menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Oscar contenders and women of substance – what to watch, read and see this week

19 0
13.03.2026

I just finished watching The Studio, Seth Rogen’s hilarious Apple TV satire of life inside an old school Hollywood production company. One of the standout episodes was set in the audience at the Golden Globes. It perfectly captures the peculiar theatre of awards shows: stars smiling and clapping furiously while hoping the person next to them loses.

It got me thinking about this weekend’s Oscars – who will be taking the big prizes, and who will be applauding graciously while quietly gnashing their teeth. In anticipation, I asked the arts team who or what they’d like to see winning on Sunday night.

I’d personally love to see Michael B. Jordan take home best actor. It’s a supremely competitive category this year, but his dual performance as identical twin brothers Smoke and Stack in Sinners blew me away. It’s testament to his talent that while watching I so easily forgot that such a recognisable actor wasn’t in fact two different people.

Naomi Joseph, arts and culture editor:

I would love to see The Secret Agent win. It’s a stylish and smart film that challenges its audiences while keeping them gripped. I baulked at the two-hour 40-minute length, but watching it, I was absorbed. The structure is inventive, the music is brilliant and the costume and set design are immaculate. It’s incredibly ambitious, and there are many things that shouldn’t work – like the meandering narrative and the abrupt tonal shifts – but everything comes together to make a complex yet coherent film. It is truly a masterpiece.

I would love to see The Secret Agent win. It’s a stylish and smart film that challenges its audiences while keeping them gripped. I baulked at the two-hour 40-minute length, but watching it, I was absorbed. The structure is inventive, the music is brilliant and the costume and set design are immaculate. It’s incredibly ambitious, and there are........

© The Conversation