LEBANON: Starring: Itay Tiran, Oshri Cohen, Michael Moshonov. Dir: Samuel Maoz.

And we have yet another film set in an uncompromisingly minimalist space. This time we're not buried or stuck on a ski lift, but aside from the lyrical opening and closing shots, are trapped inside an Israeli tank during the 1982 Lebanon war.

Much like Waltz With Bashir, this is an intensely personal film for director Maoz as he throws you right into the action along with four young recruits (all Israelis must serve in the army when they turn 18). Between them they show a range of views and actions, the claustrophobic setting heightening emotions and adding tension, but basically they're just scared young soldiers traumatised by all that is going on around them.

This is a film that clearly had a greater impact in the isolating darkness of a movie theatre, but it still remains a powerful piece of work. It may lack in character development and a wider truth, but this is not a big-picture film; it puts you in the position of its protagonists and gives some feeling for the horror they endure. And it does it very well.

A bank robber is injured and on the run. News reports suggest he has killed someone. Desperate to ditch his car and get off the street he cons his way into a house where the owner is about to hold a dinner party. That's the set-up for The Perfect Host (***), the host in question being David Hyde-Pearce (of Frazier fame). And, as will surprise no-one, the host is not exactly what he seems. So begins a psychological (and physical) battle of wits, which may lag occasionally, but in general keeps the reveals coming at a fine pace. Some POV camera-work is ill-planned, but the continuation of the story to further climaxes after leaving the house surprises and the whole concoction is smartly assembled.

The Living Wake (*) is a weird little oddity that has presumably only been released now because of Jesse Eisenberg's post-Social Network fame (it was made in 2007). And much as I'd like to like this – for its sheer eccentricity if nothing else – it is gratingly unfunny and self-indulgent. Eisenberg spends most of the film cycling around at the bidding of self-proclaimed artist and genius K Roth Binew (comedian Mike O'Connell) who is apparently dying and planning the titular event. At which he sings interminably and, thankfully, dies. It couldn't happen soon enough for me.

The cover of Erasing David (**) would seem to promise a hard-hitting investigation of privacy and its erosion in modern society. Suspiciously self-indulgent filmmaker David Bond decides to ‘disappear' for 30 days after being appalled by the British Government losing a pile of health records. He hires a couple of private investigators to try and find him, using only legally available information. And he interviews a whole bunch of people about privacy issues. Unfortunately the whole venture comes on like a cheap TV doco and nothing much that we didn't already know is revealed.

The Warrior's Way (***) looks like a martial arts flick, or possibly a western. It is, in fact, both. But what distinguishes it is not the mix of genres but the peculiar tone and direction which are both intelligent, knowing, ironic, and vastly entertaining. With a menacing Danny Huston, a drunken Geoffrey Rush and a ravishing Kate Boswell providing good support for kung fu fighting Dong-Gun Jang, and imaginative action and scenery, this is one mash-up that works extremely well.

And, just a mention, there have been some fine films recently released on blu-ray. Apocalypse Now (*****), in both Redux and original version, The Thin Red Line (*****), Pan's Labyrinth (*****), and Betty Blue (****) all look ravishing in high definition and are well worth revisiting.