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.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
