Mar 17, 2026
3 min read
Read the review for the 2026 Oscars, in which Hollywood has finally reinvested its biggest night.
“Patience, resilience and that rarest quality today, optimism.”
It may have been Oscar host Conan O'Brien's worst wish for the movie industry and the world, but it was a pretty good epitaph for Hollywood's biggest night this year.
Let's put aside that a show lasting over 3 hours and 40 minutes required patience, flexibility and hope.Michael B. Jordan, star of The Sinners, used the same three elements in a very different way in his Best Actor acceptance speech, "People who came before me: Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith."
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look out
It may be due to YouTube replacing ABC as the home of the Oscars in 2029, but somewhere at the Academy and Disney, someone has dragged the show into the 21st century.
Watching the Oscars from start to finish and reducing anxiety was not an easy task.Many of the production team, the director and the AMPAS board have failed to try, or at least pretend to try.Changing culture, crumbling viewing habits and sliding ratings over the past 15 years have only exacerbated the difficulties as the big night of movies seems to have become smaller and far less relevant.
Sunday night wasn't perfect, but it sure was worth watching with some drama, surprises and good fun.
The big and bold 98th Academy Awards featured eagles, the pope, crowns, Josh Groban and Donald Trump's "Hassmalpenis" dig.Produced by Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, the show also featured the Beastie Boys song from the Oscars opening skit, a badass new Leonardo DiCaprio meme, YouTube gems and Netflix's KPop Demon.The hunters achieved several important victories.
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Then there is fever, wind, star-studded (Buddy Guy in the house) performance of sinners ' Best Song nominee "I lied to you."Miles Caton, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li and the wonderful dancer Misty Copeland (we heard Timothée Chalamet, and you're wrong) got the crowd on their feet and moving those feet.
In the end, KPop's "Golden" won Best Original Song, but Sinners' creation of a jukebox in the heart of Hollywood at the Dolby was a remarkable achievement for American mobile art.Raised literally and figuratively, he evoked the power and glory of the country's history and cinema linked in funny songs.Check it out here:
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Drawing on the same flame, Ryan Coogler forces the cast of Sinners to rise to their feet as he takes credit for Best Original Screenplay.
Both, to name the appointed Sinner and star Delroy Lindo, are living and living worlds within themselves in the dark world.
In fact, it was a big night for Best Picture One War After Another winner and Best Director, Paul Thomas Anderson.In fact, it was a big night for Warner Bros., which released the two images, in a political statement that generated a furore from Jimmy Kimmel's well-intentioned criticism of CBS's positive MAGA show and Javier Bardemes' overly enthusiastic "No War; Free Palestine."
For almost the first hour, aside from host O'Brien's slightly long monologue and Chalamet's a little too much monologue, it seemed like the Oscars' curse of grime, fluff and fluff might be broken - or at least the best movie show would be entertaining and honest.
Time went on, and the curse was mostly broken this year.
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This year's Oscars may have a little less star power, though O'Brien made it clear in his opening minutes that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is the true king of Hollywood.There's been plenty of doom and gloom in a year in which the industry is still trying to get off the carpet, find public favoritism, battle artificial intelligence, and watch tectonic corporate and technological plates shift (yes, that's the obligatory reference to the acquisition of Paramount in this Discover Brothers review).
You can go out there.The way things are going, it can be very difficult.The osikas you hear in the subtitles, what's there, are the power of these historians.
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Cassandra Kulukundis won one battle after another, the first award for best casting, and five actors in each film nominated on the stage, was a little unstable.He could not hit anyone, and the real instability and moments were more poignant because of him.Salvia's Live Action short film for Singers and Two People Exchanges was even more unexpected than OBAA's Kulukundis win (the bet was on Francine Maisler's Sinners) as anything that could eliminate the microphone noise.
Look, this is the Oscars, this is live TV, and stupid things still happen.But cutting the mic and dimming the lights wasn't good enough for KPop group Demon Hunter when they gave their Best Original Song winning speech.
