The Highlights, Lowlights, and Surprises from the 98th Academy Awards

Well folks, I think the dust has now fully settled from Oscar night. I wrote about the immediate aftermath of the 98th Academy Awards here in terms of One Battle After Another‘s victory, for example, so while it’s not completely hindsight now, we’re pretty close to putting the ceremony in the books. As such, today feels like a good day to look at the highs and lows from the show we got. Then, we can move on to the 2026 cinematic year in full. Plus, Project Hail Mary, a potential Oscar contender next year, is out today, so it’s a good moment to begin to really pass the torch.

Below, you’ll see what I thought the best and worst of Oscar night ended up being. Luckily, the good very much outweighs the bad this year once again, continuing a trend. Coming off of last year’s successful show, and the one before that, could the days of me having to complain about the telecast and wonder who it was meant for be (mostly) over? One certainly hopes so. Thankfully, it makes for another piece today far more centered on positivity than negativity, and I’m all for that, especially as people basically lost their minds last week.

Here now are some of the highlights, lowlights, and surprises from the 98th Academy Awards ceremony:

The Highs

The actual winners themselves – First up, like the three years or so, the winners, again, were pretty awesome. One Battle After Another led the way, and it’s obviously incredible, but seeing someone like Paul Thomas Anderson embraced not just with nominations, but wins, is just beyond cool. Sinners  won a pair of above the line Oscars (more on one of them later), which would have been unbelievable at one point for a vampire horror film. Your mileage obviously may vary on the winning films and performances, especially when it comes to Jessie Buckley and Sean Penn, but it’s hard to argue that this isn’t another top tier slate of newfound Academy Award recipients. I’ll always consider that a highlight, so this year, again, is no exception.

Conan O’Brien’s return engagement as host – You can obviously see my article on Conan O’Brien from last year here, but it’s rare that we’re praising the Oscar host, let alone two years in a row. Usually, being inoffensive and passable is the win. Instead, we’re actually pleased with O’Brien and can consider his work here as an actual highlight. Hopefully, Conan is invited back again and again, even if the final bit of the night essentially killed him off in the style of One Battle After Another‘s Penn.

The Lows

Cutting off acceptance speeches – This will never not be a bad look. Especially for winners in below the line categories, this could be their one big moment in the sun. Not letting them speak, or cutting off their acceptance speeches early just never reads well. Hopefully the move to YouTube in two years will nip this terrible habit in the bud.

Technical glitches – There were some technical glitches in the presentation and actual telecast, none of which were major, but came off as a bit sloppy. Again, the move to streaming should take away any time constraint pressure and let the show breathe more, but for now, this sort of thing will occasionally happen.

The Surprises

Michael B. Jordan has an Oscar – Just a few weeks ago, it would have been an utter shock to see Michael B. Jordan have an Academy Award. His Best Actor nomination for Sinners felt like the reward, but then the precursor season turned in his favor. By Oscar night, he was the mild favorite, and when Best Actor was announced, Jordan actually won. It wasn’t necessarily surprising on the night, but considering the turn that Actor took, it certainly was a surprise.

The In Memoriam segment is getting better – This part of the show is still a no-win scenario, but there were less issues this time around. The super-sized segment this year was partly a result of a tragic year of losses, but it also showed what we can perhaps expect when YouTube becomes the host. If there’s no reason to rush, why not show everyone? We’re not there yet, but it was better this year, with the potential to really figure it out soon…

What were your highs and lows from the 98th Academy Awards? Let us know!