Zodiac; the best film of the past 10 years? If not, what is?

quickbeam

Of the ones listed I'd pick Return of the King or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

But two that immediately spring to mind which aren't listed are The Prestige and Children of Men, which (I think?) came out the same year or at least within the same 12 months.

Both are fantastic films by two of my favourite directors working today. After Memento, I think The Prestige is Nolan's best film, a complete mind-fcuk of a film that requires repeat watching. And Children of Men is another brilliantly filmed movie, with some amazing set pieces.

The Pheasant2

So many great films to choose from - it's like picking your favourite child!

Coincidentally enough I actually watched Zodiac last night, before I'd even come across this thread! Loved it, very gripping. Some of the scenes were so tense! Like when:

Jake Gyllenhaal's character Graysmith is in the basement with the guy and you think he could be the killer, jesus my heart was pounding. Some great suspense work there.

TheMollusc

My favourites, rather than the best, in no particular order.

• Drive
• Take Shelter
• There Will Be Blood
• Hunger
• Caché
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
• The Tree of Life
• Enter The Void
• Mulholland Drive
• The Wrestler
• A Serious Man
• Children of Men
• Moon
• Synecdoche, New York

If I had to say a best it would be There Will Be Blood even though it's not my absolute favourite.

MagicMarker

I love Zodiac, it's one of those perfect movies that just suck you right in, you never want it to end.

scamalert

Zodiac srlsy ,so many people think here is one of the greater movies in last 10 years ? watched in once and forgot as soon as finished it,story based on true events that never got solved,chasing after puzzles and always being behind,and end of movie is just an end Hell SAW 1-2-3 parts were more memorable then this movie and pure bloodbath,chainsaw massacre the later movie was good as well,hills have eyes. my top list consists of movies where actors such as Di Caprio,denzel washington,samuel l jackon,and other rising movie actors-from Drive to super bad. most Hollywood movies like to place title based on true story facts etc,but its rubbish,and reason for that if it was purely based on true facts people would fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie.

MagicMarker

scamalert wrote: »

Zodiac srlsy ,so many people think here is one of the greater movies in last 10 years ? watched in once and forgot as soon as finished it,story based on true events that never got solved,chasing after puzzles and always being behind,and end of movie is just an end Hell SAW 1-2-3 parts were more memorable then this movie and pure bloodbath,chainsaw massacre the later movie was good as well,hills have eyes. my top list consists of movies where actors such as Di Caprio,denzel washington,samuel l jackon,and other rising movie actors-from Drive to super bad. most Hollywood movies like to place title based on true story facts etc,but its rubbish,and reason for that if it was purely based on true facts people would fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie.

Tipsy McSwagger

MagicMarker wrote: »

A load of garbage written by an 8 year old.

johnnyskeleton

I thought shutter island was pretty good. The first time I watched it I thought it was ok, the twist being fairly obvious, then I watched it several more times over the next few years and each time I became less certain where the truth lies. The supporting cast are just brilliant actors.

Paco Rodriguez

Into The Wild

Because Sean Penn religiously followed the book on the true story. Because Eddie Vedder and Doug Ellis made the perfect soundtrack...and obviously the true story of Chris McCandless.

If not tgat then I would have chosen recently released 'Prisoners'

Forest Demon

Never seen The Tree of life. A few people have mentioned it here. Must give it a go.

Forest Demon

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Into The Wild

Because Sean Penn religiously followed the book on the true story. Because Eddie Vedder and Doug Ellis made the perfect soundtrack...and obviously the true story of Chris McCandless.

If not tgat then I would have chosen recently released 'Prisoners'

Into the wild is in my top 5 ever. I thought it was an amazing film.

McGrath5

For some reason I do not remember Zodiac been that particularly good. I think I will give it another watch soon.

Arghus

It seems bizarre to me how highly some people rate Zodiac. It's a very well made film. Some of the effects work is incredible. It's highly evocative of the time in which its set. The atmosphere of dread and mystery is maintained solidly throughout and it's filled with completely adequate performances. It has a good claim to be the best thing that David Fincher has ever made. But it's no masterpiece, just a very good movie.

In the same year, just for starters, there was There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. I do think There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece and even if I admit to thinking No Country is over rated, I still think it's leagues ahead of Zodiac.

I don't like to say that such and such a movie is the absolute greatest over a period like a decade. It's a hard thing to judge even in a single given year.There seems to be an accepted canon for the last decade, a large part of which features in the poll choices up top, but I haven't even seen a few of those movies. And I consider myself a person who has watched a fair,fair few over the years. And there are other examples I can think of that have been mentioned that have also passed me by. Therefore I'm fairly loathe to say what is the best.

But I can say which ones impressed me most.,,

Top of the list would probably be A Prophet. I walked around in a daze for a few days after seeing this one. The tension of the first 40 minutes nearly did me in. It was a familiar prison story in ways but the quality of the performances, the ambiguous political and moral message of the movie and the mix of the mystical with realism drew me in and elevated it into one of the best films I'd ever seen in my life. It didn't hurt that the plot was utterly engrossing either. So yeah, a Prophet. It's a great movie, you should watch it.

There's others I can think of that on a given day someone could convince me were the best of the last decade-

The Tree of Life- It wasn't perfect, we could have all done without the dinosaurs.What was good in it was excellent. Also it was helped by being the most beautiful looking movie I have ever seen.

Pans Labyrinth- Seems to have been forgotten about a little in discussions about the pick of the last ten years. Totally unique and wondrous film.

