In my continuing series to take a closer look at each major race, I bring you the Best Actress edition. It's shaping up to be a fairly solid year for this category, although it still remains far less competitive than the Best Actor race thanks to the lack of many leading roles for women. Here are the major contenders, again, in no order whatsoever:

1. Helen Mirren, The Queen

Mirren's performance of the most recent Queen Elizabeth is the first, and so far the only, lock. Right now she's the frontrunner for the win. The reviews are behind her, and the film is still doing quite well in limited release (it even cracked the top ten this weekend). No way she won't make it into the top five.

2. Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

The surprise blockbuster of the summer got rave reviews for Streep. However, it didn't get rave reviews for the movie, and if most people think of it as forgettable entertainment, Streep could be left out. Still, if there remains little competition, she could easily get a nomination: she's Meryl Streep, after all.

3. Penelope Cruz, Volver

She's getting rave reviews for Pedro Almodovar's new flick, and even though the film's reviews haven't reached the heights of Talk to Her (or even Bad Education), Almodovar is a strong director who has a past with the Academy and makes female-centric movies. Cruz's return to form in Spanish-language dramas should allow her, at this point at least, to find a spot in the nomination list.

4. Kate Winslet, Little Children

The good? The critics loved her performance and the movie. The bad? It floundered at the box office and it was released too early. If she finds love in the critics-circle precursor awards, she could make it. If not, she'll be forgotten.

5. Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls

This is the movie that everybody is buzzing about but nobody's seen. Will it live up to the hype? If it does, there's still a big chance that Knowles won't make it in, because her role, as far as I know, isn't exactly Oscar-baiting. Still, she could be caught up in a wave of accolades and land in the top five.

6. Annette Bening, Running with Scissors

She got good reviews. Unfortunately, she was the only good thing most critics said about the movie, and the harsh reviews have stopped the box office cold. Now I'm trying to think of a pun about her not getting a nomination that involves the title of the movie. Got one: "If you run with scissors, chances are you're going to get cut...from the Best Actress race!" Any good?

7. Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal

The requisite Judi Dench British movie Oscar nomination. It's worked in the past, so why not this year?

8. Cate Blanchett, The Good German

The jury's still out on this one, but unlike Dreamgirls, Blanchett appears to have a much more Oscar-baiting role, and with George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, it has a high pedigree. (Although the black-and-white might limit the box office.) Oh, and Clooney tried to stir up some buzz himself when he point-blank stated, "Cate will get nominated for this." We'll see.

9, 10, 11. Nicole Kidman for Fur, Renee Zellweger for Miss Potter, and Sienna Miller for Factory Girl

Three famous actresses (okay, maybe not Miller, but that could help or hurt her). Three biopics. Three real-life roles: Diane Arbus, Beatrix Potter, and Edie Sedgwick, respectively. Right now, the buzz is actually more in favor of Factory Girl, although Kidman (whose film looks a bit too weird) and Zellweger have the bigger Oscar pedigree. Will they all crash and burn? Will one break through? We'll know soon...

(These Oscar columns are published weekly from early Fall through the Oscar ceremony at the end of February.)