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2026 Academy Awards highs and lows

Adam Graham, The Detroit News on

Published in Entertainment News

"One Battle After Another" can finally stop fighting.

Paul Thomas Anderson's fiery drama about a group of ex-revolutionaries won six Academy Awards on Sunday, including best picture, best director and best supporting actor (for no-show Sean Penn). Ryan Coogler's vampire tale "Sinners" won four awards, including best actor (for Michael B. Jordan) and best original screenplay.

Here's a breakdown of the highs and lows of the Academy Awards.

High: The winners. Oscar spread the love around this year, with the top categories going to a varied slate; in addition to the "One Battle" and "Sinners" wins, there was also Jessie Buckley's best actress win for "Hamnet" (the film's lone win among eight nominations) and Amy Madigan's best supporting actress win for "Weapons" (the film's lone win from its lone nomination). There was a lot of talk leading up to the show of "Sinners" upsetting the best picture race, and while it didn't come to pass, the "Sinners" wave crested with Michael B. Jordan winning best actor for his dual performance in the film as twins Smoke and Stack. Jordan was the favorite heading into the show, but that was only after a massive momentum shift away from Timothée Chalamet in "Marty Supreme," the early front-runner in the category. No, it wasn't his comments about the ballet and opera that cost him the trophy, but those made him an awards season villain heading into the ceremony, and Jordan emerged as a hero by giving the night's best speech, shouting out his parents in the audience and thanking "Sinners'" studio, Warner Bros., for "betting on the culture, and betting on original ideas, and betting on artistry" by greenlighting the project in the first place. While the show lacked in any jaw-dropping surprises — it would have been nice to see Rose Byrne win best actress, for example, even if it was never going to happen — there was little quibbling with the final slate of winners.

Low: Sean Penn's absence. While skipping the ceremony was arguably the most Sean Penn thing that Sean Penn could have done, it still felt petty. It was his third Oscar win, putting him in rare Oscar air — only eight actors have ever won three or more Academy Awards — so to blank the show even as he was the favorite heading into the evening seems weak. Hopefully he shows up next year to hand the next best supporting actor winner a trophy.

Low: Conan O'Brien. In his second stint as Oscar host, O'Brien made the show feel small. He opened with a bit where, dressed as Aunt Gladys from "Weapons," he ran through a bunch of the evening's nominated films, Billy Crystal-style. When he got to the stage, he channeled his late-night comedy roots into a bit where he imagined himself winning an Oscar, being crowned like a king and having Josh Groban sing his praises, while a hawk delivered him his Oscar. It felt like a good segment for his old 12:30 a.m. time slot, or the Emmys, but it felt beneath the Oscars, which is supposed to be Hollywood's biggest night. O'Brien's Gen X brand of humor has a wink-wink sense of remove, which isn't a fit for the Oscars, or at least the tradition of the show, which is already hanging by a thread. Maybe the Oscars are getting smaller and O'Brien is meeting the moment, but even Jimmy Kimmel felt more like a Big Event host during his time with the show, bringing more of a sense of gravitas to the proceedings. O'Brien is allergic to gravitas, which is fine for him, but the Oscars should feel like more than a collection of assorted bits. When in the closing sketch, O'Brien was gassed and left for dead, a nod to Sean Penn's character's end in "One Battle After Another," it felt like a fitting goodbye for O'Brien's time as Oscar host.

High: Paul Thomas Anderson's win. PTA won best director for "One Battle," a trophy that has alluded him for his 30-plus year career. "You make a guy work hard for one of these," he said, after previously being nominated in the category for "There Will Be Blood," "Phantom Thread" and "Licorice Pizza." But "One Battle" is a triumph for the filmmaker, so the Oscar win doesn't feel like a late-career make-up award for a lesser work. It's deserved. "I want to thank the Academy for finding my work worthy of this highest honor," he said. "There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself."

 

Low: "Marty Supreme's" goose egg. Josh Safdie's frantic drama was blanked at the show after securing nine nominations. There were still a handful of shots of Chalamet, who was seated in the front row of the audience, and host O'Brien cleared the air about Chalamet's comments about ballet and the opera with an early joke, saying, "Security is extremely tight tonight, I'm told there's concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities." Cut to a shot of Chalamet laughing in the crowd, taking one on the chin. OK, can we all please move on from this supposed controversy now?

High: Tributes. Hollywood lost some absolute giants this year, and the Oscars paid tribute to them, with Barbra Streisand honoring Robert Redford, Rachel McAdams recognizing Diane Keaton and the casts of several of Rob Reiner's films coming together to celebrate the career of the late filmmaker. One thing: the In Memoriam segment came too early in the show; it would have fit in better near the end of the telecast. Still, it was classy all around.

Low: The overall vibes. Jokes weren't landing, microphones weren't working, the set looked like a hotel lobby (what was with all the shrubbery?), and things just felt off throughout the night. And the orchestra was especially trigger-happy, cutting off several winners mid-speech so, what, ABC could get to its promised "The Bachelorette" special immediately after the show? The evening started at 7 p.m., presumably, to give the broadcast a little room to breathe, but everything was so rushed throughout the evening that the broadcast never felt relaxed or convivial. Even O'Brien was caught on camera looking pained about the show's length. It's not a good sign when even viewers at home feel like they're going to get in trouble if a speech runs a few seconds too long.

High: "Golden." The "KPop Demon Hunters" anthem was the deserving winner of the best original song Oscar, with winner Ejae giving an emotional speech from the podium. "Growing up, you know, people made fun of me for liking K-pop. But now everyone is singing our song," she said. It was the first Oscar for a K-pop song, and depending on the status of that "KPop Demon Hunters" sequel, it might not be the last. The song was given a spirited performance, too, even though the audience looked a bit too much like a Coldplay concert with everyone holding up glowing lights during the song.

Low: Grogu. A pair of comedy bits featuring "Baby Yoda" fell flat, one involving Sigourney Weaver and the other involving O'Brien making a joke about the puppet not being able to clap, which led right into a commercial for "The Mandalorian & Grogu," which opens in May. We get it, Disney owns ABC, and we also got on-screen pairings that doubled as spon-con for "The Devil Wears Prada 2" and the next "Avengers" movie. But let's try to make the product placement a little less obvious next time?

High: The movies. Even though it was a long, exhausting Oscar season — can we bump the Oscars back to February? Please? — the monthslong discussion of "One Battle After Another," "Sinners," "Marty Supreme," "Weapons," "Hamnet" and more meant a lot of people were engaging with and talking about good movies, and anytime that can happen in our increasingly fractured culture, that's a good thing. The movies are dying, long live the movies.


©2026 The Detroit News. Visit detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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