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Best Movies of 2015

15/1/2016

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by Joyless Staff

Any list is just the sum of its parts, and in the case of Joyless Creatures' Best Movies of 2015, those parts include ten cinephiles whose tastes run the gamut of what the year had to offer. Ten lists from ten individuals produced a staggering 70 titles, a virtual cage match between a seductive lesbian love story and a rousing boxing throw-back, and a number of eclectic ties (check out the three movies tied for the number three spot) that raised our top ten to sixteen. See our individual lists here. Enjoy!
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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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That Movie Was a Book?

25/3/2015

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Five Lost Novels That Are Superior to the Classic Movies They Inspired
by Peter Schilling Jr
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How often have you sat down to watch a classic film, either an older picture or one that you personally hold dear, and discovered that it was in fact based on a novel? “Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry was once a book?” you might exclaim, and yes, it’s true—that movie, obscure as it is (sorry), was a book and a good one.

Every year, Hollywood recycles the same old shit, or remakes great foreign films, virtually never succeeding at making the new movie of equal quality to the original. Decades ago, prior to the internet and cable television, pulp novels used to sell by the millions, and so publishers pumped them out by the dozens. Hollywood gobbled up these cheap properties. So many of the greatest noirs—and I’m not even talking Hammett, Chandler, or James M. Cain—are from hot little potboilers that are forgotten today. The same is true for Westerns and some of the coolest movies you’ve ever seen, probably without your even knowing it.


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Best Movies of 2014

1/1/2015

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by Joyless Staff
Like any other year, 2014 is a bag of mixed pleasures—some we generally agree on and others that spawn incredulity. Our top movies of the year, as voted on by the Joyless Staff, reflect this diverse range of material making an impact. Although the Twin Cities has yet to see some of the year’s biggest films (most notably Selma and Inherent Vice), we have chosen our top 25 movies, taking up 13 spaces, accommodating four ties. Check out our individual lists here. Enjoy and happy New Year!
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Best of 2014 So Far: Twin Cities Edition

4/7/2014

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2014

          so far

Taking stock in the year’s offerings in December while happily gorging on prestige flicks that have graced Cannes and Toronto seems habitual even if you don’t partake in the Wide World of Film Criticism. But undertaking the same kind of survey in June while suffering through summer bonanzas like Transformers or Godzilla and enjoying the pleasures, as major or minor as they may be, of movies like 22 Jump Street and Edge of Tomorrow feels a little more counterintuitive. Have we really seen anything good so far in 2014? Most definitely. Although our choices might differ, I think we can all agree that there were many gems in the first half of 2014 hiding under the buzz or right in plain sight.

Making our survey specific to films screened in the Twin Cities between January 1 and June 30 encompassed a number of anomalies, including late releases to our no-coast market from 2013 (Her, which opened January 10, locally scored big) as well as a large slate of early looks and undistributed films in April’s Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (Boyhood earning standout marks). Other top tier movies in our accumulated votes--The Grand Budapest Hotel, Stranger by the Lake, Under the Skin, and Ida—will no doubt resurface in six months with our year end assessment.

Without further ado, our collective list scored via ranking and our individual ballots. Eight ballots resulted in 51 movies.

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Fistful of Schillings: Five Forgotten Modern Noirs

25/3/2014

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by Peter Schilling Jr.
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13 Tzameti—An overlooked modern noir.
What exactly is noir, anyway? Its name suggests that the movie must be in black and white, and yet, who can deny that Polanski’s Chinatown is a noir masterpiece?

Others think that noir is specific to a time, namely the years following World War II, and that it reflects the seedy underside to America’s sudden power and prosperity following the Big Fight. I agree with all that, but I think that commentary can be applied to modern crime films (not to mention crime movies from other countries.)

The reason is simple: that postwar malaise lingers even today. To me, noir reflects the rot that exists beneath the surface of every prosperity, it examines the desperate measures people take to try and make their lives glamorous or wealthy. Money seems to be at the root of virtually all noir, though in one case below, fame is also a motivating factor.

The five movies I’ve selected below all reflect great noirs since 1990. This has been a fairly dead period for great crime movies. I know the world loves L. A. Confidential, but I think that one, though entertaining, pales terribly compared to Chinatown or any other minor noir, including Kansas City Confidential. The five listed here are personal choices that simply blew me away at the theaters, even if they’re often deeply flawed.


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Fistful of Schillings: Wild at Heart

12/2/2014

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by Peter Schilling Jr.

Thirteen Reasons Why You Could (Not Should) Totally See Wild at Heart Four Times
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In his inaugural no-filter column, Fistful of Schillings, author and opinionator Peter Schilling debates the merits of one of David Lynch’s less-appreciated films.

This weekend, the Trylon microcinema is screening David Lynch's controversial 1990 flick, Wild at Heart (full disclosure: I work at the Trylon as a board member, sometimes projectionist, ticket taker, and I make popcorn and fix the vacuum cleaner, too.) They're actually showing his X-rated version (that sounds so much cooler than "NC-17"), which I think involves literally one extra minute of violence against Willem Dafoe. The movie's controversy is contained in the simple question--is it any good? Some say "yes" enthusiastically, others say "no" with the same vigor. Well, when that happens, it should pique your interest. It certainly piques mine, even though I've seen it, and I'm in the latter camp. I plan on seeing it again, though I used the word "hated" multiple times in my original opinion of the movie.

So: why see Wild at Heart?

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