The MoFo Top 100 of the 2000s Countdown

Zodiac is great. It’s got wonderful performances and a really tense atmosphere. It’s one of my favorite movies and possibly my favorite Fincher. It didn’t get my vote, but it was one of the last movies I cut and I’m happy to see it here.

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i think i saw Zodiac once??

Have seen so far: 32 - Zodiac - The movie was alright, the outcome to the ending was predictable, if he got caught in real life it would of made the movie better imo.

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Zodiac is excellent, excellent enough to have made the upper echelon of my personal ballot.

Seen: 64/92 (Own: 44/92)



Faildictions (millennial edition v1.01):
26. Superbad (2007)
25. Memento (2000) [11]
24. Road To Perdition (2002)
23. The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) [15]
22. Shrek (2001)
21. Requiem For A Dream (2000) [26]
20. Oldboy (2003) [22]
19. Inglourious Basterds (2009) [18]
18. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)
17. City Of God (2002) [25]
16. In The Mood For Love (2000) [12]
15. O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) [21]
14. Children Of Men (2006) [17]
13. Amélie (2001) [16]
12. Zodiac (2007) [9]
11. WALL·E (2008) [13]
10. The Departed (2006) [19]
9. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
8. Shaun Of The Dead (2004) [20]
7. Mulholland Drive (2001)
6. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
5. There Will Be Blood (2007)
4. The Dark Knight (2008) [10]
3. Spirited Away (2001)
2. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)
1. No Country For Old Men (2007)

Twenty down, six to go...

I think Fincher is extremely talented and I love many of his films and his particular style too...

But somehow Zodiac has left me cold each time. Obviously, in a way, that is also the point. It is clearly a movie that's not trying to be nice and comfy. It's deliberately made the way it is and I understand the choice and respect the route that Fincher went to make a very refreshing take on the crime drama.

But for me, there's just something about the movie that never quite clicked. I really wish it would though because overall the movie is still well made, as one would expect.

So yeah, not on my list unfortunately.

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My #7...
Zodiac also became one of my go-to movies for a while when I needed background noise.

1. Moon (2009) - 48th
.
6. Shaun of the Dead (2004) - 20th
7. Zodiac (2007) - 9th
.
8. Sin City (2005) - 47th
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - 15th
.
11. Million Dollar Baby (2004) - 57th
.
13. Cast Away (2000) - 69th
14. WALL·E (2008) - 13th
.
18. The Dark Knight (2008) - 10th
.
20. Unbreakable (2000) - 62nd
21. Gladiator (2000) - 40th
.
22. Watchmen (2009) - 87th
23. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - 63rd
.
25. Inglourious Basterds (2009) - 18th

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My love for Fight Club has toned down a bit, but my love and appreciation for Zodiac has only increased since my last re-watch, had it at #6. Fincher is just a master in the psychological thriller department.

Seen: 72/92
Ballot: 19/25

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Zodiac was my #8, and I might have had it too low. Had my third watch last year and it’s just the perfect procedural in every way.

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I'm not a Fincher fan (I find a lot of his work smug and performatively nihilistic), but Zodiac is his best.

I was a little disappointed the first time I watched Zodiac, I think I was expecting another Seven. But I liked it more on rewatch, not enough to put it on my list but still.

9. Zodiac (2007)

Love me some Zodiac. That lake stabbing....oh my God. I was shook when that sequence happened and Fincher nails the atmosphere perfectly. While being a little long, it uses its time wisely.

Top 3 Fincher for me.

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Suspect's Reviews

Zodiac is a film that whenever I see someone praise it, I think I should definitely rewatch it. But then I forget about it entirely until it happens to come up again. I always say "This time, I won't forget!", but I do. The cycle never ends.

I only saw it once when it was new, and thought it was alright. I was only vaguely aware of the Zodiac Killer though, and didn't know if the case had been solved or not. When the film ended without any real resolution, I thought yeah, that's fair, but I was still a little disappointed. I do think I'd appreciate the film more if I watched it again... if I ever manage to do that, haha.

Seen: 59/92

My List:
02. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) - #15
05. The Lives of Others (2006) - #41
06. Millennium Actress (2001) - DNP
08. Mother (2009) - #96
09. Shaun of the Dead (2004) - #20
10. Iron Man (2008) - #83
11. Paprika (2006) - #64
12. Memories of Murder (2003) - #27
16. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) - #76
17. Hot Fuzz (2007) - #30
20. Moon (2009) - #48
25. Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) - 1-pointer

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I haven't seen 19 so far, which puts me at around the same number of gaps as the previous list. Not surprising as most of them are overlapping.

