Quote from NebraskaTrevor85 on March 13, 2026, 3:16 pm

I don’t really have to predict the Oscars every year over here. What keeps me coming back is how much you like it. And I’m doing it again for these 98^th Academy Awards. As I’ve done in the past, I’ll be giving my pick for who should win (SW), pick for who will win (WW) and in some categories, my pick on who I think is the closest threat to the favorite (CT). So here goes:

BEST PICTURE

WW: One Battle After Another
SW & CT: Sinners

Interesting that this year’s Best Picture race was between two films. One film set an Oscars record for most nominations: sixteen in total! The other was just short of the old record by one and ironically, one of the three films that held the old record was a film that starred Leonardo di Caprio! I’m sure you know which one. The winning film looks to be of the former militant who has to get back to work.

BEST DIRECTOR

SW & WW: PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON/One Battle After Another
CT: RYAN COOGLER/Sinners

Paul Thomas Anderson has been one of many directors deserving of an Oscar but long overdue. It all started with 1997’s Boogie Nights. He follows it up with Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master. Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza. After knocking on Oscar’s door for a long time, I think this is finally his year.

BEST ACTOR

SW & WW: MICHAEL B. JORDAN/Sinners
CT: TIMOTHEE CHAL:AMET/Marty Supreme

It’s interesting to know that Michael B. Jordan has acted in all five of Ryan Coogler’s feature-length films. Even in the Black Panther movies as Erik Killmonger.

BEST ACTRESS

SW & WW: JESSIE BUCKLEY/Hamnet
CT: ROSE BYRNE/If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Best Actress is the one acting category an Irish actor has not won an Oscar in. Jessie Buckley will surely change that!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

WW: SEAN PENN/One Battle After Another
SW & CT: STELLAN SKARSGARD/Sentimental Value

Back in 2009, Sean Penn won an Oscar for playing gay activist Harvey Milk. Now he appears poised to win an Oscar for playing a white supremacist officer. Talk about range!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WW: WUNMI MOSAKU/Sinners
SW & CT: AMY MADIGAN/Weapons

Have you noticed in the 2020’s, the horror genre, the film genre most shunned by the Academy, has been given more and more respect? Acting in horror films has been getting more praise over the years too. This year’s top supporting actress performances have come from horror thrillers and if you saw them, you’d know why.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

SW & WW: RYAN COOGLER/Sinners
CT: ESKIL VOGT and JOACHIM TRIER/Sentimental Value

To think, it all started for Ryan Coogler with 2013’s Fruitvale Station. Then he’d hit it big directing the Black Panther movies.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

SW & WW: PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON/One Battle After Another
CT: CHLOE ZHAO and MAGGIE O'FARRELL/Hamnet

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

SW & WW: KPop Demon Hunters
CT: Zootopia 2

Did you ever think that K-Pop would be the theme for a winning animated movie? Not until I saw the Demon Hunters! And it scored a #1 hit to boot!

BEST CASTING

SW & WW: FRANCINE MAISLER/Sinners
CT: CASSANDRA KULUKUNDIS/One Battle After Another

With this being the first year of this category, I can’t think of a more deserving winner!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

SW & WW: AUTUMN DURALD ARKAPAW/Sinners
CT: MICHAEL BAUMAN/One Battle After Another

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

WW: KATE HAWLEY/Frankenstein
CT: RUTH E. CARTER/Sinners

If you saw Frankenstein, you will notice former TSO star Christian Convery played young Victor.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
WW: The Perfect Neighbor
CT: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

This is one year where many renowned documentaries got snubbed of the Oscar shortlist of 15 and other renowned ones were snubbed of a nomination. I’ll never understand these branches of the Academy.

BEST FILM EDITING

WW: ANDY JURGENSON/One Battle After Another
CT: MICHAEL P. SHAWVER/Sinners

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

SW & WW: Sentimental Value – Norway
CT: The Secret Agent - Brazil

If The Secret Agent wins, Brazil will become the first nation to win back-to-back Oscars in this category since Denmark did it fir 1987’s Babette’s Feast and 1988’s Pelle The Conqueror.

BEST MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING

SW & WW: Frankenstein
CT: Sinners

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

SW & WW: LUDWIG GORANSSON/Sinners
CT: JONNY GREENWOOD/One Battle After Another

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

SW & WW: "Golden" - KPop Demon Hunters
CT: "Dear Me" – Diane Warren: Relentless

Back when I started posting my predictions here, the record for the most nominations with no wins was 15 for songwriter Randy Newman. That year would become the sixteenth time lucky! The record holder of that streak is now Diane Warren with sixteen nominations without a win. She did receive an honorary Oscar three years ago, but no win in the competitive categories. Will it be seventeenth time lucky?

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

WW: Frankenstein
CT: Hamnet

BEST SOUND

WW: F1: The Movie
CT: Sinners

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

SW & WW: Avatar: Fire and Ash
CT: F1: The Movie

The previous two Avatar movies won in this category. A third win for the Avatar franchise here should be no surprise.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

WW: Butterfly (Papillon)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

WW: All The Empty Rooms

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

WW: A Friend Of Dorothy

And there you have it! Those are my predictions for this year’s Oscars! Sure enough, you can expect Conan O’Brien to be a good host again!