Sunshine, Zodiac, and Dirty Harry

Sunshine (2007) Dir. Danny Boyle. One of the more nuanced, technically accomplished, and well-thought out science fiction films of the last few years. I’d say that there is currently a renaissance occurring in the sci-fi field. There have been a rash of incredibly well-acted ensemble sci-fi films recently, Children of Men leaps immediately to mind, and I, for one, am totally all for it. I can’t think of a single thing that was done ‘wrong’ in the whole film, small issues concerning aesthetic and cinematographic choices (the inevitable midline jumping shaky cam during the final fight sequence being my main beef). However, on the whole, I’m going to say that this is what there should be more of.

Zodiac (2007) Dir. David Fincher. So, I can see why this had problems at the box office. Slow, ambiguous, paced in such a way as to compress decades into meaningful markers on the timeline of Zodiac lore. Specifics will always stand out for me, certain scenes here are absolutely amazing. However, my personal feelings are that the narrative force leaks out of a story when each scene needs to be subtitled with how many days, months, years have passed since the last scene. It makes each successive encounter feel disjointed in a negative way, there’s just not enough implication that things important to our characters has been on hold since the last scene.

Dirty Harry (1971) Dir. Don Siegel. Perfect follow-up to Zodiac, even gets a scene where the characters in Zodiac get to watch this film. Imminently enjoyable cop vs. serial killer action. Not much more to it than that, though. Has been influential for a reason.