Oscars 2026 Winners!

Update: 2026 Winners

Update:

Here’s the winners of the 98^th Oscars.  I finally got to see the whole broadcast on Hulu.

Here is the winners list from tonight’s awards ceremony — the 98th Academy Awards (Oscars 2026), held March 15, 2026 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

I’m listing the official competitive Oscar winners by category, based on live results and post‑ceremony reporting. [timesnownews.com]

🏆 98th Academy Awards — WINNERS (2026)

🎬 Top Film Awards

• Best Picture: One Battle After Another [timesnownews.com]
• Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another [timesnownews.com]
• Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler — Sinners [timesnownews.com]
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another [timesnownews.com]

🎭 Acting Awards

• Best Actor (Leading Role): Michael B. Jordan — Sinners [timesnownews.com]
• Best Actress (Leading Role): Jessie Buckley — Hamnet [timesnownews.com]
• Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn — One Battle After Another [timesnownews.com]
• Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan — Weapons [timesnownews.com]

🎨 Technical & Creative Awards

• Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw — Sinners
  (First woman to win in this category) [timesnownews.com]
• Best Film Editing: Andy Jurgensen — One Battle After Another [timesnownews.com]
• Best Production Design: Frankenstein — Tamara Deverell & Shane Vieau [timesnownews.com]
• Best Costume Design: Frankenstein — Kate Hawley [timesnownews.com]
• Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash [timesnownews.com]
• Best Sound: F1 [timesnownews.com]

🎵 Music Awards

• Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson — Sinners [timesnownews.com]
• Best Original Song: “Golden” — K‑Pop Demon Hunters [timesnownews.com]

🌍 Other Major Categories

• Best Animated Feature: K‑Pop Demon Hunters [timesnownews.com]
• Best International Feature Film: Sentimental Value (Norway) [timesnownews.com]
• Best Documentary Feature: Mr. Nobody Against Putin [timesnownews.com]

🆕 Special / New Category

• Best Casting (new category): Cassandra Kulukundis — One Battle After Another [sfgate.com]

Original posting from last week

Oscars 2026: Nominees, Predictions, and One Man’s Cinematic Sanity

It’s Oscar time again.

What follows is my college housemate Roy Dufrain’s annual Oscar preview: thoughts on the Best Picture nominees, a few strong opinions, some snubs, some DNFs, and—because this is a long‑standing tradition—more honesty than is strictly necessary.

Roy’s Oscar Preview

THE OSCARS AT OUR HOUSE 2026

Hits and Misses, Snubs, DNFs, and the Catholic Church

For twenty‑five years now, Mrs. D and I have made it an annual quest to see all of the films nominated for Best Picture. The goal is simple: finish the list before Oscar night so we can better enjoy the festivities.

This year, I saw all ten nominees. Mrs. D saw approximately 8.25; the discrepancy will be explained shortly.

I should note, as I always do, that I’m no film student or trained critic—just a regular guy who loves movies and enjoys the click‑clack of his keyboard.

Here are the films, in the order I saw them.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Leonardo DiCaprio is endearing as the bumbling ex‑revolutionary, and Teyana Taylor is impossible to look away from. Visually striking, with just enough grit.

But the story veers into comic‑book implausibility, and Sean Penn’s Stephen J. Lockjaw is laughably over the top. I’ve read it’s a “black comedy action‑thriller,” and my response remains: make up your mind.

SINNERS

Thoroughly disappointing.

Much of the film is nearly impossible to see due to the now‑fashionable “natural lighting” approach. On my 60‑inch TV, facial expressions were unreadable most of the time. That’s not realism; it’s bad storytelling.

Add in vampires, blood, and bluesy musical numbers, and you’ve got a vampire musical—definitely not my jam.

F1

Old‑fashioned entertainment done right. Think Paul Newman energy, with Brad Pitt filling in.

The racing sequences are thrilling and emotionally integrated. This one earns a second viewing.

BUGONIA

Marketed as a surreal dark comedy, but it mostly delivers surreal and dark. A key supporting character exists purely as a narrative device and is discarded without logic. The ending twist is predictable.

