The most important news this year is it's a very difficult one to call, with lots of uncertainty in major categories in the way that there hasn't been for some time.

It may be because there's a surplus of excellent movies this year, or just that the Academy's efforts to modernize its membership are finally showing some results. And we also can't discount the effect of past controversies and scandals: #OscarsSoWhite seems to be less of a worry this year, but there's also the influence of #MeToo and #TimesUp to account for.

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