21st Century movies and series depicting the Cold War
by saarvardi | created - 3 months ago | updated - 3 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Americans (2013–2018)
TV-MA | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
At the height of the Cold War, two Russian agents pose as the average American couple, complete with family.
Stars: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Keidrich Sellati, Holly Taylor
Votes: 111,253
2. The Queen's Gambit (2020)
TV-MA | 57 min | Drama
Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.
Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chloe Pirrie, Bill Camp, Marcin Dorocinski
Votes: 552,754
3. Thirteen Days (2000)
PG-13 | 145 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Shawn Driscoll, Drake Cook
Votes: 62,684 | Gross: $34.59M
4. Bridge of Spies (2015)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
Votes: 327,688 | Gross: $72.31M
5. Red Sparrow (2018)
R | 140 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Ballerina Dominika Egorova is recruited to 'Sparrow School,' a Russian intelligence service where she is forced to use her body as a weapon. Her first mission, targeting a C.I.A. agent, threatens to unravel the security of both nations.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 201,510 | Gross: $46.87M
6. Anna (II) (2019)
R | 118 min | Action, Thriller
Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Sasha Luss, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy
Votes: 94,516 | Gross: $7.74M
7. Atomic Blonde (2017)
R | 115 min | Action, Thriller
An undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.
Director: David Leitch | Stars: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Eddie Marsan
Votes: 206,462 | Gross: $51.69M
8. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
In the early 1960s, CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki
Votes: 332,481 | Gross: $45.45M
9. Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
Director: Wolfgang Becker | Stars: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Florian Lukas
Votes: 152,623 | Gross: $4.06M
10. Balloon (2018)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, History, Thriller
East Germany, 1979. After initially failing to flee from the East to the West in a self-built hot-air balloon, two families struggle to make a second attempt, while the East German State Police are chasing them.
Director: Michael Herbig | Stars: Friedrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg
Votes: 13,320 | Gross: $0.01M
11. Child 44 (2015)
R | 137 min | Crime, Drama, History
A disgraced member of the Russian military police investigates a series of child murders during the Stalin-era Soviet Union.
Director: Daniel Espinosa | Stars: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman
Votes: 75,783 | Gross: $1.21M
12. Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
PG-13 | 115 min | Biography, Drama, History
Set during the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers and his own struggles as he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 49,259 | Gross: $2.44M
13. Miracle (2004)
PG | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Soviet squad.
Director: Gavin O'Connor | Stars: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Nathan West, Noah Emmerich
Votes: 58,898 | Gross: $64.38M
14. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,471 | Gross: $24.15M
15. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
R | 102 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Votes: 124,872 | Gross: $66.66M
16. The Courier (2020)
PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, History, Mystery
Businessman Greville Wynne is asked by a Russian source to try to help put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Director: Dominic Cooke | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Vladimir Chuprikov
Votes: 73,535 | Gross: $6.61M
17. A Most Wanted Man (2014)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.
Director: Anton Corbijn | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Daniel Brühl, Robin Wright
Votes: 80,156 | Gross: $17.24M
18. Oppenheimer (I) (2023)
R | 180 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.
Votes: 725,602 | Gross: $326.11M
19. First Man (2018)
PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Drama, History
A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler
Votes: 202,204 | Gross: $44.94M
20. Spacewalk (2017)
137 min | Drama, History
Trying to hold the lead in the Space Race, the Soviet Union is preparing two cosmonauts for the first spacewalk.
Director: Dmitriy Kiselev | Stars: Evgeniy Mironov, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Ilin, Anatoliy Kotenyov
Votes: 8,078
21. Cold War (2018)
R | 89 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski | Stars: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Agata Kulesza
Votes: 61,911 | Gross: $4.57M
22. The Death of Stalin (2017)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, History
Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power.
Director: Armando Iannucci | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough
Votes: 113,399 | Gross: $8.05M
23. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,407 | Gross: $11.29M
24. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
PG | 93 min | Biography, Drama, History
Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels
Votes: 101,293 | Gross: $31.56M
25. The Majestic (2001)
PG | 152 min | Drama, Romance
In 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey DeMunn
Votes: 57,653 | Gross: $27.81M
26. Trumbo (2015)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.
Votes: 84,772 | Gross: $7.86M
27. The Good Shepherd (2006)
R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.
Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 108,563 | Gross: $59.95M
28. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
PG-13 | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sam Spruell, Peter Stebbings, Christian Camargo
Votes: 67,392 | Gross: $35.17M
29. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
R | 113 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
Votes: 91,990 | Gross: $16.00M
30. J. Edgar (2011)
R | 137 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Hamilton
Votes: 133,616 | Gross: $37.31M
31. I.S.S. (2023)
R | 95 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the U.S. and Russian astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite | Stars: Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr., Masha Mashkova
Votes: 6,774
32. For All Mankind (2019– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In an alternative version of 1969, the Soviet Union beats the United States to the Moon, and the space race continues on for decades with still grander challenges and goals.
Stars: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Wrenn Schmidt, Krys Marshall
Votes: 69,043
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