Oscar Reflections

And so I return, for the last time in 2026, to the Oscars. My Femme Fatale. My Bete Noir. I love you, I hate you, you will probably kill me. But I cannot quit you.

--The Conan/Weapons cold open may have been the third or fourth best American movie I saw this year. Better than Weapons, actually.

--I was reminded why The Secret Agent was maybe the movie of the year and Wagner Maura the actor of the year by the "I am not a violent person, but this man, I could kill him with a hammer" clip. What a movie, what a performance.

--The actual best actor winner, Michael B. Jordan, surged basically out of nowhere in the last month and became a prohibitive favorite and, indeed, won the statuette. It baffles me. Other than the showiness of playing two characters, it is the least impressive performance in a brilliantly acted film. It seemed like a feel-good win, and he does seem like a nice young man who loves his mother, but in that company?

--That company included poor Timothee Chalamet, who will now have to console himself with endless riches and the first choice on every role requiring an emaciated and vaguely attractive young man. In all honesty, though, he was robbed.

--But if I had a vote, I would have gone with Ethan Hawke, who, true to form, seemed delighted to be there and happy for everyone who won. What a guy.

--Sinners, however, flawed and overreaching as it was, had an otherwise nice showing, and deservedly so. Ryan Coogler is Him. A good dude who loves movies and is good at making them. And the first D.P. award ever given to a woman, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, was a highlight of the evening.
And she name checked Ellen Kuras. Bravo.

--The online backlash against PT Anderson's wonderful multi-Oscar winner One Battle After Another is so bizarre. As always with bad film criticism, it is always "why isn't this the film I wanted it to be rather than the one it was?" The strangest critique is that it is "just another White Man Savior story." Did you watch the movie? Bob (Di Caprio, the nominal "hero") is a clueless loser who is aided along the way by the real heroes of the movie: Sensei, of course, the nurse at the hospital that frees him, the pot-smoking Nuns at the convent, the Native American bounty hunter, and Willow herself, who basically bad asses her way out her predicament. Bob is another White Guy who is anything but a savior in the PTA canon.

--Like Jordan, Sean Penn, Oscar winner and ceremony-no-show, gives the worst performance in an awesomely acted film. Should have been Del Toro or Lindo. The Oscars are stupid.

--Jessie Buckley is an immense talent. But Rose Byrne gave the greatest performance by an actress in a film since Gena Rowlands in Woman Under the Influence. Buckley will have many, many more chances in many more prestige films. But Byrne? We can only hope so.

--Stellan Sarsgaard, who got an inordinate amount of screen time, seemed singularly unamused all evening long. Which is precisely what one requires from Stellan Sarsgaard.

--I thought Teyana Taylor jumping around LFG-ing and applauding and hugging everyone in sight all night long, then instinctually grabbing the Best Picture Oscar from the film's producer, was precisely what the Oscars, a notoriously self-serious ceremony, has been missing. Considering the impact in very little screen time she had in OBAA she had every right to stake her claim in the movie (as much as you cannot help but love Amy Madigan, Taylor should have won). I can't wait to see much, much more of her.

--Chase Infinity? Same. Her speech at the Best Casting award sort of solidified the Academy's choice for OBAA in that category. There were some terrific nominees (I would have gone Secret Agent or Marty Supreme), but discovering breakthrough talent that also adds immeasurably to the film's impact (in the case of Infinity and Taylor, in addition to all the wonderful bit and supporting players in the cast), cannot be underestimated. Hooray, Cassandra Kulukundis. And hooray to the Academy for finally, finally recognizing this critical component with an award of its own.

--In Memoria was beautifully handled this year. Great idea to single out the most impactful or, in the case of the Reiners, most tragic losses, with individual tributes. But just a clip or two of Robert Duvall? Really? Why wasn't Tommie Lee Jones up there with Babs, Crystal and Rachel McAdams? Or Coppola?

--Speaking of Redford. Yeah...Great American, or the Greatest American?

Good show (Conan!), good year for movies. See you again next year, damn it all.