This year’s Academy Awards, airing February 24 at 8:30 p.m. EST on ABC, have had a bumpy road, with declared (and retracted) category changes and a fruitless search for a host (the show will go without a host for the first time since 1989). However they stay the betting opportunity of the year.
For your 91st Academy Awards, Las Vegas-based movie critic Josh Bell provides his insights to the best stakes in the significant classes and which films should walk away with the awards–and the money.
Finest PICTURE
Roma 4/1
Green Book 6/1
The Favourite 15/2
BlacKkKlansman 15/2
Black Panther 15/2
A Star Is Born 8/1
Bohemian Rhapsody 19/2
Vice 19/2
What Will Win: This year has been more volatile than most, with various controversies and debates surrounding a number of nominees, along with the ceremony itself. So it’s tougher to pick a Greatest Picture frontrunner, even based on momentum from awards. Roma might seem like the clear choice based on its own BAFTAs and Critics’ Choice wins, however a film not in the English language hasn’t won Best Picture earlier, and veteran Academy members might nonetheless be immune to awarding a Netflix production. Green Book, with its typically Oscar-friendly narrative about overcoming racial differences, inspired by true events, would probably be the safest bet, although objections in the household of subject Don Shirley and unpleasant news stories about director Peter Farrelly and co-writer Nick Vallelonga have tarnished its odds a bit. Do not count out old-school Hollywood crowd-pleaser A Star Is Born or offbeat period play (always a favourite Academy genre) The Favourite, either.
What Should Win: Though its LGBT-focused narrative, off-kilter style and unique sense of humor might be a bit too much for Academy members, The Favourite is the very best and most imaginative of the year’s nominees, a brilliantly acted, darkly funny story about the intersection of sexual desire and political ability, far more incisive and enjoyable than the muddled Vice. It could be easier for voters to comprehend the individual accomplishments than the film as a whole, but it’s more than worthy of this award.

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