2026 Oscars® Recap: Jeez, It's So Much Fun To Not Give Timothée Chalamet An Oscar!

I got my best score in ages guessing 19 out of 24 right of the Academy Awards last night. Was a fun broadcast - Conan killed, and I loved the loose vibe of the whole affair, but damn, why didn't I got with my gut that the Best Picture was going to be the actual best movie of the year: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER?

I went with my inner rumblings last year with ANORA so I don't know why I wimped out and went with the media sway 'bout a SINNERS sweep. Sigh. For the record, I love SINNERS and am blaring the soundtrack right now, but ONE BATTLE is something other than else and PTA is one of the best filmmakers ever so I'm glad to be wrong.

Anyway, these are the five Oscar predictions I got wrong:

BEST PICTURE: My pick: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER/What won: SINNERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: I guessed Benicio del Toro (maybe because I had a few small beers) for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, but the Oscar went to: Sean Penn

I think my biggest takeaway here is that in all the years I've been making these there predicts, I've often counted out those that have won Oscars before. I didn't predict Adrien Brody last year, I discounted Anthony Hopkins a few years ago too - I had the foul idea that these folks wouldn't get the gold multiple times. Next time, I'll rethink this.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: My pick: BUTTERFLY/What won: THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
BEST CASTING: My pick: SINNERS, Francine Maisler/ What won: Cassandra Kulukundis for ONE BATTLE.

I kinda had the dumb idea that this award was made to honor such ensembles as SINNERS, but damn, Ms. Kulukundis, did really nail it on ONE BATTLE so I will shut up now.

That's it - here's hoping 2026 will have a roster of movies that compares, because this last year is so far my favorite of the 2020s.

More later...

Hey Kids! Funtime 2026 Oscar® Predictions!

Yep, it's that time of year again - the 98th Academy Awards ceremony will go down Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and here I am again with my predictions, which I've been doing since the late 2000s. So it seems a dead heat between SINNERS and ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, and I could be wrong (and often am) but I'm sensing a SINNERS sweep, even though I prefer Paul Thomas Anderson's work there.

That's the tricky part about making these predictions - trying not to pick the ones you want to win, and I've had good scores (my best score was 22 out of 24) with that in mind, but this year seems set to have some upsets. This year was a weird but really good one for film so the only thing I actually feel sure about is that Conan O'Brien as host will be funny AF.

So here goes my predicts:

BEST PICTURE: SINNERS

 

BEST DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER 

Yeah, I think SINNERS will win Best Picture, but PTA will finally get his Director due. Like I said, I want ONE BATTLE to get the gold, but this is what I'm feeling right now.

 

BEST ACTOR: Michael B. Jordan (SINNERS)

It's just too much fun to not give Timothy Chamalet this award (I so wanted him to win for his Dylan last year, but not pulling for his this time - MARTY SUPREME was decent, but didn't really resonate with me). Jordan's confident performance (performances?) as twin brothers Smoke and Stack I'm betting will get the gold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

 

Benicio del Toro, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER  

 

BEST ACTRESS: Jessie Buckley, HAMNET

Her anti-cat comments aside, no other actress moved me more than Buckley in HAMNET. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Madigan, WEAPONS

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: KPOP DEMON HUNTERS

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: BUTTERFLY

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: FRANKENSTEIIN

BEST DOCUMENTARY: MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS

BEST FILM EDITING: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER 

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM: SENTIMENTAL VALUE, Norway

BEST CASTING: SINNERS, Francine Maisler

 

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: FRANKENSTEIN, Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: SINNERS, Ludwig Goransson

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Golden” from KPOP DEMON HUNTERS, music and lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park

 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: FRANKENSTEIN

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA

 

BEST SOUND: F1

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, written by Paul Thomas Anderson

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ryan Coogler, SINNERS

Like I say every year - tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.