The Hill (1965) – Brutally Stunning
Director: Sidny Lumet Cast: Sean Connery. Harry Andrews. Ian Bannen. Ossie Davis. Platform: Internet Archive (free) War films usually talk about the glory of dying for the flag and country. Very few talk about what happens when someone questions the system or the superiors. In every Armed Force , infractions or indiscipline is…
Read MoreBlack Warrant – 2025. Stunning and Gritty
Clickable links in red Genre: Crime drama (based on a true story). Writer Director: Vikramaditya Motwane. Cast: Zahan Kapoor. Rahul Bhat. Paramvir Cheema. Anurag Thakur. Platform: Netflix – 7 episodes. Duration: 7 episodes x 45 minutes each. Often, I have heard arguments or discussions about “why can’t we make a realistic crime thriller…
Read MoreThe Russians are Coming. The Russians are Coming – 1966 – Excellent satire
Genre – Cold War Satire Time: 1 Hour 50 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime (Rent) Director: Norman Jewison Cast: Carl Reiner. Eva Marie Saint. Alan Arkin. Brian Keith. Satires either work. Or they don’t. Nothing in between. It must have taken a lot of courage on the film maker’s part to make a Cold…
Read MoreThe Tuskegee Airmen – Two different films
All clickable links in red Lest people think that only we Desis screw up war movies by adding all sorts of unnecessary masala, think twice. Hollywood is equally if not more guilty of the same fact. The two different films on the real-life story of The Tuskegee Airmen prove this. One, a TV movie…
Read MoreSky Force (2025) – Some Force Some Farce
Genre – War Movie (based on true stories) Time: 2 Hours Platform: Theatrical release Cast: Akshay Kumar. Veer Pahariya. Sharad Kelkar. Nimrat Kaur. Sara Ali Khan. Fact: On September 7, 1965, 12 Mystere combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force attacked the Sargodha Airfield Complex of Pakistani Air Force. One of the attacking pilots…
Read MoreThe Wild Geese (1978) – Provocative yet engaging
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen Cast: Richard Burton. Roger Moore. Richard Harris. Hardy Krüger. Stewart Granger Genre – War Movie (based on true stories) Time: 2 Hours, 14 minutes Platform: You Tube Films about mercenaries are generally one dimensional. The (usually) “WHITE” mercenaries are bringing hope and light to the “DARK” continent of Africa, who…
Read MoreAmaran – 2024 – Well made
Genre: War + Love story Time: 2 Hours 49 minutes Platform: Netflix Writer Director: Rajkumar Periasamy Cast: Sivakarthikeyan. Sai Pallavi. Rahul Bose. Bhuvan Arora. Generally speaking India sucks at making war movies – unless the film is filled with the usual masala of songs, dances , emotional dramas and so on. However the life…
Read MoreJuror 2 (2024) – Slow Burn but absorbing
Clickable Links in Red Genre – Legal Drama Time: 1 Hour 53 minutes Platform: Amazon Prime – Rent Director: Clint Eastwood Cast: Nicholas Hoult. Toni Collette. Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) and his wife Ally (Zoey Deutsch) are expecting their child, and Ally is in the final trimester of pregnancy. Justin is called to…
Read MoreTo Catch a King (1984) – Slow burn thriller
All Clickable links in Red Genre – Spy + International Intrigue Time: 1 Hour 53 minutes Platform: You Tube (Free) Director: Clive Donner Cast: Robert Jackson. Teri Garr. Horst Janson. John Standing. Barbara Parkins. Facts: Edward the VIII, King of England abdicated the throne as he was not allowed to marry a…
Read MoreThe Six Triple Eight (2024) – Worthy war drama
Clickable links in red Genre – WW2 Drama Time: 2 Hour 10 minutes Platform: Netflix Director: Tyler Perry Cast: Kerry Washington. Ebony Obsidian. Milauna Jackson WW2 has millions of untold stories which are still being revealed. While the war was usually viewed through the lens of “Allied Good vs Axis Evil”, there are…
Read MoreThe Stranger (1946) – Superb Noir Mystery
All clickable links in red Genre – Mystery , Noir Time: 1 Hour 30 minutes Platform: Your Tube – Free Director: Orson Welles Cast: Orson Welles. Loretta Young. Edward G Robinson. Horror movies usually have a standard formula. Someone – usually the heroine or a female character – lets in a person or…
Read MoreBlack Doves (2024) – Pulp Trashy Fun
Genre – Spy (Crime?) Action Time: 6 x 55 minutes episodes Platform: Netflix Cast: Keira Knightly. Ben Whishaw. Sarah Lancashire. Andrew Buchan. You don’t like serious stuff. You want your entertainment clean and without any great philosophy about the nature of spies and spying. In short you want gunfights, explosions and witty dialogues. In…
Read MoreLeave the World Behind (2023) – Digital 9/11?
Clickable links in red Director: Sam Esmail Cast: Julia Roberts. Mahershala Ali. Ethan Hawke. Myha’la. Kevin Bacon. Farrah Mackenzie. Charlie Evans. Duration: 2 hours 18 minutes Platform: Netflix. You are reading this probably on your mobile or on your laptop browser. Everything is fine. Your network is good. Your Internet Plan is fantastic…
Read MoreHopscotch (1980) – Delightful
Clickable links in red. Genre – Spy Movie + comedy Time: 1 Hour , 45 minutes Platform: You Tube – Free Director: Ronald Neame Cast: Walter Mathau. Glenda Jackson. Ned Beatty. Sam Waterston. Herbert Lom. Delightful is not a word that one would normally use when the subject is a spy movie. But…
Read MoreCitadel Honey Bunny – Predictable
Genre – Spy + Action Time: 6 episodes x average 50 minutes each Platform: Amazon Prime Let’s start with some disclaimers. First: I haven’t seen the ‘other’ Citadel series due to which I miss/am unaware of the connection between ‘those’ and the constant references to Citadel ‘here’. The others – from some online…
Read MorePrime Suspect (1982) – Trial by media
Clickable link in red Dir: Noel Black Cast: Mike Farrell. Teri Garr. Veronica Cartwright. Time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Platform: You Tube (Free) Innocent until proven guilty is the basic rule supposedly followed by law enforcement agencies worldwide. Which is why, there are things like courts and lawyers to determine whether an accused…
Read MoreThe Americans 2013 – 2017 – Fascinating
All clickable links in red Genre – Spy Movie Time: 6 Seasons. 5 seasons x 13 episodes x average 45 minutes. 6th season – 10 episodes x average 40 minutes Platform: Disney Hotstar Illegals and Russia – a “mini history”: In June 2010, ten Illegals were arrested by the FBI’s counter…
Read MoreThe Old Man. Season 1 (2022). Season 2 (2024) – The Past is Never Dead and Buried
Genre: Spy Movie Time: 7 episodes x average 50 minutes Platform: Disney Hotstar SEASON 1 “You get to be my age in this business and one way or another, you will have something personal with just about everyone”. “Better way is to keep things buried in the ground than to wish them…
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