As Conan O'Brien ran into the auditorium of the 98th Academy Awards this past Sunday, wearing a red wig and being chased by a group of children who were mimicking best supporting actress nominee Amy Madigan’s iconic scene from “Weapons,” it was clear that this year’s Oscars would be filled with bits that made fun of every nomination. This was O’Brien’s second year hosting the Oscars and he seemed to have established himself as a solidly funny and uncontroversial host who is not afraid of toeing the line with his jokes — see his line about how England “actually arrests [its] pedophiles” during his opening monologue. The monologue took the time to poke fun at the nominees and other audience members, bringing up Timothée Chalamet’s recent comments about ballet and opera, teasing “F1” for being a movie about a guy who realized he just needed to drive faster and not-so-subtly calling out the Chief Executive Officer of Netflix by saying it was Ted Sarandos’ first time in a theater. “This is what they’re talking about,” Conan chided the CEO, before mocking him further with an impression of Sarandos’ internal monologue, saying, “Why are they all together enjoying themselves? They should be home alone, where I can monetize it!”

Besides O’Brien and the presenters’ skits, there were not many shocking events at 2026’s biggest night for movies; no big celebrity meltdowns and few surprising award winners. Below is the complete winners list with some of my thoughts and a comparison to my predictions, which you can find in previous issues of  The Justice, both in print and online, along with reviews of all 10 Best Picture nominees.

Firstly, here are the categories I did not write about or make predictions for, in most cases because I had not had the chance to see enough of the films to make an educated guess:

Casting — “One Battle After Another,” Cassandra Kulukundis 

Although many had predicted that “Sinners” casting director was likely to snatch this award, “One Battle After Another’s” Kulukundis swooped in and claimed it instead. I am curious to see how this award develops over future Oscar ceremonies.

Documentary Feature Film — “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” Dir.  Pavel Talankin, David Borenstein

Documentary Short Film — “All the Empty Rooms” Dir. Joshua Seftel

Live Action Short Film — “The Singers” Dir. Sam Davis and “Two People Exchanging Saliva” Dir. Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh In one of the few unexpected moments of the ceremony, two live-action shorts tied for this category. Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the award, told the audience to stay in their seats and beat O’Brien to the joke that “although this is a category for shorts, it's going to take twice as long.” 

With those awards out of the way, here is my commentary on the awards I did make predictions for: 

Best Actor in a Leading Role — Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”

There is absolutely no question that Jordan deserved this award for his phenomenal performance as both Smoke and Stack in “Sinners.” While I had predicted that DiCaprio would win this award, that was in part because I didn’t have faith that the Academy would notice the amazing work Jordan did to make Smoke and Stack very distinct characters. Every part of his performance, from how he held his shoulders to how he smiled, was different between the two characters, making it easy for viewers to follow the twins and their individual journeys without losing track of who they were watching. His speech was very humble and showed how grateful he was for everyone that has believed in him and kept pushing him in every role. I am excited to see what he does next.

Best Actress in a Leading Role — Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”

Shocking no one, Jessie Buckley completed her awards season sweep by becoming the first Irish woman to win Best Actress for her emotional performance as Agnes in “Hamnet.” Buckley was astonishing in this film and the emotional depth she brought to Agnes is, in my opinion, an important reason why “Hamnet” was nominated for Best Picture. Her scenes in the movie were some of the most heartwrenching moments I have ever seen and I am thrilled that the Academy agreed. Buckley did an impressive job translating the most intense emotional pain a person can suffer — losing a child — to the screen in a way that made the audience not only sympathize with her but feel her pain. Her acceptance speech was a beautiful celebration of mothers, and she dedicated her award to her journey of motherhood and her own daughter.

Best Actor and Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another,” Amy Madigan, “Weapons”

Another set of predictions I got right! Madigan was the first award of the evening, and it was satisfying to see a win that was not from one of the more nominated films at the start of the evening. Unfortunately I cannot comment on her performance in “Weapons,” as I have not had the chance to see it, but everything that I have heard was that she was superb and clearly the Academy agreed. Penn won for his role as Colonel Lockjaw in “One Battle,” a cartoonishly evil character that Penn played to perfection. Although Lockjaw is the least layered character in “One Battle,” Penn captured the audience’s attention every time he was on screen and I was not shocked at this win.

