Perfect Oscar nominations: 2026

Plus who should win and who doesn't belong

A few times a year, Bangers & Jams switches from a food blog to a movie blog. That’s certainly the case during Oscar season.

I love the Oscars. There’s not nearly as much to vigorously debate around dinner tables in Los Angeles compared to New York, but at least we have the spectacle of cinema combined with the vanity of awards.

I maintain that 2025 was a very good year at the movies. I can go 15 deep with films I loved, adding in another 15 I at least admired. The awards race this year features a heavy favorite (One Battle After Another), a few fun villains (Hamnet, Wicked: For Good, Frankenstein) and some very real debates. Like last year, I’ve compiled my list of what I think should be nominated for the major categories ahead of the official Jan. 22 announcement. The choices are ranked in order of how upset I’ll be if they don’t make the cut. I’ve also included my pick for winners as well as one seeming lock that I don’t think belongs.

This is much more of a leaning toward “best” rather than “favorite” — a requirement for the sake of awards recognition. January is a perfect time to hole up at home and catch up on movies. If you’re behind, use this as a guide for where to start.

Best Picture

1. Winner: Marty Supreme

2. One Battle After Another

3. The Secret Agent

4. Sentimental Value

5. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

6. It Was Just An Accident

7. Train Dreams

8. Sinners

9. The Testament Of Ann Lee

10. No Other Choice

Doesn’t belong: Frankenstein

Wicked: For Good and Avatar are probably also getting in, but Frankenstein is the real shit-stirrer here — a pandering kids movie that happens to be filled with gratuitous gun violence. There was better dialogue in Regretting You.

Best Director

1. Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another

2. Mary Bronstein | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

3. Josh Safdie | Marty Supreme

4. Ryan Coogler | Sinners

5. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

Doesn’t belong: Chloé Zhao | Hamnet

The toughest list of five to make. But, yeah, give PTA his trophy.

Wesley Morris equated Hamnet to watching an acting class — not a masterclass in acting, but literally a training session with people learning how to act. No criticism has been more apt. In a movie that plays like it was designed to make parents cry and win awards, the faults fall primarily on the director.

Best Actress

1. Winner: Rose Byrne | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

2. Amanda Seyfried | The Testament Of Ann Lee

3. Renate Reinsve | Sentimental Value

4. Emma Stone | Bugonia

5. Jessie Buckley | Hamnet

Doesn’t belong: Cynthia Erivo | Wicked

An absolutely stacked category that Buckley has wrapped up. That’s fine. Her performance in the final 25 minutes is legitimately great. But if Byrne and Seyfried don’t get nominated, no snubs will make me more annoyed.

Best Actor

1. Winner: Timothée Chalamet | Marty Supreme

2. Wagner Moura | The Secret Agent

3. Michael B. Jordan | Sinners

4. Ethan Hawke | Blue Moon

5. Leonardo DiCaprio | One Battle After Another

Doesn’t belong: Joel Edgerton | Train Dreams

The growing consensus around this projected top five is also the right top five, incredibly. Edgerton is a perfectly played piece in Bentley’s beautiful film. The Train Dreams momentum is so encouraging to see, but I hope it doesn’t knock out Hawke’s special turn as Lorenz Hart.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Winner: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Sentimental Value

2. Teyana Taylor | One Battle After Another

3. Odessa A’zion | Marty Supreme

4. Mariam Afshari | It Was Just An Accident

5. Wunmi Mosaku | Sinners

Doesn’t belong: Amy Madigan | Weapons

Lilleaas slow burns for 90 minutes before shattering your heart in concurrent scenes. She’s the real muse for Trier in this film, the simmering heart of his broken family portrayal.

Weapons is a good movie. Zach Cregger is a great director. But I’ve yet to see or hear a convincing argument that Madigan’s performance was anything beyond replacement level.

Best Supporting Actor

1. Winner: Stellan Skarsgård | Sentimental Value

2. Sean Penn | One Battle After Another

3. Alexander Skarsgård | Pillion

4. Benicio del Toro | One Battle After Another

5. William H. Macy | Train Dreams

Doesn’t belong: Paul Mescal | Hamnet

I will ignore the pure category fraud for what is undeniably a lead performance from Stellan Skarsgård.

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Winner: Ira Sachs | Peter Hujar’s Day

2. Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another

3. Harry Lighton | Pillion

4. Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar | Train Dreams

5. Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi & Jahyee Lee | No Other Choice

Doesn’t belong: Will Tracy | Bugonia

Few movies sparked more ideas or conversations for me than Sachs’ faithful adaptation of a real recorded conversation between the photographer Peter Hujar and the writer Linda Rosenkrantz. You watch the filmed version and are rattled by everything that’s not there — phones, concrete plans, social-media-induced artistic anxiety.

Best Original Screenplay

1. Winner: Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt | Sentimental Value

2. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

3. Mary Bronstein | If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

4. Robert Kaplow | Blue Moon

5. Ari Aster | Eddington

Doesn’t belong: Noah Baumbach & Emily Mortimer | Jay Kelly

Whatever is going on with Noah’s writing since he became happily married is really bumming me out.

Best International Feature

1. Winner: The Secret Agent

2. It Was Just An Accident

3. Sentimental Value

4. No Other Choice

5. Sirāt

The other major contender here is The Voice of Hind Rajab, a powerful story that tears you apart over and over again. It might break through for its strong mission, ambition and message. I just don’t think it really works as a movie.

Best Casting

1. Winner: Nadia Acimi, Luis Bertolo & Erika Boulic | Sirāt

2. Jennifer Venditti | Marty Supreme

3. Gabriel Domingues | The Secret Agent

4. Jafar Panahi | It Was Just An Accident

5. Cassandra Kulukundis | One Battle After Another

The non-actor ravers are the best part of Sirāt, the only truly shocking movie I saw in 2025.

Best Cinematography

1. Winner: Adolpho Veloso | Train Dreams

2. Christopher Blauvelt | The Mastermind

3. Michael Bauman | One Battle After Another

4. Autumn Durald Arkapaw | Sinners

5. Kim Woo-hyung | No Other Choice

Of all the movies on this list, Train Dreams is the one I’d implore you to try to see on a big screen. The 35mm print took my breath away. The cinematography is the true star and why it deserves this win.

Best Original Score

1. Winner: Daniel Lopatin | Marty Supreme

2. Jonny Greenwood | One Battle After Another

3. Kangding Ray | Sirāt

4. Ludwig Göransson | Sinners

5. Bryce Dessner | Train Dreams

The most heavyweight two-person race in the field comes down to Lopatin vs. Greenwood. It’s close, but Lopatin deserves it.