What Will Win at the 2019 Oscars
However dramatic Sunday’s Academy Awards presentation might prove to be (safe prediction: not very), it will be all but impossible for the ceremony to match the turmoil of its run-up. Last summer, the Academy announced that it would add a new prize for “popular” film—a truly terrible idea—only to reverse itself within a month. In December, days after being announced as the host, Kevin Hart stepped down after furor erupted over a series of nearly decade-old homophobic tweets and jokes. (Prepare yourselves: The last time the ceremony went without a host, in 1989, is widely considered the worst Oscars ever.) Then word came out that, to streamline the broadcast, the Academy would feature renditions of only two of the nominees for Best Original Song, and would present some significant technical awards, including Best Cinematography, during commercial breaks. Both plans were also quickly reversed.
So here we are, back at the status quo ante, minus one host. Well done all around.
As for the nominations themselves, it’s a reasonably competitive year, with few runaway favorites in the major categories. Perhaps the most, a foreign-language film which, if it wins, would be the first of its kind to do so. (It would also be the first Best Picture win for the budding cinematic titan Netflix.)