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There were quite a few people who were upset about having to host the show.So some routines die harder than others, importantly because the film is partially a visual medium.Note that ABC's broadcast looks good on stage as well.With top-notch production design by Misty Buckley and Alana Billingsley.
Outside, the rise of the right, the return of Trump and a very American authoritarianism, kidnappings, deportations, killings of Americans by government agents, and war around the world threaten to overwhelm everything – even the films and art that seek to resist.
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Tonight, just three years after the big (and it was big) move from network TV to YouTube, the Academy Awards expanded to cross all categories, in and out of the room.It's a balancing act that's more stable and tough with its ambition and, frankly, its humanity — a mix that's been missing from the last decade and more.
To clarify, this reconstruction is not a case of TES (Trump Exhaustion Syndrome).Rather, it is about surgery in its moves and joy in the love of cinema and its practitioners.
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Sinners was Autumn Arkpav's nod to the women of Dolby ("Stand Up… I can't be here without you guys") in Best Picture's winning commentary.Hamnett's Jessie Buckley took home all the awards for speaking as a mother and narrator.On a lighter level was Moulin Rouge!Featuring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, there's charm, nostalgia and The Reunion has a few lyrical callbacks about a love that didn't last or last.
Over the years, the In Memoriam section of the Oscars has seen attention and face plants galore.Let's just say: There were a few mistakes this year.
Yet the tragic death of Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner was treated with such love by longtime family friend and star of When Harry Met Sally... Billy Crystal tonight, film career review.The tragic deaths of Catherine O'Hara, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford had their moments in the spotlight in a calibrated outpouring of respect and emotion.
Also: "Patience, resilience and that rare quality today, hope."
In America, in the dirty business of show business and the Oscars, you could do a lot worse.As Joe Biden likes to say, "Get the win."
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Criminals were robbed.People who get into a fight decades from now will scratch their heads and say, "It beat criminals!? That was normal."
A fight was over.Everything felt forced on me, even the bathroom cabinet.
Sinners, while not entirely original, had these great movie moments and when they hit they became pure cinema, it was totally exciting.
The sound mix was terrible. It turned into a difficult show to watch. I don't understand why anyone would think it would be rated or liked if the movie wasn't a blockbuster. Anyway, Warner Bros. did well in the movie business. Did Paramount get a winner?
No they didn't and it was strange that there were so many technical problems.
Conan was right… the production was pretty sloppy with camera errors and constantly trying to stop the winners playing, pretty shaky production.The jokes didn't land as well as they should have.
Also… times have changed, why should it be short?We have evolved from the days of broadcasting, there is no need to abbreviate local news.Let's go as far as we have to go...this is a night to be respected, what's the rush?It will never get 56M viewers again.
When it's on YouTube, it has over 56 million views.YouTube has 2.5 billion users.Advertise it in everyone's search algorithm and you have an audience you won't believe.The next step is to make it easy for people to see their winners.
Maybe when it's on YouTube you'll find it eventually.Just play it as long as you want.If people get bored with the conversation, they can navigate to other things on their phones.Or after some time and just look at boring things ff.Whether someone finds it boring or interesting is up to the individual.Don't try to guess, put it all in and we'll sort it out.
Best Picture winners for the past few years have been pretty unremarkable, and that trend continued this year.Is anyone going to make great movies, or are great screenwriters and movie directors retiring or leaving so there's no one to take their place?
There are still great movies.Avatar, Zootopia 2, Minecraft, Last Jurassic Park, Lilo and Stitch.
Apple's F1 movie was the highest grossing of all the nominees, ranking #9. The rest are #20 or lower.
There is a huge inconsistency between what people want to see in theaters.(mostly franchises) with Oscar-nominated ones
All the good writers seem to be working on the series now.Apple has some great apps.
I think I should have watched a different show.The whole canon joke fell flat.It was the most indifferent Ocker show I've ever seen.The authors were obviously worried about the FCC.
