Nuclear Scare Stories Of The Cold War DVD

Advantages: Martin Landau & Rip Torn
Disadvantages: Slightly dated special effects (still good though!)

...An actor as President? Whatever next? Taking their inspiration from the 80's Cold War climate when kindly but senile Uncle Ronnie Reagan was in the White House HBO bring you this great but often overlooked bit of drama. For anyone who lived through the Nuclear Age of the 1980's the basic premise of this will seem familiar. Turkish dissidents steal a Nuclear missile & fire it into Russia which activates the Russian automated response directed at the good old US of A. From there we're following The President played brilliantly by Martin Landau and he's totally believable. You could imagine him running America. Add into the mix luminaries like James Earl Jones playing the Commander of an Airborne Early Warning Plane. Rebecca De Mornay wasn't hugely well known then but has gone on to bigger things. Powers Boothe I do know his face... Read review

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Advantages: memorable
Disadvantages: horrific. graphic. scary.

...Missile Crisis of 1962. The Cold War went through cycles, and by the time we come to 1983 we were into the second cycle and talking of such things as MAD (mutually assured destruction). Happy times. Now researching The Day After for this review the words "graphic" and "grizzly" appear often. Having traumatized me as a child, I would say its not one for children, though my parents, usually quite vigilant, just probably didn't realize. Though of course to watch it now, there is less of a prevalent fear of a nuclear attack. Around the time of the movies release there was much Anti nuclear sentiment, there was a campaign to close Pine Gap (nuclear tracking station in outback Australia), the Australian band Midnight Oil, very popular at home, was belting out its anti nuclear, anti US songs and it was clear that Nukes/No Nukes was on everyone... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: John Connor, T-800
Disadvantages: Evil T-X

.... The action is relentless, pausing only now and again for the plot line to be spelled out. But there are fantastic sequences with great special effects. This is part of an epic story that will, I have no doubt, keep on going. I don’t have a problem with this, it is a huge, complicated idea about the nature of humanity, machines, and destiny, which takes a while to explain!. We’ve seen them postpone the war, but what happens once it does eventually start? It does of course prompt the great ‘is time linear? / does fate exist? / what is destiny? / how the hell do we get our heads round this time travel stuff?’ conversation. For all the fans of the "Terminator" franchise, you won't be disappointed.... Read review

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