1) "Z" is an exciting action thriller that was based on an actual political assassination, and that question was raised at the time in almost every review. I think it all depends on the handling.
2) No. This helped ruin the movie "Face-Off" for me. It seemed as if the hero (John Travolta) was making things worse by the way he went after the villain (Nicholas Cage), doing nothing but precipitating lots of violent confrontations in which practically the entire population of Los Angeles appeared to be wiped out.
I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."