Best movie of this year hands down!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The (true but slightly embellished) story of the internal power struggle among the top brass in the days following the death of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin. When I first saw this film shortly after its release, I proposed that it was likely to be the funniest film of 2017. Now we're firmly into 2018 and I've given it a second and third viewing, I can confirm that I was almost certainly right - The Death of Stalin might not have given the most outrights laughs in a single 90-minute period as other films but it certainly left me (and, as I have read, others also) with the greatest number of memorable moments that I can still remember now. You know the ones I mean - where you burst out laughing at silence and have to explain that it's because of a scene of a man spitting onto his own forehead you saw once many months ago.The film starts immediately fast in a concert hall, escalates through Stalin's death (spoiler alert?), past the rigged committee meetings and into the culmination of plots, coups and counter-plots. It's funny enough to keep you ticking over with the occasional titter but every now and then it hits you with a proper belly laugh. Some of it is of course made up (like the opening concert hall scene) but Iannucci is keen to point out that some of its more ridiculous aspects are real - for example, Stalin's son Vasily really did try to cover up a plane crash that killed an entire Soviet Air Forces ice hockey team in 1950. Unlike with past Armando Iannucci political satires The Thick of It and In the Loop, the array of bumbling officials shown to be smart in theory but useless in practice are given real names based on real historical figures - even though the film is actually based on a French comic book of the same name. A major difference to his previous work is that the stakes are much higher when a political figure makes a political mistake - instead of the oh-so-British punishment of embarrassment, it's a bullet to the head! This makes for a handful of incredibly dark moments (mostly at the hands of Simon Russel Beale as Lavrentiy Beria, the Head of the Soviet Secret Police) but there's nothing that overshadows the trademark cutting dialogue.The unique selling point of this film is that all the actors retain their native accents for their Soviet characters - there's something strangely satisfying to hear Khrushchev's words in Buscemi's Brooklyn tongue or the feared head of the Soviet Army possessing a deep Yorkshire (Sheffield?) accent. Some have flagged this as an issue for the film but it could very well be Iannucci's way of saying that this might've happened (sort of) in 1950s Soviet Russia, but you should also expect similar schemes, plots and plans to happen in the corridors of Westminster, Washington ... or Moscow.

This was a chilling comedy... like Dr. Strangelove only different. Steve Buscemi gives an incredible performance as Nikita Khrushchev, acting as the only voice of reason in a sea of total chaos and terror. One of those movies that you do and then don't take seriously. Genius on display.

The Death of Stalin is stupid and dark. It knows that it's stupid and dark, which just adds to its brilliance. Armando Iannucci is a genius, and he really shines in making such a raunchy, yet brilliant picture. It always contrasts the violence and disgust of Russia with the comedy and bleak humor of the council, but never downplays either of them. It follows a large council of Russian officials fighting for power after the general secretary, Stalin, dies from a cerebral hemorrhage.This film flaunts itself as a ultra-dark comedy. The officials are all terrible people, but the villains are also terrible, so in a brilliant twist, Iannucci leaves you wondering who to root for. Even the main character is an awful, terrible character who uses human lives and destruction as a shield and uses death as a device to blame other things on other people. He's a control freak with a witty personality, but we still like him.Steve Buscemi was wonderful in the role of Khrushchev, and made the character so funny and likable. Simon Beale was Beria, who was the general 'villain'. He was hilarious, and he was very intimidating. Both Rupert Friend and Andrea Riseborough were great, and really did play off each other like quarreling siblings. Jason Isaacs has got to be the funniest character however. He's absolutely hilarious in his mannerisms and his joking nature. A standout performance by Jeffrey Tambor was presented too. He plays Georgy Malenkov, the new premier, and is very funny in his ineptitude. Other perfect performances were presented by Adrian McLoughlin, Ogla Kurylenko, Paul Whitehouse, Paul Chahidi, Dermot Crowley and James BarriscaleIf you want a rousing experience with fabulous performances, black comedy, and great and memorable scenes, this is a must see. I highly recommend it to anyone. 9 out of 10!

This is one of those films that will stay with you for a long time, if not forever. Nothing about it is excessive; everything fits so well together: from the acting, to the cinematography, pace, editing, music, down to the closing credits.What's marvelous about it is that it's as true to the historical timeline as can be and it's written pretty straight, but because it's a true story, and it's such a horrible one that it plays as a dark comedy, as well as a farce. Except...it's not! If it was a work of fiction, one would say that it would be almost a 'morality play' but again...it's not. It's a film all history, politics and film buffs should see. The only reason why I'm giving it 9 stars and not 10 is because it was too short. Another 10 minutes on the film which I'm sure was shaved off, would have possibly offered better story arcs and details.