Animated Feature/Short Film — “K-Pop Demon Hunters” and “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”

After becoming a global sensation this past summer, “K-Pop Demon Hunters” was almost guaranteed to win the best animated feature category. It has a fun story, great music and beautiful visuals. Sony Pictures Animation continues to push animated movies to their limit and between the “Spiderverse” franchise and “Demon Hunters,” I cannot wait to see what they have next. “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” was an excellent choice for the award for best animated short, with some of the smoothest stop-motion I have ever seen on screen. Although I wish that “Papillon” had won, there is no denying that “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” was a sweet and very distinct short film.

Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song) — “Sinners,” “K-Pop Demon Hunters” (“Golden”)

As predicted, the score of “Sinners” reigned champion over all of the other nominees. Because of how influential the music of “Sinners” is to its story, it would have been shocking if the score didn’t win the Oscar. “Golden” also took the best song category, which was unsurprising after it seemed to take over the mind of every living person for at least a month straight this summer. Since it reached the top spot on global charts, no one was surprised that it won the Best Song award, although some were disappointed that some of the other nominees clearly had stood little chance.

Production Design, Costume Design and Hair and Makeup — “Frankenstein”

Although I found the film to be generally mediocre at best, the production design of Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” was incredible and I am very pleased that it won all three of these awards (and nothing else).

Cinematography — “Sinners”

The only award handed out that I disagree with was cinematography, which I still firmly believe should have gone to “Train Dreams.” Although “Sinners” is a beautiful movie, the cinematography of “Train Dreams” was stunning and “Sinners” never quite reached the same level of camera work for me, even though it was a fantastic movie.

Sound — “F1”

Even if “F1” is, as O’Brien called it, “a popcorn movie,” the effort that went into making the sound of the cars crystal clear is evident while watching it. This was the only film in which , while I took notes on it for my predictions and review, I wrote down how noticeable the sound design was. It was unsurprising but still good to see “F1” get the win for the area it excelled at.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Writing (Original Screenplay) — “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners”

The categories where the two biggest films of the night were not against each other were, unsurprisingly, the categories where they both won, deservedly so. The scripts for both of these movies are top notch and although I haven’t read what “One Battle After Another” is adapted from, I am sure that Paul Thomas Anderson did a good job of taking the best parts and putting them to screen. As for Coogler’s “Sinners,” I have no idea where he was inspired to create the world of “Sinners,” but it was very creative and attention grabbing. The ending scene, especially, is where the writing of “Sinners” shined brightest and I am glad that both of these films won their awards.

International Feature Film — “Sentimental Value”

After being nominated for Best Picture, it was clear that International Film would go to either “The Secret Agent” or “Sentimental Value.” I am not surprised that “Sentimental Value” won, after the emotional performances of everyone involved and the mostly relatable story of loss and moving on captured the hearts of viewers. While I loved “Sentimental Value,” I think that either film’s win would have been completely deserved.

Editing, Directing and Best Picture — “One Battle After Another,” Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

According to the Academy, “One Battle After Another” was this year’s best film. It had the best combination of emotional performances, flashy action, complicated plot, fun scenes, experimental film techniques and a unique story. It was the film that, even if it didn’t excel in every category, did everything well enough with very few drawbacks. Sure, I found the beginning of the film to be a little longer than necessary, but I also can not think of what should have been cut to make it shorter. The car-chase sequence at the end is one of the best pieces of cinematography from any movie this year. The performances of everyone involved were spectacular. It is completely understandable why “One Battle After Another” was up for some of the biggest awards this year, even if it could not claim them all. 

Unexpected “Snub”: “Marty Supreme” wins nothing

Although it was not expected to excel at the Oscars this year, the lack of awards for Chalamet’s most recent film was notable. Many were predicting the Best Actor award was Chalamet’s for the taking, but I guess he will need better luck next year.

Best Prediction: “Sinners” only won four awards

In my previous predictions article, I guessed that “Sinners” would come away with a maximum of four awards, saying “as wonderful as ‘Sinners’ is, I will be surprised if it walks away with more than four awards.” I did not expect to get the exact number right in my initial prediction. So, that sums up my takeaways from the 98th Academy Awards. Nothing too surprising; in fact, out of the 20 categories I wrote predictions on, only two of my predictions — Best Actor and Best Cinematography, ended up being incorrect. 2025 was a great year for movies and I hope that 2026 can live up to the same standards.