And now we turn our gimlet eye to the best director category. Full disclosure: of the top five men in the race, I’ve only seen two of the movies: The Descendants and The Artist. Any women directors in the race? Oopsy!

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Steven Spielberg, War Horse

David Fincher, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist

Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Other directorial contenders: Bennett Miller, Moneyball; Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar; Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris; Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life; Tomas Alfredson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Martin Scorsese, Hugo; Oren Moverman, Rampart; and George Clooney, The Ides of March.