Cold War
Idealism can be a tough sell, but Ironbark sells the hell out of it nevertheless, remaining firmly committed to its compassion for individuals caught up in the iron grip of history.
At its heart, The Russian Five is a sports story, but you don’t have to be a hockey fan to appreciate its impact.
Meeting Gorbachev is the latest documentary from legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog. Read the review for more information on the fascinating man.
We delve into Pawlikowski’s unique grasp of time as it relates to the central romance in his film Cold War.
An overlooked film at the time of its release, Miracle Mile looks at the Cold War when it was waning, examining the destruction man is capable of when he thinks the end is near.
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s 10th feature, is loaded with qualities to praise, including beautifully-lit cinematography, a haunting score, and exceptional performances, but as a whole it’s not quite as impactful as it could’ve been.
As a coming-of-age tale, Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey is inoffensive, as a reminiscence of the Cold War years, it’s inert, as a whole it’s completely inconsequential.
Atomic Blonde may be sloppy in structure, but it is oozing with immaculately executed action and a finely tuned performance by Theron.
Hollywood and the golden age of film have now all but faded into history, and any glimpse into that world is for that reason a glimpse into history itself. Trumbo is a look at the show business world following the Cold War, when Hollywood started to blacklist people solely due to their political alignments. Starring the very talented Bryan Cranston as the titular character, the film is not only a successful character study and biopic, it is also an engaging and entertaining glimpse at a very dark time in Hollywood’s history.
Frank Sinatra, whose 100th birthday would have been this December, was one of the great entertainers of the 20th century. He had an exceptional voice that made him perhaps the most influential vocalist in history, but Sinatra doesn’t sing a note in his best movie, the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962). This deft political drama, which wouldn’t have been made without Sinatra’s intervention, uncannily predicts many of the tumultuous events of the 1960s and beyond.
Dalton Trumbo is not a household name today, but he was one of the most influential screenwriters in the old Hollywood studio system. Many of his films like Roman Holiday and Spartacus are beloved classics, but Trumbo is also a significant figure for his part in the Hollywood blacklist, a period of anti-Communist hysteria that swept through the United States in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Trumbo, like many Hollywood intellectuals, was targeted for his progressive politics in an unprecedented purge that saw many actors, directors and writers, lose their livelihoods, their freedom and even their lives.
Bridge of Spies is not what I would call a happy film. Gray snow envelopes the dilapidated East German cityscape and we find Tom Hanks’s character interacting with others primarily in poorly lit, often dank rooms. Nearly all of the characters are entirely self-interested with blinders positioned perfectly to block out the undesired effects their actions can have on others.
