Yay! My favorite time of year (movie-wise)! The fall-winter run is when the studios release all their Oscar hopefuls, which means the theaters are glutted with stuff I want to see. And with the Golden Globe, SAG, and critic association nominations coming out, we are getting a better idea of who this year’s front-runners are. So what should you see?

1. Avatar

James Cameron‘s unbelievably long-awaited return to the screen since his Titanic triumph, this sci-fi spectacle about an ex-marine mixed up with blue aliens looked like it was going to be the next Ishtar, but is getting raves almost across the board.

2. The Blind Side

The ads for this one make it look like horrible saccharine blonde Sandra Bullock with the heart of gold saves the day for a disenfranchised black youth through the wonder of sports. Turns out that the heart-wrenching true story of homeless youth Michael Oher, who wound up being adopted by the Tuohy family of Memphis and went on to play for the Baltimore Ravens is handled delicately and done really well. Whether Bullock will win the Best Actress category is up for grabs, but she probably will get a nomination. Yes, I just typed that.

3. Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges stars as a broken down, hard-living country singer. And is apparently so good at it that everyone is talking Best Actor for him.

4. An Education

Newcomer Carey Mulligan stars as a promising young woman in 1960s England whose life gets turned upside down when she – and her family – get taken by an older man (Peter Sarsgaard). Based on the true story of Lynn Barber, and adapted by best selling novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy), the movie is terrific. Mulligan might get a Best Actress nod and Hornby a Best Adapted Screenplay.

5. The Hurt Locker

Buzz has been surrounding Katheryn Bigelow’s drama about bomb squad technicians in Iraq since it came out earlier this year. Thanks to the heat its been getting in the pre-Oscar race, The Hurt Locker is expanding/re-releasing so you can still catch it.

6. Inglorious Basterds

Another movie that came out earlier this year and is having a surprise awards season resurgence, Quentin Tarantino‘s distinctly, well, Tarantino-esque take on WWII features, amongst other things, a group of Nazi-killing Jewish soldiers lead by a delightfully crazed Brad Pitt. Warning: It’s Tarantino, so that means it’s ridiculously gory and violent. Fun, but violent. Just saying.

7. Invictus

Morgan Freeman stars as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African rugby team whom Mandela realized might help unite the country during the transition out of apartheid. Oh, and directed by Clint Eastwood. Maybe just worth it to see Matt Damon in tiny soccer shorts and doing an the South African accent?

8. Precious

Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, director Lee Daniels takes viewers on a ride through the utter misery that is the life of Precious, a poor, obese African-American teenager (played by Gabourey Sidibe) who is pregnant with her second child by her father and stuck living with a physically and emotionally abusive mother (Mo’Nique). It’s good, it has really interesting turns by people like Mariah Carey as Precious’ social worker, and Mo’Nique is absolutely going to get a Best Supporting Actress nod (if not the win). But good God is this one heavy. NOT a date movie!

9. A Single Man

Based on the novel of the same name, this one stars Colin Firth as a gay man in Cuban Missile Crisis-era LA who has to get over the death of his partner. The big excitement about this one is that it’s the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, but it’s also supposed to be good, too.

10. Up in the Air

George Clooney stars as a man who fires people for a living. Doesn’t sound sooo interesting, but it’s adapted/directed by Jason Reitman (Juno) and basically everyone loves it. Look for this one to do a sweep with multi-category nominations.

Honorable mentions: The Last Station, Nine, The Young Victoria, The Lovely Bones, Julie & Julia, and others are also contenders. Oh Oscar season, I love you!