Hollywood, Hollywood. There’s no point in interfering with your own way, right?
Some of Sunday night’s Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, were very funny, sporadically funny (the tie was only for Best Live-Action Short Film, the seventh time in 1998), and pretty moving.
Then there was the remaining 2 hours and 45 minutes of lectures and tedious drone operations.
What’s good about it? The beautiful “In Memoriam” corner honoring lost icons like Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, and Robert Duvall had me begging for an industrial box of tissues.
And Conan began with a hilarious send-off of the character of Aunt Gladys, played by Amy Madigan, who won Best Supporting Actress for Weapons, one of the best Oscar undercards in many years.
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Tall as a skyscraper, Ginger Host is disguised as a clown-like witch and is chased by a gang of killer children throughout the Best Picture nominee’s scenes. The gags that follow are hit and miss, and he’s still a maniac, but he’s an affable host.
Powerful musical performances of “Golden” by KPop Demon Hunters and “I Lied to You” by “Sinners”, which won the Best Song Award, excited the audience at the podium.
Please tell me more details. To save time, just go back to the five Best Picture nominees.
Entertainment for domestic audiences was often criticized for espousing repetitive politics. Many of the speeches were finger-wagging, with no emotional flourishes. There were very few moments that made me want to watch it again on YouTube.
I can’t help but be called old-fashioned, but I value the following: Let your work speak for itself and don’t exceed your allotted time.
Do you want to be the next Adrien Brody? Apparently a lot of people do!
Former host and Donald Trump opponent Jimmy Kimmel showed up midway through and had a predictable rift with Prez.
“Oh, I wonder if he’s going to be mad that his wife wasn’t nominated for this award,” he said, referring to “Melania,” the documentary about Melania Trump.
Well, “Melania” was released on January 30, 2026. It was not eligible for an Oscar.
Kumail Nanjiani took a lot of flak for his rotten Holocaust joke (already off to a bad start) during the intro about shortening the feature film. “Schindler’s Post-it Notes,” he said. Good God.
Actor Javier Bardem, who won the award for Best International Feature Film, began saying, “No to war and free Palestine.”
Many others were vaguely thinking about international unrest, as if they thought viewers were getting their news from the Oscars rather than obsessively reading the news all day long.
The main reason for the added pomp of the ceremony was that it turned out to be a much more predictable night than many had originally expected.
There were very few upsets to speak of. So I guess I was a little surprised when “One Battle” lost Best Cinematography to “Sinners.” But that’s it. My prediction was that I answered 18 out of 20 questions correctly. I’m not bragging. I was craving a shake up.
So much for the expected challenges between “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.” Turns out it wasn’t that big of a fight after all.
As of Sunday night, the Southern vampire film “Sinners” had a record 16 nominations. Two weeks ago, he won Best Ensemble at the SAG Actors Awards. After that, some experts believed that “Sinners” could go all the way.
no. The vampires saw the sun.
In the end, “One Battle” was a box office success, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn did not appear in the film), and Best Casting.
Other winners were equally clear.
It had been decided for months that Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”) would win Best Actress.
Some may have been shocked to see Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) beat out Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) and Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) for Best Actor. However, Jordan won at SAG two weeks ago. He was my favorite.
Three years later, the Oscars are moving online to YouTube.
I have high hopes for the producers. Well, I hope a new producer comes along.
But whoever is in charge should use the reboot as an opportunity to reinvent the Academy Awards and celebrate the love of cinema. Don’t just use streaming as an excuse to get the winners to speak.
No more need to make one big statement after another.
