Snubbed Or Not at the 98th Oscars

By Kat Willson ‘26, Head Editor-in-Chief; Edited by Safiya Ahmed ‘27, Editor-in-Chief

In the lead-up to the Oscars (aka the last 4 months of 2025 and the first 3 of 2026), there were many debates about who would win Best Picture and Best Actor at the 98th Oscars. It felt like, throughout the entire lead-up, there was constant debate: would Sinners or One Battle After Another win Best Picture? Was Best Actor going to Michael B. Jordan or Timothée Chalamet? Following every awards show, people will claim someone was snubbed – it is part of the commentary. While you never asked for it, from one opinionated cinephile to another, I will share my opinion on whether they snubbed or not.

Let’s begin with Best Picture, which was awarded to Paul Anderson’s One Battle After Another.

The film beat out fellow nominees: The Secret Agent, F1, Bugonia, Sinners, Sentimental Value, Marty Supreme, Frankenstein, Train Dreams, and Hamnet; with favourites to win being: Sinners, Hamnet, and One Battle After Another.

Now, do I think any of these other films were snubbed? To put it simply, no. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the three favourites to win, but One Battle After Another was magnetic, and even after checking multiple times, I still don’t believe that it is almost 3 hours long – it pulled me in. Every actor/actress in the film was simply fabulous in portraying their character, particularly Chase Infiniti as teenager, Willa, whose entire worldview was spun upside down. I enjoyed the subtleties in her acting, which I feel made her performance, especially as her character wasn’t line-heavy.

Hamnet, surprisingly, was my runner-up. I say surprisingly because I think it was put together better than Sinners, albeit barely. Hamnet was simply beautiful, and captured the essence of Shakespeare very well – each time you revisit the film, you find something new. From the performances by the whole cast, especially Jessie Buckley’s devastating portrayal of Agnes, to Chloé Zhao’s direction, the film perfectly captured the heartbreaking essence of the novel it is based on.

There is a reason Sinners was a favourite amongst audiences this summer; it utilized creative storytelling techniques alongside being a unique, interesting movie. To be honest, I don’t have much to say about the movie – it has been a while since I’ve seen it, but nonetheless, I do know that I enjoyed it.

Now on to Best Actor, where the two favourites to win were Timothée Chalamet for his role as Marty Mouser in Marty Supreme, and Michael B. Jordan as twins Stack & Smoke in Sinners. I would also like to propose that Leonardo DiCaprio should have received more attention for his performance as Bob in One Battle After Another. I feel that everyone is so used to seeing his amazing performances that we have gotten used to them and thus won’t give them the appropriate attention.

Michael B. Jordan ended up winning at the Oscars – which was very well deserved – but his performance wasn’t my favourite. I enjoyed how he portrayed the twins quite a bit, and overall the distinction between the two characters was clear, but for me (maybe this is a me problem), I felt that the heavy lifting in that department was done by wardrobe and makeup. For me, he was my third overall pick to win the Oscar, which I believe speaks to the quality of this year's nominated performances.

Now onto Chalamet and DiCaprio’s performances. Chalamet had an incredible performance in Marty Supreme. To keep my review short, but his performance was impossible to look away from. When Chalamet was on screen, he had my full attention. He portrayed the egotistical, narcissistic Marty Mouser incredibly well and fully embodied the character. For more, you can read my review on Marty Supreme in the December/January edition of the Tiger Times – which is available online at TheTigerTimes.ca or in a physical copy found around the school. But overall, his performance was my favourite of the category.

DiCaprio’s performance was great; his performance as Bob is one that can be easily overlooked due to it not being loud, but he quietly carried the film with his performance – the movie would have fallen flat without it. While the performance wasn’t a dramatic, big role, DiCaprio did a great job of showcasing a man who was trying his best to protect his daughter from his past, even though he didn't have all the tools to help her; he captured the stress, heartbreak, and messiness of this character well. I may just be a sucker for DiCaprio’s performances (I feel like I’ve enjoyed most of his films I’ve seen), but it was my second favourite, behind Chalamet.

Overall, this year’s Oscars showcased many impeccable performances, and it was not short on great ones, which is why I can justify writing this article. Now to answer the question: was anyone snubbed? I say no one was, while Michael B. Jordan’s performance wasn’t my personal favourite of the year, it was a good performance, and I can’t fairly say he was undeserving (although I do wish Chalamet won, but he’s getting the DiCaprio treatment, I bet), and I’m 100% behind One Battle After Another winning Best Picture, so once again no one was snubbed. While this discourse will always surround every major award show, especially the Oscars, I do think that this year wasn’t one in which one could fairly say someone was snubbed.