What is it? Director David O. Russell's fourth film in five years, a biopic of Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence), the woman who invented the Miracle Mop. Why is it a major player? It's easy to be cynical about this one - David O. Russell can seem to do no wrong these days (despite the fact that reports of the director abusing his cast and crew persist - already it's rumoured he and star Jennifer Lawrence had a fight on the set of Joy), and the focus of Joy almost seems like it's a practical joke of Russell's to see whether the Academy will buy any old crap off of him. That said, it's a biopic, and you can never underestimate Russell on a good day - it's a good chance Oscar voters won't either. At the very least, you'll be looking at a Best Actress nom for Jennifer Lawrence. The star is potentially the biggest in the world right now, and even if she hadn't been a frontrunner the last two times she was nominated, she'll likely be waltzing into a pretty quiet Best Actress race in 2016, if the past few years have been anything to go by.