What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
The 98th Academy Awards delivered a major night for One Battle After Another and Sinners, memorable musical and reunion performances, and a few hosting bits that Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy thought fell flat. Here are the ceremony’s standout moments, separating award results from subjective judgments about the show.
What defined the 2026 Oscars
The Academy held its 98th ceremony on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, honoring films released in 2025. The Academy’s ceremony archive identifies the event and its official winners; ABC’s complete winners list provides the film totals.
![Today You Die [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51t-2kWa1wL._SL160_.jpg)
One Battle After Another won Best Picture and six Oscars overall, including directing and adapted screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson. Sinners earned four awards, including lead actor for Michael B. Jordan and original screenplay for Ryan Coogler. Jessie Buckley won lead actress for Hamnet, Amy Madigan took supporting actress for Weapons, and Sean Penn won supporting actor for One Battle After Another.
Best moments of the ceremony
Anderson’s breakthrough and a pointed acceptance speech
Anderson won adapted screenplay, directing, and best picture, which AP described as his first Oscars. His screenplay speech made the win personal and forward-looking: “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them,” he said, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Two performances that brought the music into the room
AP singled out “I Lied to You” from Sinners as a standout. Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq performed with a large ensemble of musicians and dancers, while the camera moved through the performance rather than treating it as a static stage number.
“Golden,” performed by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami alongside traditional Korean instrumentalists and dancers, added another distinct spectacle. AP reported it became the first K-pop song to win the original-song Oscar.
Rank #2
- The Best of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment ? Academy? Award Winning and Nominated theatrical animated shorts. Category: Best Animated Short Subjects. Franchises include Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, MGM, Max Fleischer etc. 41 of the most celebrated cartoons of their time, including 15 award winners.plus over 60 minutes of special features!This collection has something for everyone with characters
Reunions with jokes built in
The Bridesmaids reunion mixed an 1883 joke with an audience-message bit while the cast presented awards. Other onstage reunions included performers from Avengers, Moulin Rouge!, and the Pullman family. These appearances gave the broadcast recognizable, playful interludes between awards.
Tributes to Rob Reiner and Robert Redford
Billy Crystal led a tribute to Rob Reiner that became an onstage gathering of performers from Reiner’s films, according to AP. Barbra Streisand then honored Robert Redford and sang a brief passage of “The Way We Were.” Together, the tributes connected the ceremony’s present-day competition with the filmmakers and performances that shaped earlier generations.
Rank #3
- Let the games begin! Own the genre-defining Saw horror series in all its grisly glory. Five-disc set includes: Saw (2004), Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009), Saw: The Final Chapter (2010) and Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010).
- Genre: Horror
A representation milestone in cinematography
AP reported that Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who won cinematography for Sinners, became the first woman and the first Black person to receive that Oscar. The Academy’s 2026 ceremony record lists her as the winner; the historical firsts are attributed here to AP’s reporting.
The weakest moments, according to one critic
“Worst” is a matter of review, not an official category or a measured audience verdict. AP writer Mark Kennedy judged two of host Conan O’Brien’s bits to fall flat: a leaf blower brought onstage and a joke built around Leonardo DiCaprio memes. Those are Kennedy’s critical assessments, not evidence that viewers broadly disliked the segments.
Rank #4
O’Brien’s opening had a more elaborate visual premise: children chased him in character as Gladys Lilly from Weapons. The monologue also included a Waymo-in-a-tux line about the future of human Oscar hosts and a joke about Timothée Chalamet’s comments on ballet, opera, and jazz. AP quoted O’Brien setting a more earnest tone amid the comedy: “We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today — optimism.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A ceremony framed by events beyond Hollywood
In a separate AP analysis, Jake Coyle described the ceremony as shadowed by war, political turmoil, and uncertainty about artificial intelligence’s effects on film. That was a reporter’s framing of the wider moment, not a debate the awards show resolved. AP also reported that O’Brien noted representation from 31 countries across six continents during the broadcast; that figure is his on-air reference, not a separately measured Academy statistic.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Best Value
AP reported the ceremony ran three hours and 40 minutes. Its mix of major wins, musical set pieces, reunions, tributes, and uneven jokes made for a long broadcast with a clear awards story: One Battle After Another led the night, while Sinners combined four wins with two of its most visible performance and milestone moments.
Quick Recap
Sources
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: 98th Academy Awards ceremony archive
- ABC: 2026 Oscars winners list
- Associated Press: ceremony highlights and critic’s review of moments
- Associated Press: political and industry context surrounding the ceremony
- Academy Awards Database
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