Sideways- Heartbreaking and laugh out loud. The characters felt like human beings. Whatever about the brilliance of "I drink your milkshake" this line has it beat. Paul Giamatti was robbed that year, he didn't even get nominated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5PItDrtjOA

A few other honorable mentions-
Brokeback Mountain
Wall-E
Toy Story 3
The White Ribbon
Certified Copy
Let The Right One In
The New World
A Serious Man
Waltz with Bashir
The White Ribbon
The Master (though sometimes I feel that it's actually a heap of crap).

The Glass Key

Arghus wrote: »

It seems bizarre to me how highly some people rate Zodiac. It's a very well made film. Some of the effects work is incredible. It's highly evocative of the time in which its set. The atmosphere of dread and mystery is maintained solidly throughout and it's filled with completely adequate performances. It has a good claim to be the best thing that David Fincher has ever made. But it's no masterpiece, just a very good movie.

....

Could it be that its a lot easier to agree on what is a "good movie" than it is to get agreement on what is a masterpiece?

krudler

Samsara would be on the list too, it's not a film in the regular sense but it's one of the most engrossing things I've ever seen in a cinema. Some of the visuals are absolutely incredible in it. It's on the US netflix now too and well worth a watch.

Da Shins Kelly

I voted for Pan's Labyrinth, but Oldboy is a classic, as is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brokeback Mountain is also one of the best movies I've ever seen and boasts Heath Ledger's best performance. Wall-E is easily my favourite animated movie of all time too.

Hard to single out one really.

Mr Freeze

Going to watch Zodiac, the next chance I get.
Spotted it on Netflix a few times.

Warper

Drive is a classic

A Prophet is the best foreign language film of the past ten years

Animal Kingdom is the best Aussie film

The Dark Knight is the best superhero flick

Marvel Avengers is also great for the kiddies amongst us

Black Swan for the best dark side film

The Tree of Life is the worst film of the past ten years

Mardy Bum

Easy enough to answer: Synecdoche, New York.

An absolute masterpiece.

bellinter

Warper wrote: »

The Tree of Life is the worst film of the past ten years

I think Die Hard 5 might have a thing or two to say about that

bellinter

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Easy enough to answer: Synecdoche, New York.

An absolute masterpiece.

Roger Ebert named that as his best of the decade. Think it was a bit above my head to be honest

keith_d99

Watched Downfall last night Irish Netlix - thanks all!
Loved it!

Have added a couple more mentioned on here to "My List" on Netflix
Oldboy, There will be Blood and The Lives of Others

MagicMarker

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Easy enough to answer: Synecdoche, New York.

An absolute masterpiece.

yawn

Mardy Bum

MagicMarker wrote: »

yawn

When I watched the first few scenes in the house I thought it was over cooking the whole Beckett and David Foster Wallace references but as the film continued I was astounded at its ornate and complex construction and also its powerful thought provoking message without being too condescending. It is probably the movie David Foster Wallace would have made if he ever wrote a script.

_Kaiser_

I wouldn't be too pushed by anything on the OP's list to be honest .. and I certainly didn't rate Drive at all! The opening sequence was good but after that it falls off rapidly to where it's a completely different film.

So some of my favorites from recent times (in no particular order - just as I go through the media server here):

Catch Me If You Can - ok so it's 11 years old but an excellent film with great performances from the 2 leads. Plus it's based on a true story which makes it better/more interesting to me

Dodgeball - I don't care.. I love it The ridiculousness of Stiller's Whyte Goodman is hilarious.

End of Watch - already mentioned but the bond between the 2 characters/leads is brilliant. You really grow to like and care about them during the course of the film. Was surprised at how much it grabbed me

Inception - already covered by others.

Law Abiding Citizen - loved the interaction between the leads and the story kept me guessing throughout

Limitless - Great premise I thought and well executed

Taken - The sequel was a let-down but the first was a great action thriller that reinvigorated Neeson's career

Lord of War - excellent from start to finish. Possibly Cage's finest performance IMO. One of the best title/opening sequences ever too

Fast & Furious series - say what you will, this series has gotten better as it went along, delivers exactly what it promises, and they've done a fantastic job in weaving them all together

The Transporter series - I just love the big Audi really. Mine's not quite as impressive ("only" a 3L Quattro A6) but it's pretty damn good too

Other (somewhat older) favorites would include Goodfellas, The Running Man, Wall Street, Die Hard (of course!), Predator, Gandhi, Face Off and others I've seen wayy too many times


If I had to pick ONE from the newer lot above I'd probably pick Lord of War though.

john the one

I have taken the decision to watch The Road this evening with some light ales and savory snacks of the cheesy moments variety, I had better not be disappointed in this motion picture.

Ipso

One thing I loved about Zodiac is that for a procedural film two of the murder scenes were creepier than anything the vast majority of horror movies these days have churned out.
The opening scene had a great build up and great use of the song Hurdy Gurdy Man and the lake scene was pretty disturbing.

frag420

krudler

Ipso wrote: »

One thing I loved about Zodiac is that for a procedural film two of the murder scenes were creepier than anything the vast majority of horror movies these days have churned out.
The opening scene had a great build up and great use of the song Hurdy Gurdy Man and the lake scene was pretty disturbing.

The scene at the lake was excellent, really unnerving.

Actually speaking of unnerving, there was a shot in Gone Baby Gone that stayed with me for days afterwards, when

Casey Affleck gets into the house where he finds the dead kid in the bath

, even though you only see it for a split second, the entire cinema gasped, genuinely shocking moment.

RickyBobby1

Great thread lads. I have to say some great comedies that I keep going back to watch like step brothers,I love you man, forgetting Sarah Marshall,knocked up and superbad.