Conan O’Brien jokes about Ted Sarandos, Timothée Chalamet and ‘frightening times’ in Oscars monologue

Host bobs and weaves through a number of third-rail topics in Academy Awards speech that’s at turns silly and sincere Oscars 2026 – follow the action live! The winners: the full list – updating live Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue at the 98th Academy Awards cheekily paid tribute to many nominated films – and then some – while acknowledging the tense US political situation and cracks at Timothée Chalamet, Amazon and US healthcare. After a snappily edited, old-school montage in which O’Brien, dressed as best supporting actress winner Amy Madigan ’s character in Weapons (“I look like Bette Davis with lupus,” he joked), stormed through each of the nominated films trailed by children à la Weapons, the second-time host bobbed and weaved through a number of pressing topics, from political divides to AI to Jeffrey Epstein. “I am Conan O’Brien, and I am honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” he quipped. “Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.” Continue read...

Calvinia review – jarringly nostalgic look at a South African childhood

Ran der Merwe’s documentary returns the director to the Northern Cape where he grew up, but glosses over trauma and injustice

Situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, Calvinia is a rural town blessed with a magnificently scenic landscape, where towering mountain ranges give way to far-reaching plains. It is also the birthplace of film-maker Rudivan der Merwe, whose documentary ode, with its triptych structure guided by childhood memories, is both a pilgrimage and farewell to his home town.

Van der Merwe first fixes his camera on his parents, who were livestock ranchers. In contrast to the supposed quaintness of farm life, the presence of violence is also emphasised; one scene, for instance, lingers on a goat being slaughtered. There are other forces of violence at play as well. Conversations with a lesbian couple reveal the homophobia that runs deep in the town.

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