Best Picture

Hollywood loves a love story and if you can make a film that combines the heartbreak of forbidden passion with a cautionary message about the dangers of intolerance, well, you've got yourself a winner. This year everyone is in love with Brokeback Mountain's taboo- and heart-breaking portrayal of the unlikely relationship between two cowboys. Brokeback rode its way onto most "Best of 2005" lists and has already corralled most of the top honours handed out to date that tend to precede a Best Picture win - including Golden Globes for best dramatic film, best director and best screenplay. Can the gold statuette be far behind?

In fact, Brokeback is riding out so far ahead of the pack that the other nods all feel like just that - cursory nods. Still, with a surprise Best Cast win at SAG (members of which also form the largest contingent of Oscar voters), Crash could very well pull another upset come Oscar night.

As for the remaining nominees, not one of the three is likely to pick up the pace necessary to win this year's Best Picture race by Oscar night. Though Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of writer Truman Capote in Capote is without a doubt Oscar-worthy, the film will pick up its kudos in the Best Actor category, and Good Night, and Good Luck lacks the star power and box office numbers to pick up the year's biggest film prize. As for Munich, Steven Spielberg's nearly three-hour-long account of the aftermath of the

1972 Olympic tragedy has been criticized as too draggy, and its subject matter and lack of nominations in any acting categories make the thriller a long shot.