Is it just me or did A LOT move and shake this month as far as the annual awards hopefuls were concerned?

"The Queen" (though technically a September 30 release) and "The Departed" both have had amazing box office runs following some of the best reviews of the year, putting themselves right at the top of the race, where few suspected they'd be two months ago.

"Flags of Our Fathers" is a tricky film to establish a consensus on but there's no denying it has Oscar in its sights and will be a factor in awards season, disappointing box office or not. "Little Children", meanwhile, is leaving October with far lesser expectations than it entered with, but we're still bound to see it pop up places come December and January, especially for its screenplay and its leading lady.

"Marie Antoinette" (talk about divisive) and "The Prestige" (may be considered lesser Nolan but it's still keeping his amazing run alive) will presumably be confined to the craft categories but we'll be seeing them in some capacity come December and January.

The critics had knives out for "Running with Scissors" but it's still too early to take Bening out of the running. Though the box office was expectedly poor for "Catch a Fire", one never knows what Focus Features will manage to pull (if this is looking like their worst year this decade).

And while it's too early to draw any conclusions about its ultimate fate, "Babel" also finally found its way into theatres.

November will be eventful as major titles finally show themselves yet we'll be lacking true consensus (and box office stats) on most of those titles until December.