Jess Lahitou

Motherhood at the 2026 Oscars: I Have Some Notes In the Best Picture lineup, some brilliant and some baffling maternal choices have been made Press enter or click to view image in full size Image Credit: Warner Bros Firstly, the obligatory and off-topic bone picking: the two best films of the year were not nominated for Best Picture (Eddington sitting easy in the №1 spot, and Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man a comfortable №2.).

Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film benches its most interesting character, turning ‘One Battle After Another’ into a celebration of flawed fatherhood. Press enter or click to view image in full size Sean Penn’s portrayal of Steven Lockjaw is so in-your-face audacious, Paul Thomas Anderson and Co. must have believed Lockjaw’s trembling grimace and constipated strut would be the loitering mental image of One Battle After Another.

The inter-generational, found family relationships of ‘Stick’ turn out to be salvific—for the oldies and the youths alike. Image Credit: Apple Studios Can a Boomer and a Gen X-er and a Gen Z baby ever make true contact? Moreover: should they? Much of the conflict in Stick, Apple TV’s current golf dramedy, is born ofthese questions. The big neat trick of Stick is to consistently show generational divides as not only bridgeable, but something of an illusion in the first place. Nice.