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?

Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense

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+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

Jude Law handles a strange weapon on this rust-colored poster for David Cronenberg's Existenz

A prominent video game designer brings an inexperienced hunk with her into her virtual reality game universe, where they go through various strange things, - but what is real, and what is the game, - and is it even important to be able to differentiate?

Aficionados of the 1990s sensibilities and styles might rate this film by great Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises (2007)) higher, as it is a film that feels very much of its time: Jude Law (Road to Perdition (2002)), pretty and uncharacteristically oblivious here, at one point asks game designer Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dolores Claiborne (1995)), (and I am paraphrasing), if she would like to play eXistenZ benevolently with him, or something like that, (eXistenZ is the name of the game in the film.) And the film is full of lines and plot points that are postmodernist nonsense on full steam like that. The whole film feels a bit like a tiring update of Cronenberg's earlier, much better Videodrome (1983), which charted similar territory. (Existenz is also Cronenberg's first original screenplay since Videodrome.)
Besides this, the body-related aspects of the film, which are a natural part of most of the works of body-horror maestro Cronenberg, are mostly simply curious and gross in Existenz, SPOILER as when Law licks a wound on Leigh's back, or when she loses things in his hole, (which is not what you may think.)
None of the characters in the movie stir up any considerable interest, and the film is built up like a Chinese box, which on the surface can seem fascinating. But the problem is that we are never supposed to ask questions of the preceding box, - because the construction is ultimately hogwash.

Related reviews:

David Cronenberg: Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology 
Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall? 
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments 
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation  
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!    

Here, Cronenberg and star Ralph Fiennes talk about Cronenberg's following film, Spider (2002)

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 2.8 mil. $ - North America only
= Box office disaster
[Existenz premiered 16 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Cronenberg was inspired to the plot after conducting an interview with novelist Salman Rushdie for Shift magazine in 1995, centered on the Iranian fatwa imposed upon the writer due to his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. Shooting took place from April - July in Ontario, Canada. Leigh lost a part in Eyes Wide Shut by starring in Existenz. The film opened #15 to an 810k $ first weekend in 256 theaters in North America, which was its peak. It was released around the same time as another sci-fi movie about an alternate reality and existential ambiguities, which wowed the public infinitely more: The Matrix grossed 463.5 mil. $ globally. Few numbers from other markets are known, but it seems fair to project the global gross of Existenz around 5 mil. $; according to Cronenberg biographer Bart Beaty, the film was "one of the biggest bombs of the Canadian film industry." Cronenberg was eventually forced to return to matter with more popular appeal in his great A History of Violence (2005). Existenz won the silver prize in Berlin. Existenz is fresh at 71 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Existenz?

Formula 51/The 51st State (2001) or, US/UK, Drugs and Shooting!

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You want to see Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt? Ronny Yu's Formula 51 is the flick for you then

The 51st State (the film's British title) is one of those Pulp Fiction-wake films that just do not compare in quality to Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece.
The gimmicky plot here is:

A Yankee meets a limey in a huge drug deal that goes South.

The script by Stel Pavlou (Rendezvous with Rama (announced)) is light, concocted and the pace is a little bit on the slow side. - Overall, Formula 51 is a very forgettable film.
The strong cast includes Samuel Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty (1997)), Emily Mortimer (City Island (2009)), Rhys Ifans (Greenberg (2010)) and Meat Loaf (The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)), and they make the film acceptably entertaining if not actually memorable in any meaningful way.
I must confess that I don't know Hong Kong-born director Ronny Yu (Fearless/Huo Yuanjia (2006)) well. His Western films are not great, although Bride of Chucky (1998) is at least a more fun watch than Formula 51. Apparently, Jackson, working also as one of the film's executive producers, for some reason recommended him to direct.

Related post:

Ronny Yu: Bride of Chucky (1998) - A bizarre puppet slasher black comedy

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 14.4 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.53 times the cost)
[Formula 51 was released 7 December (UK) and runs 92 minutes. Writer Pavlou, who conceived the plot in 1994, had envisioned a 1 mil. £ production. Shooting took place in England and in Los Angeles, California, wrapping in September 2000. It opened #12 in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 5.2 mil. $ (36.1 % of the total gross). Yu returned with Freddy vs. Jason (2003). Jackson returned in The Comeback (2002, short) and theatrically in Changing Lanes (2002); Carlyle in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002). Formula 51 is rotten at 26 % with a 4.3/10 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Formula 51?