HOLLYWOOD -- Now that Halloween is safely behind us, Tinseltowners are gearing up for giving thanks -- as in showing gratitude for something playing at the megaplex other than horror movies.

Yes, awards season is well under way, and although we're still several months away from the big Steve Martin-Alec Baldwin Oscar-hosting duet, the acting races are already beginning to take shape.

Especially where the actresses are concerned.

Now each year around this time, you usually begin hearing the same song and dance about how there just aren't as many splashy roles for women as there are for men.

Not so this year.

Having already seen a number of true contenders we're here to tell you that there's an embarrassment of riches where the sisters are concerned.

Where to begin?

How about Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which, what it may lack in brevity compensates for in raw, powerful performances, particularly those of first-time actress Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe as an obese pregnant teen and erstwhile comedienne Mo'Nique as her abusive monster of a mother?

Or Meryl Streep's masterful turn (like she ever phones one in) as the seemingly inimitable Julia Child in Julie & Julia?

Or England's Emily Blunt, Streep's Devil Wears Prada co-star, who trades her designer threads for something more fittingly royal to play the surprisingly spirited title character in The Young Victoria.

Or Australia's Abbie Cornish, who achieves bright star status playing poet John Keats' muse in Jane Campion's Bright Star?

Then there's the always terrific Vera Farmiga, playing George Clooney's match made in noncommittal heaven in Jason Reitman's equally swell Up in the Air and Julianne Moore, in a small but thoroughly engaging role as a boozy British party girl in Tom Ford's fashionable A Single Man.

And we haven't forgotten British ingenue Carey Mulligan (this year's Sally Hawkins) in An Education; or Penelope Cruz, who's never looked as movie-star radiant as she does in Pedro Almodovar's sad but satisfying Broken Embraces.

We hear she also sings and dances up a storm in Rob Marshall's Nine, which serves up a bevy of Oscar-potential beauties including Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren.

But they're still putting the finishing touches on that one, along with Peter Jackson's take on The Lovely Bones, in which young star Saoirse Ronan (who was previously nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her turn in Atonement), as well as Rachel Weisz as her mom and Susan Sarandon as her grandma, are all rumoured to be amazing.

We're also hearing that Natalie Portman, who gets better and better with each role, does her best work yet playing a Marine wife in Jim Sheridan's Brothers, but until we actually get to see 'em for ourselves, we're going to hold off on weighing in.

After all, it was just a month ago the when words "Oscar potential" were being bandied about for Hilary Swank and Amelia and we took the bait--right before both crashed and burned on take-off.

Darn that hype machine!