Aided in equal parts by our exhaustion with the complexities of the Middle East and the fact that Anna Chapman is a stone cold fox, America is experiencing a renewed fascination with the Soviet Union and nostalgia for all its sneaky, super-fun spy games. Now HBO is getting in on some of that action with its period drama series Reds: Not to be (though destined to be) confused with the 1981 Warren Beatty film, Reds is based on the real-life events from the career of director Martyn Burke (Pirates Of Silicon Valley), who discovered that one of his fellow crewmembers on an early-’80s documentary was actually a KGB colonel. Set amid that same tense, Reagan-era aggressiveness toward the “Evil Empire,” Reds will follow the similar story of a Soviet spy as he attempts to raise his family as normal U.S. citizens, as they are no doubt slowly corrupted by blue jeans, hamburgers, and the American rock ’n’ roll of Billy Joel. It probably says a lot about how exhausting the political situation is today that we look back so fondly on the Cold War, but you have to admit, things sure were a lot simpler and sexier then.
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