Do the Oscars still matter?
Ethan Hawke recently defended them on the Keep It! podcast. His argument was that the Oscars are important because they’re good for movies:
“What’s great about the Oscars and all these different award shows is it makes people want to see movies. I didn’t even see that movie. I want to see that movie. What’s that Rose Byrne movie? Wagner Mora, who’s he? It’s all good for movies.”
I agree. Even though I see far more movies than the average person, I still wouldn’t see half the ones nominated if it wasn’t for the Oscars. Awards shows, as self-congratulatory as they are, shine a spotlight on films that would otherwise fly under the radar. Do they always get it right? Of course not. But they get it right enough. And the show is good for movies.
So now we turn to the Oscars — the ultimate celebration of movies every year. And 2025 was a year to celebrate. What I loved most were all the theater moments. The tangible joy of the journey at Sinners. Jumping in fright with strangers at Weapons. The sniffling in the room as the credits rolled for Hamnet. This was a year where we experienced great stories together. As society divides us, movies still unite us.
The 2026 Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, and every week until the ceremony, we’ll be presenting our picks for who should win across eight major categories.
We begin this week with Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor!
Best Supporting Actress
Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan — Weapons
Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku certainly has her moments in Sinners. She brings an ethereal presence to Annie that stands out in the first half before the mayhem kick in. Once the tone shifts, however, her character gets lost in the shuffle. She also has the unfortunate task of explaining how vampires work. It’s a good performance, but I wouldn’t call it one of the five best of the year.
Elle Fanning is the odd one out in Sentimental Value. She’s the only non-Norwegian character and comes across as a lightweight compared to the rest of the cast. But that’s the whole point. Fanning’s Rachel Kemp is a foil designed to keep us focused on who we really want to play her part in the movie within the movie. It’s also an impressive achievement for Fanning to “act” miscast. Her rehearsal scene with Gustav is the standout. She does everything right as an actress, but it’s not right for the movie. That’s great acting.
Weapons should have been nominated for more awards than this one, but there’s no question that Amy Madigan is the highlight of the film. Aunt Gladys is a terrifying character, and Madigan holds nothing back. It’s not just her callous indifference to the suffering she causes, but the joy she takes along the way. This woman is evil, and her cold eyes chill us to the bone. What a far cry from Field of Dreams. I’m sure Madigan didn’t think her second Oscar nomination in 40 years would come from a horror movie, but this isn’t your average horror movie. Aunt Gladys is the primary reason why.
Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia only appears in the first act of One Battle After Another, but her presence hovers over every frame. That’s worthy of an Oscar nomination any day. Taylor lights up the screen in those opening scenes. We can’t take our eyes off her. But her character is more than flash. Perfidia is an adrenaline junkie who uses “revolution” as her excuse for increasingly dangerous highs. Highs that have severe consequences for herself and the ones she claims to love. Perfidia needs to be seared into our brain for the rest of the movie to work. Taylor answered that call.
Stellen Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve are phenomenal in Sentimental Value, and they received nominations accordingly. Which is why it’s so remarkable that Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas is still able to carve out a memorable performance of her own. Her character Agnes is used to playing a supporting role. She’s the glue that holds the family together. As her father and sister struggle with addiction and mental health, Agnes is the “normal” one they both lean on for comfort. But the years have taken their toll on her too. Lilleaas out-acts all of the other nominees in this category in two pivotal scenes: the first where she confronts her father for everything he put her through, and the second where she brings her sister back from the brink. The depth of emotional honesty she displays in both are gut-wrenching. Agnes is finally ready for the truth to be spoken and she’s done holding back. Teyana Taylor is a virtual lock for the win, but Lilleaas is the one most worthy.
Best Supporting Actor
Delroy Lindo — Sinners
Benicio del Toro — One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
Sean Penn — One Battle After Another
Stellen Skarsgård — Sentimental Value
Delroy Lindo was perfectly fine in Sinners, but this feels more like a coronation of a career than a truly Oscar-worthy performance. Lindo just doesn’t have enough to do. Sinners is overflowing with characters and action. It’s hard for any of the supporting roles to stand out enough among the leads and gallons of blood. Lindo is a great actor, but this isn’t a performance worth nominating.
The same is true for Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another. Sergio is a fun character and the moral center of the movie, but the role isn’t stretching del Toro’s acting abilities. His other two nominations for Traffic and 21 Grams were filled with depth and range. Sergio, by contrast, is one note. It’s a great note, but not one of the five best of the year.
Jacob Elordi is only 28 years old and he already has his first Oscar nomination. A nomination richly deserved. Who would have thought the teenager from Euphoria was capable of playing this character? The Creature would be a hard role for any actor to nail down. For much of the movie, he only says one word. Elordi conveys everything we need to know with just his face and his body. He earns our sympathy despite being a monster. All the opportunities are open to Elordi now. Imagine what he’ll do in his 30’s?
Sean Penn’s Col. Lockjaw is a villain for the ages. He’s everything wrong with white people and toxic masculinity rolled into one. After a long creative drought, Penn is clearly having fun again and we’re having fun watching him. He’s an exaggerated character, but not by much. What’s so exaggerated in 2026 about a man obsessed with power and privilege trying to join an elite group of white supremacists? Lockjaw is a chiseled machine who lives and breathes violence. He has a nasty temper which he unleashes on his own daughter before trying to kill her. And yet, he lives in an age built for people just like him. No matter how many times he falls, he gets right back up again, marching with his silly walk to victory. In any other year, Penn’s Oscar would be guaranteed. But this is the year Stellan Skarsgård gave us the best performance of his career.
Skarsgård has been in over 100 movies, but this is his crowning achievement. Whereas Penn’s Lockjaw is a caricature, Skarsgård’s Gustav is a masterclass in subtlety. A harder feat by far. Skarsgård could have played him as a one-dimensional jerk, but his instincts are smarter than that. Gustav is a man of contradictions. In his personal life, he can be an arrogant, mean, drunk — brushing off his poor behavior with a wry smile and cutting sarcasm. But on a film set, he’s warm, centered, and sensitive. For his daughters, he has an answer to everything. For his actors, his favorite answer is “What do you think?” Gustav is not one thing. None of us are. And in the last scene of the movie, he finds redemption without a single word spoken. His eyes say it all. After a lifetime making movies, Skarsgård will finally get his Oscar this year. It’s about time.
To Be Continued…
Check back next week for part two of our Oscar coverage as we pick Best Actor and Best Actress!
