Month: March 2011

This really doesn’t deserve its own thread, but I wasn’t sure where else to put it. Aliens invade, landing off 20 cities in 17 countries (the US is important enough to have three of its cities attacked; poor old Sweden is deemed not important enough). As usual, the aliens appear invincible until a small band of marines turns up to kick ass. The backstories of the marines and staff sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) are meant to make the playing out of the movie more poignent, but they are forced and discarded when inconvenient. There are homages to Assault on Precinct 13, Speed, and, of course, Independence Day. It is not very good, and I’d normally be harder on it, but this is March and I’m starved of blockbuster-type crap. The action scenes are competent.

Lebanon follows an Israeli tank crew through the first day of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The director, Samuel Maoz, was in the IDF during that war. The film’s central gimmick, and I use that word reluctantly, is that the point of view is entirely that of the four soldiers in the tank. We either see conversation inside the tank, or we see the exterior through the cross-hairs of the turret scope.  Other soldiers, a prisoner, and a Phalangist irregular enter the tank for various purposes, but our four protagonists never leave it. The result is a deeply claustrophobic feel, and a heightened sense of the bewilderment and terror of those inside. Continue reading Lebanon