cold war films
With the escalation of old Cold War tensions, here are twelve films that give a sense of where we have been and perhaps where we are headed.
bridge of spies
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance.
Available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play, or YouTube.
Check out the trailer here.
a beautiful mind
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash, Jr. experienced it all. A mathematical genius, he made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery, convinced he is caught up in a Soviet plot.
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Winner of Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actress. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Paul Bettany
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Streaming on Netflix and Prime Video.
Check out the trailer here.
crimson tide
After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) signs on a relatively green but highly recommended Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) to the USS Alabama, which may be the only ship able to stop a possible Armageddon. When Ramsay insists that the Alabama must act aggressively, Hunter, fearing they will start rather than stop a disaster, leads a potential mutiny to stop him.
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Available to stream on Disney Plus.
Check out the trailer here.
from russia with love
Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV.
Coming to Prime Video March 30
Check out the trailer here.
the death of stalin
When tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin dies in 1953, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to become the next Soviet leader. Among the contenders are the dweebish Georgy Malenkov, the wily Nikita Khrushchev and Lavrenti Beria -- the sadistic secret police chief. As they bumble, brawl and back-stab their way to the top, the question remains - just who is running the government?
Available to rent and buy on Apple TV.
Check out the trailer here.
good night, and good luck
When Senator Joseph McCarthy begins his foolhardy campaign to root out Communists in America, CBS News impresario Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) dedicates himself to exposing the atrocities being committed by McCarthy's Senate "investigation." Murrow is supported by a news team that includes long-time friend and producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney). The CBS team does its best to point out the senator's lies and excesses, despite pressure from CBS' corporate sponsors to desist.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Google Play.
Check out the trailer here.
hunt for the red october
A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it - because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find him, too. The hunt is on!
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Available to stream on Prime Video.
Check out the trailer here.
the living daylights
In Timothy Dalton's first outing as 007 a Russian general reveals a plot to assassinate foreign spies after defecting, James Bond is assigned a secret mission to kill the new head of the KGB to prevent an escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Google Play.
Available to stream on Prime Video from March 30.
Check out the trailer here.
north by northwest
This classic Hitchcock suspense film finds New York City ad executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) pursued by ruthless spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) after Thornhill is mistaken for a government agent. Hunted relentlessly by Vandamm's associates, the harried Thornhill ends up on a cross-country journey, meeting the beautiful and mysterious Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) along the way. Soon Vandamm's henchmen close in on Thornhill, resulting in a number of iconic action sequences.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Google Play.
Check out the trailer here.
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red sparrow
Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Egorova emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, Dominika meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.
Available to stream on Disney Plus.
Check out our four star review here.
Check out the trailer here.
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the russia house
tinker tailor soldier spy
Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Google Play.
Check out the trailer here.
In 1970s England the head of MI6, Control (John Hurt), dispatches an agent (Mark Strong) to meet with a Hungarian general who knows the identity of a Soviet spy in the organization's ranks. However, the mission goes wrong, and the general dies before he can reveal the information. Undersecretary Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney) calls veteran agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) back from forced retirement to ferret out the mole and stop the flow of vital British secrets to the Russians.
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Available to rent and buy on Apple TV and Google Play.
Check out the trailer here.
