Zodiac
Grade: B+

After bombing with Panic Room in 2002, David Fincher redeems himself with this engrossing and chilling investigation into the unsolved Zodiac serial killings that plagued the San Francisco area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The guy who brought us Fight Club shows surprising restraint in the violence department, cutting from the brief murder scenes to long and meticulously detailed sequences about the reporters and cops assigned to the case. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith, the San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the proceedings. Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. also play lead roles, and the great supporting cast includes Chloe Sevigny, Philip Baker Hall and Elias Koteas. Clocking in at 160 minutes and offering no real resolution, Zodiac makes you feel nearly as exhausted and paranoid as the investigators.