The Oscar season is just warming up as the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals have gotten us started. The New York and London film fests around the corner will keep things humming and in the meantime, a survey of the field is in order. This year’s crop of possibilities is as diverse as ever, genre and foreign film making their voices heard, while animation is curiously absent. Presidential biopics are represented, as are political thrillers. Comedy, as ever, barely shows up, while Hollywood gets a unique spotlight the year after industry nostalgia owned the season. There’s something for western fans, comic book fans and literary fans, so click through to check out our cross-section of the players, from “A(mour)” to “Z(ero” Dark Thirty). And of course, keep track of the ups and downs of the category all season at In Contention’s Best Picture Contenders page.