This year, the mission of the Academy Awards was, more than anything, to avoid catastrophe. The most-discussed ceremonies in the last decade have been marked by jaw-dropping viral moments—none of which had much to do with the movies supposedly being celebrated. The wrong Best Picture was announced. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, then gave a rambling acceptance speech for the Best Actor award. The first Oscars after the start of COVID-19 gambled on ending with one Best Actor win and ended up with another—someone who was at home, and already in bed. Tonight, with multiple giant box office successes like Oppenheimer and Barbie up for a slew of awards, the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had a prime opportunity to stage a great ceremony—and this time, basically nothing went wrong. Of course, that means that many of the winners were unsurprising—a symptom of a long and ever-growing awards season that anoints favorites months in advance, and is particularly susceptible to a juggernaut like Oppenheimer. And the night’s one big surprise was a little …