Emotional new year dramas: Joy, The Danish Girl and lots more

It may be winter but Oscar season is heating up. Check out these classy dramas on release in Cineworld this January.

Joy

What's the story? Jennifer Lawrence stars in the inspirational true story of a woman who built a business empire.

Burning with ambition, Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) is ill served by around her. Her parents (Robert De Niro, Virginia Madsen) are divorced and her husband (Edgar Ramirez) is a flake. Before long, she's a single mother striking out alone as an inventor and entrepreneur. But success brings its own problems, not least the unwanted attention of criminals.

Inspired by the true story of Joy Mangano, inventor of the Miracle Mop, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle director David O. Russell has crafted a brilliant star vehicle for his favourite actress, Jennifer Lawrence. Bradley Cooper, with whom she has demonstrated such amazing screen chemistry, is cast as a Home Shopping Network executive who gives Joy's career a boost. Unfolding over four generations, this is a deeply emotional story of family, love and the tough world of commerce.

Click here to book your tickets for Joy.

The Danish Girl

What's the story? Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne stars in an extraordinary and moving true-life love story.

In 1920s Copenhagen, bohemian artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband Einar (Eddie Redmayne) to stand in for an absent female model. The experience of putting on women's clothes fulfils something deep within him, and Gerda's portraits quickly become a sensation among the unwitting public. With his wife's support and encouragement, Einar creates a female persona called Lili Elbe and begins living as a woman. But the couple's lives become complicated when Lili attracts male attention and Einar realises that he needs to take things further.

Following his Oscar winning triumph as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne undergoes another astonishing transformation in this profoundly touching true story of one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. It's magnificently and tastefully staged by Tom Hooper, Oscar-winning director of The King's Speech, who previously directed Redmayne in Les Miserables.

Click here to book your tickets for The Danish Girl.

Spotlight

What's the story? The extraordinary true story of how investigative journalists uncovered an abuse scandal and cover-up.

It's the summer of 2001 and the Boston Globe has a new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), who's curious to know why abusive Catholic Priests have gone unpunished. So he sets the paper's investigative Spotlight team onto the story. This is headed by Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton) and includes tenacious reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo) and Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams).

Over the course of six months, they painstakingly piece together the horrifying truth about a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse. It's a fearless investigation that goes on to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Widely compared to the Oscar-winning classic All the President's Men, The Station Agent director Thomas McCarthy's richly detailed, emotionally involving drama boasts outstanding performances from its superb cast, who paint a compelling portrait of investigative journalism at its finest.

Spotlight is released on 29th January.

The 33

What's the story? The world holds its breath as 33 miners are buried alive for 69 days in this compelling true story.

When a group of miners embark on a shift in the San Jose Mine in Chile's Atacama Desert back in 2010, they little anticipate that they are about to become global news. The rickety 121-year-old mine collapses dramatically, forcing 33 survivors to flee deeper underground to an area known as The Refuge.

Mario Sepulveda (Antonio Banderas) quickly takes charge, keeping spirits up throughout the miners' two-month ordeal, which is played out live on TV sets around the world. Meanwhile, on the surface a risky and dangerous rescue mission is launched.

From its terrifyingly realistic reconstruction of the mine collapse to the heart-wrenching experiences of the trapped workers, who face only a 1% chance of survival, this emotional true-life drama is a moving tribute to human resilience and fortitude. The all-star international cast includes Juliette Binoche and Gabriel Byrne.

The 33 is released on 29th January.