The Oscars are here, already.
After the shortest awards season in decades, the 92nd annual Academy Awards will get under way today at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The red carpet is being rolled out two to three weeks earlier than usual in a bid to freshen up the ceremony and potentially boost ratings.
The truncated timetable has put the normally bloated Oscars season on a diet (today's show will for the second straight year be hostless) and sent film academy members scrambling to finish their movie-watching — no small task in a year featuring a few three-hour epics like The Irishman and Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood.
Fittingly for a fast race, a movie about a mad dash has risen to the top of the heap. After winning nearly every major precursor award, Sam Mendes' 1917, about a pair of British soldiers sent with an urgent message to deliver through recently held enemy territory, is the favourite for best picture.
