie.  So by that very reason alone ,  i will now seek out the books, and read those..
     So for the over all impression, I think it was great, perfect cast, and the
Lee character was very good and extremely ominous and scary.  Im giving
it a total two thumbs up...  If you like mysteries, or solving puzzles                                             janice

[Brokeback_Dev]

What are some of your thoughts about the official web site www.Zodiac.com selling items for purchase like pins with the zodiac symbol, shirts with the cipher, caps etc.

Personally, i don't agree that the movie made that much of an impact.  It seems they think they can make a buck off of sensationalizing the Zodiac killer..  What the zodiac killer did was awful.  I don't see the point of people  sensationalizing a very scary part of American History except to make money.  and ya know what?  He could still be out there.  Thats scary

I do like the movie and Jake was great.  All the actors did a fine job.. They nailed the foot notes of that time period from the telephones to the old coke machine and even a vending machine to buy cigs.   Hehehhe we get to see Jake biting his nails which is gross lol, but its a fact the man does bite his nails.  I love to see little pieces of the real person.

Jake was great to look at but unfortunately, he is rapidly turning into an actor who plays...Jake.

 

Leslie i disagree with your comment.  He's an excellent actor and i expect more good movies to come starring Jake.   Zodiac included as one of Jake's great movies.. I don't think he's going anywhere but up.  Now I'm looking forward to his next film, Rendition with Reese Witherspoon.

[MaineWriter]

Leslie i disagree with your comment.  He's an excellent actor and i expect more good movies to come starring Jake.   Zodiac included as one of Jake's great movies.. I don't think he's going anywhere but up.  Now I'm looking forward to his next film, Rendition with Reese Witherspoon.

Well, time will tell.

I cannot imagine buying or wearing a Zodiac pin, tee shirt , mug etc. I agree Dev, wearing symbols of a murderer who may still be out there? Yuck.

L

[Kd5000]

Actually, I'd like to see a Jake film where you see more of the personality you see him display in TV interviews.  He seems quite gregarious, smiles quite a bit, i.e. like when he was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  He was quite good on that SNL episode as well.   Don't they make sophisticated comedies anymore or has that genre debased itself to sophomoric humor!  RENDITION looks like it will be a heavy film as well.  So many dramas! 

Pretty warped for a film website to be selling ZODIAC related merchandise of that nature. I can see selling the book it's based on, but not much else. 

[ifyoucantfixit]

I have to agree with the assessment of the pins...I would never wear such a hideous thing...I would never wear a pin with charles manson on it either.  that is just plain vile.
I would wear one that said im not paul avery though.. i found that very amusing...The very idea of that twisted individual wanting people to wear his buttons, just made my skin crawl.


                                                                                 janice

[shortfiction]

I'm waiting for the DVD to come out; I just saw the preview for it on another DVD recently.
Tidbit:  little bits of it were actually filmed at my workplace.   The crew transformed a parking attendant's booth into a radio station, there were older cars placed around the lot, and they might have done some filming in a basement as well.   

[David In Indy]

I'm waiting for the DVD to come out; I just saw the preview for it on another DVD recently.
Tidbit:  little bits of it were actually filmed at my workplace.   The crew transformed a parking attendant's booth into a radio station, there were older cars placed around the lot, and they might have done some filming in a basement as well.  

I think it comes out on DVD July 24. I've seen some previews for it too on my DVD's. 

[shortfiction]

I started watching it today.   It is taking me a while to get through, as it is 2 hrs. 37 minutes long and I was kinda tired from having worked outside for a while til the temp climbed into the 90s.
        Anyway...I spotted one of my workplace buildings approximately 43 minutes into the film.  They show a car driving past the WGO TV station check-in booth.  That is actually a parking lot attendant's booth that I have passed by many times.  The reddish brick building just behind it is a campus building.  The backdrop of skyscrapers and satellite dish is, well, the magic of Hollywood.   
    They may very well have filmed some of the tv station call-in scene inside the building.  I'm not sure.

[fernly]

from msn.com:
http://movies.msn.com/movies/hitlist/01-08-08_2

 It wasn't supposed to be like this for "Zodiac." Last February, David Fincher's thriller depicting the hunt for the infamous San Francisco-area serial killer was hailed by critics as a masterpiece. Yet, despite an inspired marketing campaign, the movie tanked at the box office. But, still, by the end of the year, a nationwide ranking of more than 250 critics' lists on MovieCityNews.com found "Zodiac" as the overall No. 3 movie of the year, just behind Oscar favorites "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." When I informed Fincher of this during a telephone interview last week, he seemed genuinely surprised, but admitted, "There is satisfaction in knowing that people who watch movies for a living say this is one that's worth noting."

