Sara's Underinformed 2026 Oscar Picks

A few years ago, I managed to watch every single movie nominated for best picture at the Oscars, and I felt so good about being able to go in to the awards show with educated opinions.

This year I did not see them all and yet have strong opinions, despite my failure to see half of the best picture nominees. (I did see One Battle After Another, and I think it is way overhyped.) Here are my picks in advance of the show this Sunday.

Best Picture

• My Pick: Sinners. Easily the best movie I saw this year. It is doing so much at all times, and yet it never feels confused or muddled– just fully intentional and aware of its own magic.
• Runner-Up: Sentimental Value. As established, I love small stories well told. This one focuses on the difficult relationship between a father and his two semi-estranged daughters as he tries to make a movie that is actually the thing that could save them all.
• Most Regret Not Having Watched: The Secret Agent. Maybe next year I will have the emotional space for this one. (I'm waiting at least another decade on Hamnet.)

Best Actor

• My Pick: Ethan Hawke. Blue Moon is old fashioned and overly stage-y, but he is absolutely phenomenal in it.
• Runner-Up: Michael B. Jordan, who is equally convincing as both Smoke and Stack.
• Please No: Timothee Chalamet and his stupid face.

Best Actress

• My Pick: Renate Reinsve. She has no real shot, I think, but she is captivating in Sentimental Value.
• Runner-Up: Emma Stone, but only because she's the only other one whose movie I saw. To be fair, I loved her in this move– so steely and determined. (And it should be noted that Jesse Plemons is completely devastating in this movie; I would have given him a nod over Leo.)

Best Supporting Actor

• My Pick: Delroy Lindo. He is commanding and moving in a part that could have easily gone off track.
• Runner Up: Stellan Skarsgard. I'll be honest and say that I've never really seen what the big deal is about this guy. In Sentimental Value, I got it.
• Please No: Sean Penn.

Best Supporting Actress

• My Pick: Wunmi Mosaku. There is so much amazing stuff happening in Sinners, and she helps to ground it with her calm and strength. She straight up glows.
• Runner Up: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. She has the quieter, less showy part, but her pain and hope are conveyed so beautifully (even if her resemblance to Cobie Smulders is a little distracting).

Best Animated Feature:

• My Pick: KPop Demon Hunters. Yes, it is the only one I saw, but it is also legitimately great.
• We also saw Zootopia 2 and thought it was fine? I think I am just not this franchise's ideal viewer. I spend too much time trying to parse how the predator/prey construction maps on to race and gender.

Best Score:

• My Pick: Bugonia. It's jarring and tense, just like the movie.
• Runner-Up: Sinners.

Best Song:

• My Pick: "Golden." I will be shocked if anything else wins. (Let's be real, though– just like "Surface Tension" is the real winner of Encanto, KDH's best song is "What It Sounds Like.")

(As always, the live performances of the nominated songs are the things I am looking forward to most.)

Best Director:

• My Pick: Ryan Coogler.
• Runner-Up: Joachim Trier.
• Please No: Guillerme Del Toro. Whom I love, usually! And I didn't even hate Frankenstein. But this is not Oscar-worthy work.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• My Pick: Literally anything but Frankenstein. How did this even get here? Someone actually says out loud to Victor, "You are the monster." That should have been an automatic disqualification.

Best Original Screenplay:

• My Pick: Sinners.
• Runner-Up: Sentimental Value.