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Director: David Fincher

Starring: Jake Gyllenhal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, John Caroll Lynch, Chloe Sevigny

David Fincher of Fight Club fame steps into the crime genre with this true story thriller and does a great job of re-creating the 1970s atmosphere. The acting is very good with an impressive cast mix of relative big screen newcomers and character acting veterans like Lynch and Cox. Robert Downey Jr. steals scenes left and right and Gyllenhal gives an interesting, but unusual, portrayal that I finally decided was effective for the role. The story is a little slow and goes on too long and really has a made-for-TV feel, though the production work is first class.

Jake Gyllenhal is a socially awkward newspaper cartoonist named Robert Graysmith who becomes obsessed with the serial killer, Zodiac, who killed (and lied about more killings) in Northern California in the 1960s and 70s when the publicity-hungry killer starts writing to his paper among others. He gloms onto columnist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), who has the crime beat and gets overly involved with the investigation. Lead investigator, David Toschi (Ruffalo) has his hands full with the investigation and the intense interest that the story is generating. Anthony Edwards (of ER fame, but he will always be Goose from Top Gun to me) plays his partner.

This is far better that the Black Dahlia, which deals with similar subject matter and has fair entertainment value, though I think a half hour could have been loped off without any adverse effect. Viewers might be familiar with the story from true crime shows on TV (my gf was and couldn’t wait to share everything she knew and pretty much ruin any suspense factor for me – women), and if you are a fan of such shows and their fictional counterparts (Law & Order and such), then you will probably find this a pleasant evening’s entertainment.

Starring: Tim Allen, Courtney Cox, Chevy Chase, Spencer Breslin, Dylan West,
Kate Mara, Ryan Newman, Rip Torn.

Director: Peter Hewitt

It is movies like this that turn TV has-beens into TV has-beens and Tim Allen and Courtney Cox both took a giant step in that direction with this dud. I would give one of the numerous examples of former TV stars who have had this fate befall them, but I can’t remember any of their names.
This is intended to be a family comedy version of the X-men series and that is not a bad idea. The problem here is that the movie is poorly written and Allen, who has built a career on playing likable characters, is saddled here with Jack Shepard, a former teen superhero who was taken advantage of by the military and now lives a bitter life of obscurity. Shepard is not very likable since he is bribed into training a new batch of teen talents into a super hero team to undertake a secret mission for a military commander that no one trusts, played by Rip Torn. Courtney Cox is Marsha Holloway, some kind of naïve liaison for the team, whose humour seems come chiefly from tripping over stuff. Yeah, real clever, that’s a gut-splitter, that is. Anyway, the four young stars do ok with the lame script, but there isn’t enough humour to make it funny, and the story is too poor for it be interesting, so all you have left is Ryan Newman, a really cute kid playing a little girl with Hulk-like strength. Still not strong enough to carry this movie, though, I’m afraid.
Hmmm, whom can I recommend this movie to? Well, lets see there is an old boss that I can’t stand. Nah, she never listened to me then, why would she listen now? I guess if you have little kids and there is nothing else on the rental shelf that they want, and you have something else to do while they watch. Yeah…then this movie is perfect.

Black Book (Zwartboek) (2006) ****1/2

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Starring: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kolbus, Derek de Lint,

Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Hollow Man) shot this gripping, WWII spy drama in his native language and it was first released as Zwartboek in The Netherlands. The screenplay, written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, is inspired by the true stories of Dutch resistance fighters, and the resulting project was the most expensive Dutch movie ever made. The expense is justified, and the subtitles are worth putting up with because this is a compelling feature with strong characters, impressive acting and an ever-growing story that picks up from a slow (or was just my usual resistance to a foreign-language film?), confusing start to quickly pull us in.

Carice van Houten is Rachel, a beautiful, fleeing Dutch Jew, whose family is betrayed and murdered. Numb with pain, she soon finds herself involved with the underground resistance and is asked to establish a romance with a German SS officer, Ludwig Muntz (Sebastian Koch). She is successful and soon finds herself running into Gunther Franken (Kobus), the leader of the unit that murdered her family, as well. The story is well-paced and has plenty of twists along the way to an excellent ending.

History buffs will love this movie, and film fans will agree. There may not be enough action to hold all the ADD viewers, but the excellent story and quality performances and directing make this a little-known renter’s gem.