7. Zodiac
"Do you know more people die in the East Bay commute every three months than that idiot ever killed? He offed a few citizens, wrote a few letters, then faded into footnote... Not that I haven't been sitting here idly, waiting for you to drop by and reinvigorate my sense of purpose."
Many directors turned to the '70s for inspiration this year, but none did it with the artistry of David Fincher in his account of the investigation into the eponymous serial killings. Fincher's aesthetic evokes a personal tone (indeed, he grew up in the Bay Area under the shadow of the murders) and that may be why the film's relatively tame violence packs as much of a punch as the more graphic horror of his other serial killer flick. More affecting still are the lives of the men who become obsessed with the case, most notably Paul Avery, portrayed with typical brilliance by Robert Downey, Jr. It doesn't hurt that this film is nothing short of character actor heaven, with Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Chloe Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, Philip Baker Hall, Zach Grenier, Adam Goldberg, and James LeGros all turning in Hey, It's That Guy! performances that somehow don't distract.
6. American Gangster
"Judges, lawyers, cops, politicians. They stop bringing dope into this country, about a hundred thousand people are gonna be out of a job."
Though set firmly in the '70s, Ridley Scott's epic has the timeless quality common to all great crime sagas. What drives this particular rise-and-fall tale, however, is the contrast between dedicated family man/criminal entrepreneur Frank Lucas and dedicated cop/inveterate womanizer Richie Roberts (Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, each knocking their respective roles out of the park). It is a photo negative of The Untouchables, where Ness' focus on the family (I swear if they say "It's nice to be married" one more time in that film...) is the counterpoint to Capone's solitary existence among a faceless entourage. Also like all great crime sagas, it has a lot more on its mind than crime, touching on issues of race, economics and what exactly makes a "good" man, much of which coalesces in the film's showstopping verbal mano a mano.
5. 300
"It is not a question of what a Spartan citizen should do, nor a husband, nor a king. Instead, ask yourself, my dearest love, what would a free man do?"
It would be enough for this film to revolutionize filmmaking by delivering on the promise of techniques introduced way back when when Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow hit screens, but Zak Snyder's war saga delivers tight, brutal storytelling that would work with any technology. Grandiose without faltering into self-parody (or is that just Frank Miller in general?), the film creates that rarity in the action universe, a unique, memorable experience. In context, it's also surprisingly de-politicized. If you really try you can eke out a "support our troops" subtext, but the strokes here are so broad that about the deepest I think you can dig with any veracity is "Spartans sure could fuck your shit up two times before you hit the ground."
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