Somewhere amid a stellar year for Jessica Chastain that included her best performance of the year landing an Oscar nomination, Octavia Spencer, Chastain's co-star in "The Help," ended up galloping away with the frontrunner status. No disrespect to Spencer, who is a lovely, deserving individual who is fantastic in the film, but Chastain blew the rest of the cast out of the water. She was simultaneously hilarious, heartbreaking and wholesome, a delicious combination that surely yielded a "who's that girl?" from here to Timbuktu. She's the most deserving nominee in the category, and while I'm sure she'd hate to do it to her friend and co-star, I'd love to see her swoop in for a last minute surprise. --Kristopher Tapley