In Joy, David O. Russell and many of his favorite cast members are back with — loosely — the story of entrepreneur Joy “Huggable Hangers” Mangano. At least one Letterboxd member really, really loves it already. On the other hand, it was anything but a joy for this member.

“Is it Clooney?” “Is it Clooney?” Sofia Coppola directs Saint Bill Murray in A Very Murray Christmas — a seasonal extravaganza of Murrayesque proportions.

In Chi-Raq, Spike Lee takes Lysistrata, Aristophanes’ no-sex-til-war-ends comedy, from Greece to Chicago and the results are explosive.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies looks as good as the book it’s based on turned out to be (not to mention the book that the book was based on). “My daughters are trained for battle, sir, not the kitchen.” Directed by Burr “Flock of Seagulls” Steer, with a script by him and David O. Russell. Coming in 2016.

Due out next year, Captain America: Civil War finds the Captain at odds with Iron Man. “Sometimes I wanna punch you in your perfect teeth.” Ahh, Robert Downey Jr, don’t ever change.

“The most overhyped film of the year. I’m struggling to think of any redeeming value. Avoid.” —Ben Grace

“It’s hard to separate myself as a critic from a work of art such as this, as Carol is a particularly special and rare instance where queer individuals craft a queer film entirely made for an audience that doesn’t need to be spoon-fed a cautious queer narrative. It exists as a pure tale of romance through a queer lens, untouched by a heterosexual gaze looking to fetishize the love between two women to score an Oscar or two. Imagining this tale presented any other way is impossible, just as imagining myself loving any film as much as I love this one this year is impossible.” —Juan

“One of Charlie Chaplin’s masterpieces and a master class in the upending of expectations. Released in January 1931, after the full entrenchment of synchronized sound, City Lights employs certain sparing sound effects but is without dialogue—a move upon which Chaplin insisted, freeing his camera from the constraints of primitive sound-era equipment and retaining the universality and simplicity that defined the Little Tramp, but that had Chaplin nervous about the film’s bankability. It had taken over two years to complete City Lights, by which time silent movies had fallen completely out of favor. Yet City Lights was an enormous hit with both critics and moviegoers, defying the notion that only talkies could bring in an audience or that change for change’s sake is always to the good.” ★★★★★ —Aaron

“Joan Crawford as Vienna is really unimaginable in a way that still feels progressive even today. She owns and operates her own saloon, so she has economic and cultural power, and she successfully persuades those around her to take her side, so she has social and psychological power, and there’s never any point where she’s marginalized.

“She’s the ultimate embodiment of personal agency within the film and there’s never any point where she’s made out to be weird or abnormal or somehow Other. Not only does she structurally occupy a position traditionally used as a signifier of masculinity (she’s a gunslinger and a landowner), she also makes characters around her confront their own gender identities. … She’s just a badass lady running around in a world traditionally defined by its rocky landscapes as a battleground for male dominance within a patriarchal society.” ★★★★★ —ScreeningNotes

The Hunger Games series has come to a close with Mockingjay — Part 2. What’s your verdict on the fate of Panem’s people? Screening Notes says “the film is obviously not a masterpiece, but it has some interesting things on its mind”, while Alice Bishop muses on “an epilogue that pretty much turns the story into a Nicholas Sparks novel before it pathetically closes the curtains on the franchise”.

Colin the Dude suggests that David Fincher’s Zodiac was Robert Downey Jr’s last decent performance as a human being: “Thus is the diagnosis of Travoltaism and the cure is hard to find”.

Why do Femme Fatales get all the glory? Welcome to M. Katherine Rhodes’ list of Hommes Fatales, which answers the question “Who is cinema’s current reigning homme fatale?”.

Thinking about 2016 already? Getting in early on the 2016 film challenges, Wes Ball is set to lift off with 2016 — A Space Odyssey (A List for January 2016), Jonathan has compiled a list of 2016 films he can’t wait to see, while SaraFWilliams plans to get onto her backlog, eventually…

Ow my eyes! We love a communal Letterboxd list. This one, kicked off by Eli Hayes, celebrates cover art.

There’s no way we were going to get through this Call Sheet without a Star Wars reference. Kudos to Carrie Fisher for owning morning television last week with this brilliant, bonkers interview.