Best Actor (Female)

This year is looking unusually strong for women in film (I'm betting this will be a continuing trend). I think audiences today are looking for more substance from the movies, and that usually means a female lead or a (strong) female protagonist. Corina Chocano takes a look at the crop of Oscar frontrunners with female leads this year:

Already, the year has yielded a wide variety of noteworthy performances by actresses in leading or ensemble roles, some of them in surprisingly womanly milieus. There was Kate Winslet as a depressed suburban mom in "Little Children," Meryl Streep as the intimidating powerhouse boss in "The Devil Wears Prada," Helen Mirren as a beleaguered Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen" and Kirsten Dunst as the teen queen of France in"Marie Antoinette," among others.

And: It could be a blip, it could be a trend, but it beats rapping hookers onstage at the Kodak any day.

I couldn't agree more. To me, it looks like Kate Winslet is the front runner for best actor (female) for her work in "Little Children". Whatever happens this year's race will be much more interesting than usual (and probably more interesting than the race for best actor [male]). Carina's complete story