IN OSCAR BEST-PICTURE RACE, AN UNPRECEDENTED NAIL BITER
Even supposing the right envelope is read at the end of Sunday night’s Oscars, the night’s final moment should be one of high drama.
Usually by now, a consensus favorite has emerged after months of guild and critics groups awards — or at least a front-runner along with one or two potential underdogs. But not this year. Five films have a legitimate shot at the night’s top award: “The Shape of Water,”“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,”“Get Out,” “Dunkirk” and “Lady Bird”
Rarely, if ever, has the Academy Awards seen such an open field of contenders for its top award. A year after Barry Jenkins’“Moonlight” shattered the overwhelming projection that “La La Land” would win — along with many traditional ideas about
