Munich (2005) - Spielberg wrings a brilliant spy thriller from fraught real-life massacre and its aftermath

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+ Best Period Movie of the Year + Best Spy Movie of the Year + Best Revenge Movie of the Year

Star Eric Bana seems to meditate the weight of the gun and its possible deeds on this dark poster for Steven Spielberg's Munich

Munich portrays the 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich, Germany, wherein the Palestine Liberation Organization murdered 12 people, 11 of them Israeli athletes, and the aftermath, in which Israel sought justice and revenge for the misdeed.

Munich is written by Tony Kushner (Lincoln (2012)) and Eric Roth (A Star Is Born (2018)), based on the non-fiction book Vengeance (1984) by George Jonas (Final Decree (1981)), and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List (1993)).
To make an objective film of the loaded story of the horrific massacre and the response from Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, is hard if not impossible, but Spielberg succeeds in making a drama thriller, which is masterly in its sympathetic, though-provoking suspense. The intelligent script and staging make the revenge missions highly exciting.
The cast features several very noteworthy actors; worth singling out are Eric Bana (Funny People (2009)), Geoffrey Rush (Frida (2002)) and Lynn Cohen (The Romance of Loneliness (2012)) as Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. John Williams' (The Accidental Tourist (1988)) score is more underplayed than we are accustomed to, subtle and mood-setting.
Munich's ending cements the moral complications it pursues. It is a brilliant film.

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Post (2017) - Spielberg returns to mastery with a thrilling salute to the virtues of real, critical, brave journalism
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Lincoln (2012) - Spielberg's inspiring presidential portrait stands tall 
War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama  
The Adventures of Tintin/The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) - Affinities for Tintin, earlier Spielberg and film will decide your experience of this 3D mo-cap adventure
Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Empire of the Sun (1987) - Spielberg's grand production of boy-in-China-during-WWII is a misfire
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Top 10: Best car chases in movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

Spielberg gives an interview about the film here

Cost: 70 mil. $
Box office: 130.3 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.86 times its cost)
[Munich opened 23 December (North America) and runs 163 minutes. Shooting took place in Paris, France, Malta, Hungary, including Budapest and in New York from June - September 2005. The film opened #8 to a 4.1 mil. $ first weekend in 532 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 1,498 theaters (different weeks), grossing 47.4 mil. $ (36.4 % of the total gross), ranking among Spielberg's lowest-grossing features. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 8.9 mil. $ (6.8 %) and Japan with 8.4 mil. $ (6.4 %). The historical accuracy was criticized for leaving out important aspects of the story and changing the structure of the Mossad group and its members' moral considerations, and the Zionist Organization of America called for a boycott of the film. It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Picture to Crash, Director to Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain, Adapted Screenplay to Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for Brokeback Mountain, Editing to Crash and Score to Gustavo Santolalla for Brokeback Mountain. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, won an AFI award, won 1/2 Grammy nominations, a National Board of Review award and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Spielberg returned with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Bana returned in Lucky You (2007). Munich is certified fresh at 78 % with a 7.45/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Munich?

Lemon Tree/עץ לימון [Etz Limon] (2008) - Israel-Palestine meet over an endangered lemon patch in Riklis' dull drama

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An idyllic poster for Eran Riklis' Lemon Tree

An aging widow decides to pick a fight, when her lemon farm gets targeted for demolition, because the Israeli minister of defense, who is her neighbor, fears that it may foster terrorists. - Can she overturn his decision?

The drama of neighbors that is Lemon Tree seems an obvious metaphor for the Israel-Palestine conflict in general, although it is also based on an actual story of defense minister (2002-06) Shaul Mofaz's charge against his neighbors' lemon trees, SPOILER a case which ended up in Israeli Supreme Court, where the minister won, and the trees of the Palestinian neighbors were cut down.
Lemon Tree doesn't lift the monumental task of making this strife of dinosaurs, (which the Israel-Palestine conflict more or less resembles in the eyes of the surrounding world after all these years), seem important and alive for all of us on the outside.
SPOILER Slowly, the female hero (played by Hiam Abbass (I Still Hide to Smoke/À Mon Âge Je Me Cache Encore pour Fumer (2016))) falls for the lawyer. Lemon Tree has a mitigating warmth to it and some fine, humanistic acting, - but it is fatally boring. SPOILER - In the end, half of the trees go down. Of course, it is entirely possible that you will care more than I did.
Lemon Tree is written by Suha Arraf (The Syrian Bride (2004)) and co-writer-director Eran Riklis (Zaytoun (2012)).

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Watch a trailer for the film with German subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.3 mil. $
= Unknown (but likely a minor flop)
[Lemon Tree premiered 8 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. Riklis developed the film based on watching a news story of the actual event. Shooting took place in Israel, including in and around the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, Palestine and in Washington, DC. Financing came together as an Israeli-German-French co-production of no less than 15 companies and support funds. If the cost was kept at a relatively low and likely 3 mil. $, the film would still rank as a minor flop theatrically. It opened #63 in 2 theaters to a 14k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #38 in 29 theaters and grossed 569k $ (7.8 % of the total gross). That was the 3rd biggest market for the film. The biggest and 2nd biggest were France with 2.8 mil. $ (38.4 %) and Italy with 1.4 mil. $ (19.2 %). It reportedly did poor business in Israel, where it was by many viewed as pro-Palestinian and polemical. In the only Muslim market registered on Box Office Mojo, Turkey, the film made only 3k $. It was the highest-grossing Israeli film of the year. It won a Berlin audience award, a David di Donatello nomination (Italy's Oscar), two European Film Award nominations, and Abbass won Best Actress from the Israeli Film Academy, who also bestowed the film with 6 other nominations. Lemon Tree is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lemon Tree?

