LA Times Surveys Would-be Best Picture Contenders

Having recently acquired Tom O'Neil's awards season site Goldderby.com, the LA Times today launched "The Envelope," tracking the awards season race. The lead story has O'Neil looking at the best picture Oscar race, singling out a mix of released and unseen films. Among the films that have already received festival and wider press attention, O'Neil mentions James Mangold's "Walk The Line," Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," Sam Mendes' "Jarhead," George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck," Tommy Lee Jones' "The Three of Burials of Melquiades Estrada," Bennett Miller's "Capote," and even Paul Haggis' "Crash," Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man," Fernando Meirelles' "The Constant Gardener" and Woody Allen's "Match Point." Meanwhile, other generally unseen films were also picked as potential contenders, including Steven Spielberg's "Munich," Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha," Terrence Malick's "The New World," Peter Jackson's "King Kong," Susan Stroman's "The Producers," and Chris Columbus' "Rent."