Zodiac

The weather is rubbish so chance to head to the cinema and catch up with a decent movie. Despite containing the attractions of Ms Dunst and Ms Knightley neither Spiderman 3 nor Pirates 3 appeal - both have had bad reviews and appear to be mindnumbing stuff. Indeed both also appear to be bottom numbing given their running times.

Mind you, the 158mins running time of Zodiac didn't put me off. It's had good reviews and is an interesting account of three different people - a cop, a journalist and a political cartoonist - searching for a serial killer and is based on a true story.

The film is set in San Fransisco in the late 60s and 70s and seems to capture the time well. The three leads are interesting and there is some good character acting from Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhall. The journalist is played by Robert Downey Jr who these days seems to play a version of Robert Downey Jr regardless of the role - but I find him good to watch no matter how much of a self parody he seems to have become.

Be warned, although it's a 15 certificate a couple of the scenes of the killings are pretty tough going - the sort that makes the whole audience wince. They're not gratuitous, but are realistic. Fortunately these scenes are early on and not frequent and the film settles down.

If you're expecting car chases and a court room finale you'll be disappointed - the ending can only hypothesise who done it as the killer was never brought to trial. However, if you like a good character driven piece, with some nice humor in places, then you'll like Zodiac.

Unlike Pirates and Spider 3 this is definitely worth a look.