This feels like a movie that rode its cast to Oscar attention.

MARTY SUPREME

Fast and mostly entertaining. Timothée Chalamet is magnetic, but Marty himself is selfish, cruel, and exhausting.

Any empathy I had vanished when he abandoned an injured dog. His so‑called character arc is instantaneous and unearned. I didn’t buy it.

HAMNET

A beautiful, devastating film.

Jessie Buckley is luminous, and every performance supports the emotional weight. Visually enchanting, it’s both a meditation on grief and a tribute to the restorative power of art.

THE SECRET AGENT

(Portuguese / German)

Challenging to follow, especially with subtitles—borderline inaccessible if you’re dyslexic, like Mrs. D.

Still, a compelling ground‑level portrait of authoritarian repression in 1977 Brazil. The visual style is perfectly tuned to its setting. Some scenes felt gratuitous, but overall it’s worth seeing.

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

(Norwegian)

A quiet, probing study of grief and family dysfunction. Thought‑provoking, but so intent on being profound that it occasionally forgets to entertain.

TRAIN DREAMS

This is the one I worry people won’t see—and the one that deserves to win.

Quiet, restrained, deeply human. Will Patton’s narration of Denis Johnson’s prose lingers long after the film ends. It’s a meditation on life’s small joys, losses, and consolations.

This gets my vote for Best Picture.

FRANKENSTEIN

Guillermo del Toro’s visually stunning reimagining honors Mary Shelley while making bold choices.

The performances are heightened, as they should be. While the film emphasizes obsession over technological warning, it works. You can’t look away.

SNUBS AND DNFs

SNUBBED:
Song Sung Blue — Kate Hudson should be in the Best Actress conversation. Funny, moving, old‑fashioned entertainment that could replace several nominees.

DNFs:
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You — Rose Byrne. Enough.
Blue Moon — Ethan Hawke. Please stop talking.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

In the 18th century, the Catholic Church condemned the theatrical arts and refused to marry or bury actors.

Oscar night is Sunday, March 15.

Butter the popcorn. Dim the lights. Happy Damn Oscars!

 

For more on Roy’s work, see his Substack page, and the following, and make sure to check out his novel, The Blues and Billie Armstrong,  It is damn good.

Review of the Blues and BIllie Armstrong By Roy Dufrain
The Blues & Billie Armstrong By Roy Dufrain

the 2024 Oscars According to Roy Dufrain
Roy Dufrain Updates
guest post by Roy Dufraine

More Roy Dufrain Writing

APPENDIX: MOVIE LOG

My Movie List — 2025 & 2026 (So Far)

Note:
• Korean titles are listed in English, Hangul, and Romanization when available
• “Did not finish” entries are marked
• Streaming/platform notes retained where relevant

2026 Highlights (Selected)

• One Battle After Another (Oscar contender)
  • Stranger Things — Season Five (Conclusion)
  • Andor — Star Wars prequel
  • Made in Korea (메이드 인 코리아)
  • Tempest (북극성 / Bukgeukseong)
  • The Fiery Priest (열혈사제) — Parts One & Two
  • Red Swan (화인가 스캔들)
  • K‑Pop Demon Hunters

Korean Titles (Sample)

• Wok of Love
  Korean: 기름진 멜로
  Romanization: Gireumjin Mello
• Cash Hero
  Korean: 캐셔로
  Romanization: Kaesyeoro
• Alice
  Korean: 앨리스
• Taxi Driver
  Korean: 모범택시
  Romanization: Mobeomtaeksi
  Literal: Model Taxi
• When Life Gives You Tangerines
  Korean: 폭싹 속았수다
  Romanization: Pokssak Sokatsuda

Long‑Form Viewing (TV / Anthology)

• Black Mirror — Seasons 1–6 (multiple episodes revisited)
  • Farscape — Seasons 1–4 + Peacekeeper Wars
  • Future Man — Full series
  • Ring of Power — Season Two

Final Count (as of December)

Total entries logged: 235+ films and series

 

Oscars 2025: Predicting The Nominees & Winners Of All 23 Categories