A red band trailer has been released for The Death of Stalin, the latest political satire from Armando Iannucci, the Emmy-winning creator of Veep and Oscar-nominated director of In the Loop.

The movie follows a group of people engaged in a power struggle to take control of the Soviet Union following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. It stars Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, and Andrea Riseborough.

You can read more about the movie and watch the new trailer below.

A pair of HBO’s 30-minute original comedy series have officially been given new seasons.

Silicon Valley, the new series from Office Space director and Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill creator Mike Judge, has been given a second season order. The show follows a group of programmers trying to make it big in Silicon Valley, and is partially inspired by Judge’s own experiences working there as an engineer in the ’80s.

In The Loop
Netflix | Amazon | Hulu Plus | iTunes | Xbox Live
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Armando Iannucci
Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Gina McKee, Mimi Kennedy, Anna Chlumsky, James Gandolfini
BBC Films
Originally Released: January 22, 2009

With the big announcement over the last week of Peter Capaldi turning out to be the next Doctor for Doctor Who, I thought it might be timely to take a look at some of the work he’s been well-known for. The series, The Thick Of It, showcases one his most iconic characters: Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed spin doctor in the British Government.

The series spawned a movie called In The Loop, where the government crosses paths with the American government in the planning for invasion of a Middle Eastern country.

The story begins with the leaders of the respective nations already planning on progressing forward with a preemptive strike on a country, in a comic parody of historic political events during the post-9/11 era. While the leaders convene committees and meetings across the globe to push the case for conflict, other operatives behind the scenes work on efforts to stop the warmongering.

HBO has announced that there will officially be a second season for their two newest shows, Girls and Veep.

Girls is created by and stars Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture) and executive produced by Judd Apatow. It follows four girls in New York City as they struggle to figure out their lives and all of the little joys it brings with it. It has been compared to another HBO show, Sex and the City, presented in a much more realistic and less glamorous light, and from a much younger perspective.