Zodiac is told in pseudodocumentary fashion a la All the President's Men. Great performances, great suspense. Definitely worthy of my list and this list, but I supported loser films, some bolded below.

My List

1. The Incredibles
5. Ratatouille
7. Downfall
8. Up
9. The Dark Knight
10. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
11. Everything Will Be OK
12. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
15. WALL·E
16. Children of Men
19. The Pianist
20. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
21. Pride & Prejudice
22. Hotel Rwanda
25. City of Life and Death

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Wow. Did not see Zodiac getting this high. I mean, it's a very realistic outlook on the true murder investigation with excellent characterization, but wow. Didn't vote for it.

Zodiac is on my list for a rewatch--I've seen it once and appreciated it, but not enough to vote for it. I do have to acknowledge a certain queasiness I feel about the true crime genre and the suffering of real people being laundered as a form of entertainment, but I also have to acknowledge my own inconsistencies about this (Memories of Murder was on my list!). Anyway, that's really a me problem, and maybe I'll push through it on rewatching.

Fincher is right up there with Wes Anderson as my favorite of the filmmakers who emerged in the '90s and early 2000s. His masterful technical skills, affinity for Noir-ish plots and sensibilities, and his modern mastery of suspense has him an amalgam of Stanley Kubrick, Robert Siodmak, and Alfred Hitchcock in this film lover's book. Though he could crank out thriller after thriller and be a very wealthy and successful fella, I do appreciate and love that he has filmic interests beyond genre. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would have been in my next ten choices were my ballot extended and The Social Network will most certainly be near the top of my 2010-2019 list. Adapting Graysmith's book is the perfect vehicle to balance his thriller precision with both police and newspaper procedurals wrapped in an infamously unsolved case doggedly pursued by an obsessive who has to finish the puzzle. Terror, paranoia, frustration, and intelligence. Great stuff. I had Zodiac as my thirteenth pick. Those thirteen points might not seem like much but helped propel it over The Dark Knight, anyway.

HOLDEN’S BALLOT
1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (#86)
2. Dancer in the Dark (#49)
7. Children of Men (#17)
8. Amélie (#16)
9. The Lives of Others (#41)
10. The Pianist (#31)
13. Zodiac (#9)
14. Synecdoche, New York (#46)
15. Moon (#48)
16. Fantastic Mr. Fox (#70)
17. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#92)
18. A Serious Man (#66)
19. Adaptation. (#43)
20. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (#51)
21. Downfall (#28)
24. Memento (#11)

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Zodiac was #24 on my ballot. Here's what I wrote on it a while back:

Zodiac is is a suspenseful and thoroughly intriguing tale on obsession. Through a mixture of clues and details surfacing as more information is revealed, various suspects and leads resulting in nothing but dead ends, and some truly unnerving and rather disturbing encounters with the Zodiac killer, Fincher cleverly wraps you up into the film's conflict as you become just as determined to discover who the killer is as the main character Robert Graysmith, a San Francisco cartoonist whose determination takes up over a decade of his life and often leads to him putting himself in danger to accomplish his goal (conveyed most strongly by the famous basement scene). This characterization makes him act as our proxy who we eagerly follow throughout the film, hoping for him to satisfy the obsession which steadily builds up throughout the film's 2 1/2 hour run time. Those who feel unsatisfied by the ending's lack of closure are feeling the full extent of what Fincher intended as the feeling of unsatisfied obsession hits you quite immensely and lingers with you long afterwards. Overall, while this film certainly has the potential to be great, I'm still sort of hanging in the very good camp as, while I enjoyed the first half quite a bit and was by no means bored with it, it wasn't until the second half that I was truly invested into the film, in which the obsession angle went into full effect (although, I don't mean to imply that the film which came before it was unnecessary by any means). Regardless, the masterfully executed obsession angle and other charms such as some strong performances (Gyllenhaal, Downey, Ruffalo), some occasional bits of humor, and some well-executed sequences of violence makes this movie one of the most powerful crime films of the 21st century.

1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (#78)
2.
3.
4. Children of Men (#17)
5.
6.
7. A Serious Man (#66)
8.
9. 28 Days Later (#45)
10.
11. Memento (#11)
12.
13. Shaun of the Dead (#20)
14.
15. In the Mood for Love (#12)
16. Requiem For a Dream (#16)
17.
18. The Pianist (#31)
19.
20. Moon (#48)
21.
22.
23. Sunshine (#88)
24. Zodiac (#9)
25. The New World (#99)

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And for anyone unaware, if you like Fincher and Zodiac, Mindhunter on Netflix is phenomenal.