Awards season continued smoothly with the Oscars airing March 15, 2026. Comedian and host of “The Tonight Show”, Conan O’Brien, hosted for the second time this year and gave  a familiar lively atmosphere to the Oscars with many elaborate bits that most hosts couldn’t pull off. 

To start off, the first award of the night, Best Supporting Actress, went to Amy Madigan for her performance in “Weapons”, making it her first Oscar. Even though I felt there were other actors a bit more deserving of the award, I’m not too disappointed in this outcome.

Following awards such as Supporting Actress and Best Animated Feature came a performance of the original song, “I Lied to You”, from the movie “Sinners” by recreating the original scene in the movie with the use of this original song. This had to have been my absolute favorite part of the night. The lighting couldn’t have captured the coloring of the original movie more perfectly, and it almost directly mirrored the actual scene itself. Not only was it a beautiful performance in itself, but they even managed to get world renowned dancer Misty Copeland to come out of retirement for a moment to dance on stage.

This performance did a fantastic job in replaying the themes the original movie captured, from the costumes to the dance styles. I also thought the performance did a great job in interacting with the audience/theater itself where it felt like an engaging performance rather than just copy and pasting the scene on stage with no changes whatsoever. 

To continue, “Frankenstein” swept the floor in the visuals department, winning both Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, undoubtedly deserved as one of my favorite things about this film were the gorgeous fashion choices that definitely captured the themes of the movie, along with the stunning makeup choices. It all just brought you into the 18th century along with the grotesque and creepy chills the visuals gave you. 

Next came one of the first, but definitely not the last, historic moments of the night: the first Oscar for achievement in casting. This award ultimately went to the casting director for “One Battle After Another”, Cassandra Kulukundis, which I believe could have really gone to anyone with how good the casting lineups have been for the nominated movies.

Following this moment was the award for Best Live Action Short Film which actually ended up being a tie: making it the seventh tie ever for an award in Oscar history. This award both went to “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva”. 

To continue, the next consecutive awards went to “One Battle After Another” with it winning awards such as Best Adapted screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and even Best Picture which I wasn’t too excited about. In my opinion, I felt “One Battle After Another” to be a weak movie in general. Even with Leonardo DiCaprio, the whole movie fell short, especially in comparison to the movies alongside it, and it all felt out of place overall. 

Next, came the award for Best Original Screenplay which ultimately went to “Sinners” which I believe was well deserved enough, but there has been a spark of opinions claiming films like “Sentimental Value” or “Marty Supreme” were more deserving of the award. While I believe there are some valid claims to be made as to why “Sinners” shouldn’t have won, I believe with such a stacked lineup, I would’ve been happy with almost anyone in that category winning. 

The next award of note also went to “Sinners” for Best Cinematography. I believe this could’ve been given to “Sinners”, “Frankenstein”, or even “Marty Supreme”, all films having nice color grading that all had their own way of immersing you into the experience. This award also allowed Autumn Durald Arkapaw to make history as the first woman to win in this category. 

Now comes one of the more controversial wins of the night, Best Lead Actor. Jordan came out on top which I was certainly happy about, but I definitely believe it could have gone both ways between Timothee Chalamet and Michael B. Jordan’s performances. With Chalamet’s believable character portrayal alongside Jordan’s powerful performance that pushed along the movie’s themes, it was really a coin flip. 

Finally, the last couple awards were presented where one was an award that was a no brainer: Best Lead Actress. This award deservingly went to Jessie Buckley for her astounding performance in “Hamnet”. This award I feel could have gone to either Buckley or Emma Stone’s capturing performance in “Bugonia”, but I believe Jessie Buckley wholeheartedly deserved this award. The last award of the night went to “One Battle After Another” for Best Picture which I felt was really just a pity win for Leonardo DiCaprio to apologize for the times he’s been robbed at the Oscars in the past. 

Overall, this Oscars really didn’t stand out compared to some of the Oscars in years past. With such a great lineup of movies, you’d think it’d be a bit more exciting, but for me it felt as if it just blended into the background with a few jaw dropping moments that provided enough for the internet to talk about for a couple weeks before it dies out completely. Regardless, the Oscars did its job just as it does most years: providing representation for the art of filmmaking.