Frontmezzjunkies reports: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Epic Wins Best Picture as Jessie Buckley and Michael B. Jordan Take Home Acting Honors

By Ross

When I wrote my prediction piece (click here for the article) for the 98th Academy Awards, I began with a confession. I had not seen nearly enough of the nominated films yet. January had belonged to theatre seats rather than cinema seats, and February had been happily claimed by the Colombian sun. My Oscar viewing list was still very much a work in progress. Even as the ceremony approached, instinct and industry momentum were doing as much of the predicting as firsthand knowledge.

So how did those instincts fare once the envelopes were finally opened?

Surprisingly well. Out of the 24 competitive categories, I correctly predicted 21 winners, missing only three along the way. Including a bonus point for naming one eventual winner as my second choice, I finished with a respectable 43 out of a possible 48 points. Not bad for a season that often felt like a guessing game played at the last possible moment.

The biggest story of the night belonged to “One Battle After Another“, the ambitious epic from Paul Thomas Anderson that ultimately captured six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. After decades of nominations for films such as “Boogie Nights” and “There Will Be Blood“, Anderson finally walked away with his first Academy Award, dedicating the film to his children and expressing hope that the next generation might bring back “common sense and decency” to the world they inherit.

The night’s other major force was “Sinners”, which entered the ceremony with a record sixteen nominations and still managed to claim four significant victories. Among them was a first Best Actor win for Michael B. Jordan, whose emotional acceptance speech beautifully honoured the Black artists who paved the way for him. The film also delivered one of the ceremony’s most meaningful milestones when cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman ever to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Meanwhile, Jessie Buckley (West End’s Cabaret) made history with her luminous performance in “Hamnet“, becoming the first Irish actor to win the Best Actress Oscar. She dedicated the award to what she called “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”

Elsewhere, the ceremony offered its usual mix of celebration, surprises, and the occasional historical milestone. Norway captured its first-ever International Feature Film award for “Sentimental Value“, while the animated sensation “KPop Demon Hunters” made history when its hit song “Golden” became the first K-pop track ever to win an Oscar. Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” also won three craft awards for production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling. The Oscar for visual effects went to “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” while “F1” claimed the award for sound. There was also an unusual tie in the live-action short category, only the seventh time in Academy Awards history this has happened.

As always, Oscar night also left me with a growing list of films I now need to catch up on. I am still far too easily frightened to brave the darker corners of this year’s horror lineup, which means “Sinners” and “Weapons” may remain on my “watch in broad daylight” list for a while longer. But several newly crowned winners have already moved to the top of my viewing queue, including “Sentimental Value,” “Train Dreams“, and the intriguing nominee “The Secret Agent“.

Below is the full list of nominees and winners from the 98th Academy Awards. Let’s see how many of your predictions matched the Academy’s final choices.

Best Picture 

Bugonia
Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
🥰 Hamnet
Marty Supreme
🏆 ⭐ One Battle After Another ⭐
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Actor 

Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
🏆 ⭐ Michael B. Jordan – Sinners ⭐
🥰 Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best Actress 

🏆 ⭐ Jessie Buckley – Hamnet ⭐
🥰 Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor 

Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
🏆 ⭐ Sean Penn – One Battle After Another ⭐
🥰 Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress 

Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
🏆 ⭐ Amy Madigan – Weapons ⭐
🥰 Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Director 

🥰 Chloé Zhao – Hamnet
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
🏆 ⭐ Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another ⭐
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler – Sinners

Best Original Screenplay 

Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
🥰 Sentimental Value
🏆 ⭐ Sinners ⭐

Best Adapted Screenplay 

Bugonia
Frankenstein
🥰 Hamnet
🏆 ⭐ One Battle After Another ⭐
Train Dreams

Best Animated Feature Film 

Arco
Elio
🏆 ⭐ KPop Demon Hunters ⭐
🥰 Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Best International Feature Film 

🥰 The Secret Agent – Brazil
It Was Just an Accident – France
🏆 ⭐ Sentimental Value – Norway ⭐
Sirât – Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab – Tunisia

Best Casting 

🥰 Hamnet
Marty Supreme
🏆 One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
⭐ Sinners ⭐

Best Cinematography 

Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
⭐ One Battle After Another ⭐
🏆 Sinners
🥰 Train Dreams

Best Production Design 

🏆 ⭐ Frankenstein ⭐
🥰 Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best Editing 

F1
Marty Supreme
🏆 ⭐ One Battle After Another ⭐
Sentimental Value
🥰 Sinners

Best Original Score 

Bugonia
Frankenstein
🥰 Hamnet
One Battle After Another
🏆 ⭐ Sinners ⭐

Best Original Song 

“Dear Me” – Diane Warren: Relentless
🏆 ⭐ “Golden” – KPop Demon Hunters ⭐
🥰 “I Lied to You” – Sinners
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” – Viva Verdi!
“Train Dreams” – Train Dreams

Best Sound 

🏆 ⭐ F1 ⭐
🥰 Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirât

Best Visual Effects 

🏆 ⭐ Avatar: Fire and Ash ⭐
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
🥰 Sinners

Best Makeup and Hairstyling 

🏆 ⭐ Frankenstein ⭐
Kokuho
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
🥰 The Ugly Stepsister

Best Costume Design 

Avatar: Fire and Ash
🏆 ⭐ Frankenstein ⭐
🥰 Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners

Best Animated Short Film 

Butterfly
Forevergreen
🏆 ⭐ The Girl Who Cried Pearls ⭐
Retirement Plan
🥰 The Three Sisters

Best Live-Action Short Film (tie)

Butcher’s Stain
⭐ A Friend of Dorothy ⭐
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
🏆 🥰 The Singers
🏆 Two People Exchanging Saliva

Best Documentary Feature Film 

The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
⭐ Cutting Through Rocks ⭐
🏆 🥰 Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

Best Documentary Short 

🏆 ⭐ All the Empty Rooms ⭐
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”
The Devil Is Busy
🥰 Perfectly a Strangeness