This year’s awards, which will be held at 8 p.m. ET, Sunday, April 25, airing on ABC, feature more uncertainty than any Oscars in recent memory. With every major studio delaying its releases in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy extending awards eligibility to films released in early 2021, and streaming-only titles being granted a one-time exception to a rule dictating that every nominee must have a theatrical release, it would be shocking if the 93rd Academy Awards featured zero surprises. Advertisement
Based on wins from other awards bodies, it seems like this year’s Best Picture frontrunner is “Nomadland,” with “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Promising Young Woman,” and “Minari” also in contention. That said, in a year defined by darkness, many of the Academy’s more than 9,000 members could be like the rest of America, seeking comforting, conventional fare instead of artistically significant films that are difficult to watch. (I personally cho
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Ma Rainey s Black Bottom is a favourite, despite only appearing on Netflix
Credit: David Lee
What’s your Best Picture pick for Oscar night? The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson’s latest desperately tasteful European period piece? Or how about Steven Spielberg’s vivacious West Side Story remake, or Denis Villeneuve’s magisterial adaptation of Dune? And let’s not discount Leos Carax’s quirky pop musical Annette, with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, or the equally offbeat Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde. Last year, a week after the Academy Awards, I confidently put the five titles above, sight-unseen, at the top of my own forecast for 2021.