The Death of Stalin

Excellent post-war satire, interwoven with very funny and apt black humour, great acting performances (Steve Buscemi and Simon Russel Beale are excellent), plus traditional executions and a stiffing atmosphere, so for me great satisfaction and surprisingly decent entertainment. From the turn of the year quite possibly, the best we've had. Long live Stalin! It should definitely be shown in schools. 85%. (02/28/2018)

Making fun of a scum like Stalin and the Bolshevik cadres deserves praise, but I didn't find the film very funny. The humour was quite forced and ham-fisted, I guess I'm not the right viewer for such unbridled shenanigans. The casting, with the exception of Khrushchev and Molotov (the always reliable Buscemi and Palin) was one big blunder, especially with Stalin himself, who came across more like a nice old man than the charismatic, demonic Satan. (04/27/2018)

Stalin is dead and needs to be replaced. There are plenty of ambitious candidates to replace him, and the battle for the throne begins. Winner takes all, loser takes a bullet to the head. It's going to be a ride. The Death of Stalin is a clever comedy that relies on the fact that it features situations that are as absurd as they are terrifying, rather than classic humour. And with a great cast, too. As a purposefully slightly over-the-top reminder of what was happening just a few decades ago, the film works excellently. And as a clever comedy, too. (07/26/2018)

We lost the pace. I don't even recognize Armando Iannucci because this could not possibly be the same writer who was responsible for the first four seasons of Veep. I'm not saying that he didn't touch upon controversial and sensitive topics there, but he definitely didn't handle them with subtlety. This controversial area deserves deep and sharp cuts, but instead you get good humor and some kind of secondary layer for the audience to search for, not to mention the clever and discreet jokes. The last salvation, of course, are the actors, especially the truly despicable Simon Russell Beale and the eagerly anticipated Jason Isaacs, who gets about one-tenth of the screen time that I expected after watching the trailer. (08/06/2018)

I haven't seen Armando Iannucci's work, but after watching this madness (I mean that in a good way), I’ll have to make up for it. I haven't seen such a well-done situational comedy in a long time (it reminded me a lot of the Netflix satire Don't Look Up), though it’s worth noting that it has a considerable amount of dark humor and a lot of serious scenes where you might feel your blood running cold. The cast was absolutely perfect; everyone showed they are among the top acting talents (if I had to name one, it would be Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev). Jason Isaacs' arrival as Zhukov almost had me on the floor laughing. The film surprised me positively, with amazing work all around. Now that I think about it, it's quite difficult to talk about the film. Anyone who hasn’t seen this creation yet should correct that immediately and form their own opinion. For me, it’s a well-deserved 9/10. (04/13/2022)