Here's a rundown of top contenders you should check out in advance of the start of the next Oscars derby. Pete Hammond (Notes on a Season) has written a good overview you should check out too. 

"All Good Things," Andrew Jarecki (Weinstein Co.)
"Betty Anne Waters," Tony Goldwyn (Fox Searchlight)
"Biutiful," Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Focus Features)
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky (Fox Searchlight)
"The Conspirator," Robert Redford
"Cyrus," Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass  (Focus Features)
"The Debt," John Madden
"The Fighter," David O. Russell (Paramount)
"The Ghost Writer," Roman Polanski (Summit)
"Greenberg," Noah Baumbach  (Focus Features)
"Hereafter," Clint Eastwood (Warner Bros.)
"How Do You Know?" James L. Brooks (Columbia)
"Inception," Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros.)
"The Kids Are All Right," Lisa Cholodenko (Focus Features)
"The King's Speech," Tom Hooper (Weinstein)
"Rabbit Hole," John Cameron Mitchell (Fox Searchlight)
"Robin Hood," Ridley Scott  (Universal)
"Salt," Phillip Noyce  (Lionsgate)
"The Social Network," David Fincher  (Columbia)
"Somewhere," Sofia Coppola  (Focus Features)
"The Town," Ben Affleck (Warner Bros.)
"The Tree of Life," Terrence Malick (Apparition)