Fincher continues, "There are movies that I look back on and go, 'Y'know, it didn't turn out being what I thought it was going to be, but everyone tried really hard.' And then there are movies that people seem to like after all these years. 'Fight Club' is a movie that's had a long life after the opening weekend."

Like "Fight Club," "Zodiac" may find new fans on DVD. A new two-disc set featuring in-depth documentaries and commentary by Fincher and stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. is set for release this week. More importantly, it features the original cut Fincher intended to release until he screened it in front of an audience in New Orleans, where he was working on his next film, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The results weren't exactly what he hoped for.

"There were three or four periods where palpably, I mean, if the audience didn't outright groan there were things about the scenes that made people fidget," Fincher recalls. "Nobody twisted my arm, I just felt [those cuts were] a concession I was willing to make to length. Seven plus minutes, this is where we ended up. That is what became the theatrical version."

The filmmaker admits he doesn't really believe in revisiting films, but hopes the new director's cut will be the version of the picture that screens in perpetuity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

an excerpt from NYTimes movie critic Manohla Dargis' Top Ten list:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/movies/23darg.html?scp=7&sq=zodiac
...
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” which I will write about in detail when it opens on Wednesday, and David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” which I wrote about when it was released in March, together constitute my 1 through 10. These aren’t necessarily the year’s best (impossible to determine given the glut of films), just the two that matter most to me, that dug in the deepest and rearranged my own givens. They made me feel like the woman in the start of Orson Welles’s film “Touch of Evil” who says, “I’ve got this ticking noise in my head,” just before she’s blown to smithereens by a time bomb. I’m still intact (more or less), but these films shook up my world in the best possible way.
...


and her most recent article on Zodiac: (don't read this one unless you've already seen the movie)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/movies/awardsseason/06darg.html?scp=1&sq=zodiac

[brokeplex]

I haven't seen it, do you think that it is worth renting? D. L. is in my netflix account right now ordering movies like mad, I'll order it if it is worth while.

[nova20194]

I haven't seen it, do you think that it is worth renting? D. L. is in my netflix account right now ordering movies like mad, I'll order it if it is worth while.

IMO......definitely worth renting.  I saw it at the theater the day it opened, but I haven't yet watched it again because of the length of the film.  I was going to buy it sooner, but I didn't want to pay $25-30 for it.  I just bought a used copy yesterday at Blockbuster.  I'd be happy to lend it to you, but I'm in VA.   

[brokeplex]

Thanks for the advice, I'll rent it thru Netflix and let you know what I think after I see it.

[Kelda]

Saw this last night and really enjoyed it. Very clever film but most of that comes from the real story....

[opinionista]

Saw this last night and really enjoyed it. Very clever film but most of that comes from the real story....

I thought so too. The only thing I didn't like was the aging process in some of the character. It didn't look real. Jake's character looked the same 20 years later.

[brokeplex]

I rented this and watched it with DL, I liked it more than DL because of the verisimilitude the director shows in the scenes in the late 60's and 70's.

Frankly, I thought Gyllenhaal wasn't that great in this movie, but Downey is tops!

[Kelda]

I thought so too. The only thing I didn't like was the aging process in some of the character. It didn't look real. Jake's character looked the same 20 years later.

*nods head* I was thinking that last night...

brokeplex - DL?

[MaineWriter]

I thought so too. The only thing I didn't like was the aging process in some of the character. It didn't look real. Jake's character looked the same 20 years later.

I agree. They were so careful with all the period details (I remember the watchband someone was wearing and I thought, "I haven't seen one of those since I was in HS!") and then they just sort of ignored the actual people.

L

[brokeplex]

*nods head* I was thinking that last night...

brokeplex - DL?

DL is my special guy!

[Kelda]

doh! when you said you liked it more than DL I was htinking that was a film!!!

[brokeplex]

no there is not a film named DL that I am aware of.  D. and L. are his first two initials, we have been togther for about 6 years now.

[Kelda]

no there is not a film named DL that I am aware of.  D. and L. are his first two initials, we have been togther for about 6 years now.

  6 years - wow!