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The 15 Best Scenes of 2015

31/12/2015

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by Joyless Staff
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Writing about film is often an exercise in self-restraint: for the sake of objective analysis, we're taught to be impartial and to seek cohesion and quality craftsmanship, applauding movies in which the whole is sometimes greater than the sum of its parts. But there's no denying that cinema is an art form given to euphoric moments and jolts of briefly-sustained adrenaline, exuding a joy and creativity that no pseudo-objective analyst could dare refuse. With this in mind—and with a few more weeks until we unveil our Best Films of 2015 lists (thanks mostly to the January Twin Cities releases of Anomalisa and The Revenant)—we'd like to highlight the greatest movie moments of 2015. Some of the following scenes are of a high quality that define the movie as a whole; others might be glimmers of greatness within films that are not deserving of such brilliance. In any case, the following 15 scenes (listed alphabetically by film title) make these movies worth the price of admission (or an Amazon rental) alone. (WARNING: some spoilers may be found below.) 

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Joyless Creatures Halloween Spooktacular

29/10/2015

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by Joyless Creatures Staff
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"What's your favorite scary movie?" a creepy voice asks Drew Barrymore to open Wes Craven's 1996 film, Scream. We at Joyless Creatures decided to ask ourselves the same question. Here follow our Halloween picks – from chilling characters and half-human monsters to legitimate encounters with hell itself, these movies are guaranteed to keep your Halloween spooky and your dreams troubled.

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The 2015 Academy Awards: Predictions & Exclusions

16/2/2015

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by Joyless Staff

This Sunday marks the 87th Academy Awards, an event so hyped that it's hard for even the least involved cinephile to ignore. (As noted in the New York Times this past weekend, 43 million Americans watched the Oscars last year
—seven times the number of people that saw Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave.)  Below are our forecasts for who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated. Notably underrepresented this year are Selma, Gone Girl, Inherent Vice, and Under the Skin, making for a monochromatic group of acting nominees and an all-male set of directorial and screenwriting nominees—a problem endemic in both Hollywood and the Academy. If there can be any silver lining, it is that Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater, two filmmakers who have previously only been nominated for screenwriting awards, may be taking home more well-deserved Oscars than they can carry.
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Smash Cuts: American Hustle

10/12/2014

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Smash Cuts is a continuing series in which two Joyless Creatures staff members go head-to-head on a divisive film, debating its various faults and merits via email exchange. This project was begun (yet never completed) at the Walker Art Center. In this edition, Joseph Houlihan and Eliza Summerlin debate the relative merit's of David O. Russell's American Hustle (2013). 
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Against: Joseph Houlihan
For: Eliza Summerlin


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Scary Creatures: 8 Halloween Picks

23/10/2014

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by Joyless Creatures Staff
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As we all don our costumes and load up on candy, we should take a moment to remember what the Halloween season really means. This is the time of year for watching heart-stopping, spine-tingling, hair-raising movies. Toward that end, the Joyless Creatures staff has a few spooky Halloween picks to round out your sleepless nights. From terror to schlocky gore, camp to existential dread, these eight movies will haunt your dreams.




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