Miral (2010) - Schnabel's venerable attempt at a grand Israel-Palestina movie fails

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Does Freida Pinto (Immortals (2011)), the star of Julian Schnabel's Miral, look like a terrorist? In 2016, the answer might well be that she could look like one

Miral begins around the formation of the state of Israel following WWII and goes on from there, centering on 'mama' Hinds' (Hiam Abbass (Inheritance (2012))) foundation of her Palestinian orphanage, the 6-day War, mutual brutalization, inhuman tensions and terror. The latter involves young Miral, who escapes the clutches of the rage of youth and becomes a journalist.

New Yorker master filmmaker Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly/Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (2007)) tells a fragmented story in Miral, which is further disturbed by his shaky camera, (cinematography by Eric Gautier (Into the Wild (2007)). It is a very well-meant film with some okay acting, which, however, never succeeds with its mission to chronologize the Israel-Palestine conflict as a succession of events we are to follow separately. It is regrettably quickly forgotten again. A Tom Waits song attached to its end doesn't salvage this very ambitious pic.
It is written by Rula Jebreal, based on her own biographical novel.

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 0.9 mil. $
= Unknown (but definitely a box office disaster)
[Miral premiered September 3 (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 112 minutes. Filming took place in Israel in and around April 2009. Schnabel approached the film with his personal baggage as an American Jew, but Miral still drew the ire of the Israeli government and the Jewish community in the US upon its release, who criticized the "highly negative light" it supposedly casts on Israel. The film had a UN premiere attended by various Hollywood stars. Tragedy hit as one of the film's actors, peace activist Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot dead in his car outside a theater he had established in a Palestinian refugee camp on April 4 2011, days after the US release. The film opened #43 in just 4 theaters to a 66k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked in 29 theaters and grossed 373k $ (41.4 % of the total gross). The film was only released in 9 other countries of which only the United Arab Emirates is in the part of the world portrayed in the film. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 240k $ (26.7 %) and Portugal with 211k $ (23.4 %). Putting the film's budget at a conservative 5 mil. $ would still mean that its theatrical performance was a financial disaster. Miral is rotten at 17 % with a 4.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Miral?

Omar (2013) - Problematic love-and-war in-look at life for young Palestinians

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Fleeing for love is adequately shown as central to the story of Hany Abu-Assad's Omar here on its poster

QUICK REVIEW:

Omar is an energetic young Palestinian, who is in love with his buddy's little sister. He carries out a kill mission on an Israeli soldier and gets captured. - The little group he works with have a rat. What now weighs heavier on Omar's mind? Love or the fight?

Omar is the 6th fiction feature by Palestinian writer-director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now (2005)). It features handsome cinematography, by Ehab Assal (The Idol/Ya Tayr El Tayer (2015)), and is a technically impressive film, which brings the Palestinian side of the Israel-Palestine conflict into the light.
The problem of Omar is that the film presupposes that we accept Omar as its (also romantic) hero, even though he pretty early in the film becomes too dubious: The killing he carries out is too unjustifiable, and the macho culture that the film continues to show is in a similar way too reprehensible for the feat to succeed. - And if Omar's last act in the film (SPOILER his kill #2) is hailed as an act of heroism in Palestine and the Muslim world in general, the film is a downright catastrophe in my opinion.
In another note, some of the film, particularly in its beginning, is somewhat disorienting and confusing, at least for a non-Israeli/Palestinian.

Related reviews:

Other Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee 2014: The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration
The Best Foreign Film Oscar winner of 2014: The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

In lieu of a trailer, which is not available on Youtube at the moment, here is a scene from the film with English subtitles

Cost: 2.1 mil. $
Box office: 0.8 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Omar was written by Abu-Assad in four days and shot in the end of 2012 in Israel and Palestine on a budget made up from a 5 % contribution from the Dubai International Film Festival and the rest coming from Palestinians. The film was released for just 10 days in North America, where it grossed somewhere between 0.3 - 0.6 mil. $. - The numbers released for Omar are few and contradictory. The film received the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in Cannes and was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, losing to Paolo Sorrentino's masterpiece The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013). Omar is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Omar?

A World Not Ours (2012) or, Palestinians Struggle

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A fine poster for Mahdi Fleifel's A World Not Ours

QUICK REVIEW:

The story of a Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein el-Helweh, told through the documentarian's personal perspective as an expatiate Palestinian, who has spend holidays his whole life in the camp visiting his trapped family there.

The documentarian Mahdi Fleifel's father points down to the small refugee camp Ein el-Helweh, where about 60-70,000 Palestinians have lived for decades and still live

Documentarian Mahdi Fleifel (Xenos (2014) short doc.) shows great handling of his sizable material, gathered through decades, of both personal family history, camp history and Israel-Palestine history in general. The film offers great insight into the Palestinian struggle and its development in the several decades since the country's overtake by the Jews following WWII.
Especially in the beginning, Not Ours is quite humorous, but soon its incredible sadness (which seems inherent in the telling of the Palestinian story) breaks through. The modern story of Palestine is very, very sad.

My favorite person in A World Not Ours, the documentarian Mahdi Fleifel's grandfather

A World Not Ours is a great documentary and a fine and touching human portrayal, especially of the desperate men that make up so much of the Palestinian people. Their profound disappointments and aggressions as refugee camp people for most if not all of their lives, is indeed a scary picture of despair.
A World Not Ours is a deeply personal cry for the Palestinian cause, which, unfortunately, doesn't point to any solutions for the future of the people.
That would be my only critique of it.

2012 in films - according to Film Excess 

Watch the film's fine trailer here

Budget: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of A World Not Ours?
Is there a solution to the Palestinians' struggle?
Where should this people live?