Aviation categories are particularly hard fought, with four UK airports up against four foreign contenders.
When not acting in dreadful movies, the "Manassa Mauler" defended his title, as well as America's honor, with hugely profitable wins over foreign contenders like Georges Carpentier of France and Luis Firpo of Argentina.
And even as American banks start to return to health, efforts by the Obama administration to rein in the industry are likely to shift the competitive landscape in new ways — a development closely watched by foreign contenders.
You could make an argument for saying Jurgen Klopp is the stand-out high-achiever among the younger generation of foreign contenders – and United have never had a non-British or Irish manager – although his rise has been stalled somewhat after the heights of last season with Borussia Dortmund.
The foreign language contender With £378,000, including £30,000 in previews from 114 screens, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has posted the biggest opening for a non-Bollywood foreign language film since Coco Before Chanel.
Mr. Carter spent time on the deck – the Bagger is not sure if the smoking that was going on was off the record — talking with Tom Bernard, co-chief of Sony Classics, about "Joyeux Noel," a foreign film contender that recounts a night during WWI when the Germans, French, and Scottish all met in no man's land to bury their dead and play a bit of soccer.
'A Separation' (Iran) The director Asghar Farhadi has an unusual distinction for a foreign-language contender: He is also nominated for his screenplay for "A Separation," simultaneously a gripping marital drama and a detective story.
Among the 54 foreign language contenders announced this week by the American Academy is Lilya 4-Ever, a film that is mostly in Russian, was set in Russia and will be therefore be representing... Sweden.
But elsewhere, we're forced to go out on a limb: tipping Master and Commander for a consolation gaggle of technical awards, plucking The Barbarian Invasions out from an unknown and unseen set of best foreign film contenders, and picking Sean Penn for best actor when a sizeable part of us still screams that it's going to be Bill Murray.
Elle, a rape revenge comedy from Paul Verhoeven, is one of five foreign-language contenders, including the frontrunner, Toni Erdmann, a German comedy that swept the board at the European Film awards on Saturday, as well as Divines, an urban French gangster drama, Pablo Larraín's Chilean biopic Neruda and The Salesman, the latest from Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi.
