Twofer Thursday: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo & Zodiac

 

Twofer
Thursday!

Twofer Thursday: offering up a new release and an oldie for you to enjoy during the weekend!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (R) - 2009 - Runtime: 152 minutes
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace
Director: Niels Arden Opley

You can check out my original review here. I figured since all the great news about Daniel Craig being cast in David Fincher's upcoming American version of the international bestselling book, this would be a perfect chance to highlight the Swedish version. It's not a secret that I am in love with the books - they're perfectly crafted and the characters and plot are so rich with detail and intrigue. The books are well-suited for a movie and although I do think there are some minor flaws with the movie, the material itself (and the actors) rise above the challenges of adapting such a dense novel.

If you're at all interested in thrillers and mysteries, this one is perfect. Don't let the foreign label scare you because you won't even notice you're reading anymore after the first thirty minutes. It's that good. And speaking of which, I just absolutely hate it when customers complain about foreign movies. "I don't like to read while watching movies!" and so forth. It's absolutely lazy on their part and almost a bit pretentious, too. There are a lot of good movies that do not come from Hollywood and you're only hurting yourself by not checking out some of the better foreign films out there. Sigh.

Zodiac (R) - 2007 - Runtime: 157 minutes

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr.
Director: David Fincher

What better companion to Dragon Tattoo could there be? I recently re-watched this over with the Magster and we both we're sucked in once again. I absolutely love this movie - it's long, but it never overstays its welcome or drags. In fact, I consider this to be Fincher's best work to date. Although that's a tough decision, he's done a lot of great movies - Se7en, Fight Club, The Game, Panic Room, Benjamin Button - that he's pretty much batted a thousand. Hell, I even loved Alien 3, it was the one movie I would watch over and over when I was sick as a kid and had to stay home during most of eighth grade.

Not only are the performances great, but the tone and the mood of the film is perfect for this odd tale of a serial killer. The digital effects are so well blended into the movie that it's amazing how real San Francisco and the late sixties/seventies feel in the movie. Of course, the movie does take a certain point of view when approaching who was the Zodiac and it lays it's evidence out piece by piece. It's great to watch Gyllenhaal become obsessed with this killer and you're in turn, obsessed. It definitely gets to you and I definitely get the spooks after watching this.

Another great twofer, in my humble, if not great, opinion. Enjoy the weekend!