Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) Review
September 19, 2026
I have watched this more times than is defensible. A film about a computer, a requirements document and a mountain, and the machine is never once broken.
Tag: Cold War
The Cold War gave writers a permanent antagonist and forty years of paranoia to work with. This tag collects reviews and essays on Cold War films, spy fiction and the era behind both.
1980sIshtar (1987) Review
September 10, 2026
Ishtar (1987) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Elaine May made a screwball comedy about two men with no talent, spent fifty-one million dollars doing it in the Sahara, and the name became shorthand for disaster before…
1960sThe Manchurian Candidate (1962) Review
September 10, 2026
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) rates 10 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Frankenheimer made a political thriller that is also a comedy, a nightmare and a story about a mother, released it thirteen months before Dallas, and Angela Lansbury…
1970sThree Days of the Condor (1975) Review
September 10, 2026
Three Days of the Condor (1975) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A man who reads books for the CIA goes out for lunch and comes back to find everybody he works with shot. The film changed…
Cold WarYuri Bezmenov and the Four Stages of Subversion
August 7, 2026
In 1984 a former Soviet propagandist described four stages for taking a country apart: demoralize a generation, destabilize its institutions, manufacture a crisis, normalize what follows. He said the first stage was already finished in America.
Book ReviewsThe Hunt for Red October
June 3, 2026
The cat-and-mouse pursuit of a defecting Soviet submarine captain and his revolutionary stealth sub, with CIA analyst Jack Ryan racing to grasp his intentions. The blockbuster debut that invented the modern techno-thriller: gripping, meticulously researched, and genre-defining, if heavy on…
1990sGoldenEye (1995)
May 18, 2026
1995 Martin Campbell Bond film with Pierce Brosnan's debut. Sean Bean as 006 traitor, Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp.
1980sOctopussy (1983)
May 18, 2026
1983 John Glen Bond film with Moore in India. Maud Adams as Octopussy, jewel-smuggling circus train, Soviet nuclear plot.
1970sThe Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
May 18, 2026
1977 Lewis Gilbert Bond film with Moore teamed with Soviet agent Barbara Bach against Stromberg. The Spy Who Loved Me is Lewis Gilbert's 1977 British spy film.
1970sLive and Let Die (1973)
May 18, 2026
1973 Guy Hamilton Bond film with Roger Moore's debut. Voodoo, blaxploitation tropes, Jane Seymour as Solitaire.
1960sYou Only Live Twice (1967)
May 18, 2026
1967 Lewis Gilbert Bond film with Connery in Japan facing Blofeld in a hollow volcano. You Only Live Twice is Lewis Gilbert's 1967 British spy film loosely adapting Ian Fleming's 1964 novel.
1960sFrom Russia with Love (1963)
May 18, 2026
1963 Terence Young Bond film with Sean Connery in Istanbul. SPECTRE plot involving Soviet decoder.