Frost/Nixon
So FemaleFirst has earmarked some of the best individual performances from 2008 but it's now time to look at the overall work and find out who could be line to scoop Best Picture.
And there seems to be a case of deja vu while there are plenty of strong contenders there's no runaway or obvious favourite like there was this time around, lets face it No Country for Old Men was always going to win.
Leading the British challenge is Danny Boyle's return to the big screen with Slumdog Millionaire, a film of harsh reality, a formula that brought him success with Trainspotting, as he looks at the brutal way of life of growing up in India.
Slumdog Millionaire lit up Toronto crowds which follows Jamal Malik, an eighteen year old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who is on the verge of winning Who Wants to be A Millionaire? But when the show breaks for the night police arrest him on suspicion of cheating: how could a street kid know so much?
Desperate to prove his innocence Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local groups and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost.
Another British contender is Frost/Nixon, the strongest of the politically themed movies currently doing the rounds, which could also see Ron Howard receive a nod for best Director and Michael Sheen for Best Supporting Actor.
Two of the firm festival favourites have been Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, which stars Anne Hathaway, and follows Kym who returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel, she brings a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along with her.
This is Hathaway staking a claim as a serious actress and it could see her rewarded with a Best Actress nod. Also doing well on the festival circuit was Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler which scooped the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was the strongest from a very lack luster line up.
But after the blockbusters of the summer a string of movies who believe they are Oscar contenders come out of the woodwork and this year is no different as the movies from the three leading actresses for Best Actress could find their films in Best Picture.
There's a double chance for Kate Winslet as both The Reader, which also stars Ralph Feinnes and Revolutionary Road, a return to the big screen for Oscar winning director Sam Mendes could both be potential winners.
Changeling is the best chance for Clint Eastwood to win Best Film and Best Director, as he did with Million Dollar Baby, however his film Gran Torino could also be recognised.
John Patrick Shanley brings his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play Doubt to the screen as a gripping story about the quest for truth, the forces of change, and the devastating consequences of blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction, and it could find itself walking away with the top prize.
Meryl Streep leads an all star cast as Sister Aloysius Beauvier, a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him of sexually abusing a new black student, charges that he denies.
But there are also chances for Baz Lurhman's romance and war epic Australia as well as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a film that is still being kept under wraps.
But don't be surprised if blockbuster The Dark Knight is also included.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw