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The Death of Stalin is a Dark Joy

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6 years ago

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There’s an old Russian joke: What happens when you put a group of conniving, sycophantic, power-hungry, self-serving, ruthless, frightened, nasty men together in a room?

Alright, there is no joke. Let’s try again.

What happens when filmmaker Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, Veep, Thick of It) puts the above Gang of 7 into a suite of rooms and adds the poisoning presence of Joseph Stalin, both as a living, John Wayne loving, Mozart appreciating, mass murderer, and as a corpse, ripe for peasant grieving, and soviet secretaries’ scheming?

What you get is a very dark comedy that walks the trapeze line between pain and laughter, between mockery and uncomfortable humor, between moral repugnance and a very squeamish empathic recognition. You get satire of the darkest hue. You get The Death of Stalin, which really does feel like a dangerous feat accomplished admirably well.

As both his body of work and his interviews attest to, Iannucci is a political junkie. He is endlessly fascinated with the machinations of statecraft and can rattle off the names of politicos the way some fans can list every New England Patriot to wear the uniform. But what most fascinates him are those patriots that have gone terribly afoul, both the incompetents and the sharks. And here, at the end of Stalin’s (Adrian McLoughlin) reign of terror and the introduction of Nikita Khrushchev’s (Steve Buscemi) Cold War Soviet Empire, he finds plenty of both.

It all begins with a Mozart Piano Concerto, a piece of gentle and sublime beauty, that, as is typical with Iannucci, only lasts a few moments before it becomes an element in a scene about both political fear and survivalism and personal courage on the part of the pianist.

It’s best to enjoy that moment of courage because it is the last you’ll see. For the next two hours it’s going to be one summary execution, urine or blood soaked carpets, and acts of political backstabbing, blackmailing, and pedophilia enacted behind closed doors or recorded in dossiers after another. And that’s just the first hour. We can look forward to brain removals and more in the second hour. So, how could all of this be funny?

It begins with a flawless cast, including a welcomed return by Monty Python’s Michael Palin and knockout performances by both Buscemi and Simon Russell Beale as Khrushchev’s nemesis, whose mixed nationalities and accents make this as much about the world today and forever, as about Russia in 1953.

Also, the script’s ceaseless barbs, fumbling excuses, whispered terrors and conspiracies, childish tantrums all seem perfectly plausible given the characters and situations, but they are also devilishly wicked. (As an aside, Iannucci’s Olympian talent at writing the most vulgar and poetic swearing is not on the scene in this period piece) But what makes it all come together is the deadpan delivery. Not for a moment does he grant the characters a chance to wink and nod, nor himself to rest on his laurels or his easy targets. These are horrible times and these men are a truly pathetic and awful confederacy of dupes and dictators, but the mayhem continues and the men take themselves awfully seriously.

And that will work for some viewers and not for others. For some, this will not be a comedy, nor will it be a drama. It will be something unclassifiable and even off-putting. For the current Russian state, it is very classifiable: It’s been condemned and banned. Though, I personally didn’t care for it as much as I like all of his other work, for those with a taste for the underbelly of political satire, done relentlessly and ruthlessly, you’ll enjoy Stalin’s death. Cue the Mozart.

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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10 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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12 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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13 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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