Oh, never mind movies that are actually good - we can conveniently ignore the box-office successes of recent movies like The Queen, The Hours, both Kill Bills, and Foster’s previous movies, Panic Room and Flightplan. Heck, even massive botches like Stepford Wives and Bewitched reached $60 million thanks in part to Kidman’s comedy appeal.

This year is, so far, an even stranger Best Actress year in that there’s no Big Obvious Frontrunner. And many who could’ve been – Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Halle Berry in Things We Lost in the Fire – saw their movies tank. There hasn’t even been a big talked about pseudo-supporting role. And most alarming of all: none of the potential nominees seem to have prosthetic facial deformities. Let’s take a look at the contenders…

Ellen Page: The current frontrunner in the race is a 20-year-old relative unknown. Page, from Hard Candy and X-Men: The Last Stand, is getting rave reviews for her role as a pregnant teenager in the offbeat comedy Juno, which is looking more and more to become this year’s Little Miss Sunshine. Commercial prospects even look good too, with Michael Cera as the baby’s father and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner as the couple looking to adopt.

Amy Adams: Another young, relatively unknown actress, Adams stars in the surprise blockbuster Enchanted. She’s actually no stranger to the Academy, with a Supporting Actress nomination under her belt for Junebug. A nomination here will be akin to Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean nod: a mainstream role that the public at large falls in love with.

Julie Christie: Now here’s an actress for the Academy to love. The 66-year-old star received rave reviews for Away from Her, which marks a great comeback performance after winning an Oscar forty-two years ago. Never mind that the movie never seemed to be intended to be an Oscar contender, as it opened way back in May opposite Spider-Man 3.

Laura Linney: