Quirky
The 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 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 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 MoreIll Met by Moonlight (1957) aka Night Ambush – Unbelievable but true
All clickable links in red Genre – War Movie (true story) Time: 1 Hours 30 minutes Platform: You Tube Director: Michael Powell, Emrich Pressburger Powell and Pressburger, forged their collaboration during World War 2, as they produced war propaganda films, including the wartime classic 49th Parallel (1941). Their films epitomize British cinema and…
Read MoreKleo – Season 2 (2024) – Goofy Quirky Fun
Clickable links in red. Director: Isabel Braak. Nina Vukovic Genre: Spy thriller Time: TV series – 6 x 55-minute episodes Platform: Netflix Cast: Jella Haase. Dimitrij Schaad. Julius Feldmeier. The open ending of Season 1 (see here for the post on Kleo Season 1) left no doubt that the infamous red suitcase, which Kleo…
Read MoreFoul Play (1978) – Surprisingly good comic thriller
All clickable links in red Writer, Director: Colin Higgins Genre: Comic thriller Time: 1 Hour 51 minutes Platform: You Tube Alfred Hitchcock made 58 films over 50 years of which 11 were superb spy films, though they were marketed as “suspense thrillers”. His films influenced and continue to influence generations of filmmakers, in…
Read MoreOne Two Three (1961) – crackling satire
All clickable links in red Genre : Comedy + Satire (political, business practices, Cold War…) Length : 1 hour 48 minutes Platform : You Tube (free) Director : Billy Wilder. If it’s a Billy Wilder film, prepare for non-stop drama and machine gun like dialogue delivery. Wilder’s noted for his sarcastic sense…
Read MoreLittle Miss Sunshine – 2006 – Losers …. With Spirit
I bought the DVD of this film about 12 years ago and it was in its original cellophane wrapping to date. For some strange reason, I was too lazy to see it. I suppose everything happens at the right time. Little Miss Sunshine is simply a bittersweet, charming tale of a bunch of Sad…
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