This Oscar cycle’s heavyweight battle is finally over. The politically charged action comedy “One Battle After Another” just managed to outmuscle Ryan Coogler’s musically driven vampire thriller “Sinners.”

It was a 3 hour and 40 minute whirl through cinema and celebration, with Michael B. Jordan winning best actor for “Sinners” and Jessie Buckley winning for “Hamnet,” making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category.

There was electricity when Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and Black person to win the cinematography award for “Sinners,” asking all the women in the Dolby Theatre to stand up because moments like this don’t happen without women “standing up for you and advocating for you.”

Here were some other show highlights:

The battle is over for one filmmaker

Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most respected filmmakers of his generation, finally won an Oscar. Then he won another. Then he won for best picture.

He first won best adapted screenplay for “One Battle After Another” and then was crowned best director. “You make a guy work hard for this,” he said. Anderson was back onstage for the night’s final award — best picture.

“Let’s have a martini. This is amazing,” he said.

Anderson had been nominated 14 times previously, including five times for screenplays and three times for best director. His films include “Boogie Nights,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Magnolia.”

“I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them,” Anderson said onstage after winning for his screenplay. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”

Even Cassandra Kulukundis, who served as the casting director on past Anderson films, hoped he would win an award himself while accepting the first new completive Oscar category in over two decades for “One Battle After Another.”

She beat him to a win by just minutes.

Another long wait for Oscar hardware

Amy Madigan, the night’s first winner, had to wait a long time to celebrate an Oscar win. The gap between her first ever Oscar nomination and first win was 40 years — handing her the record wait for a best supporting actress.

Madigan’s first Oscar nomination was for 1985’s “Twice in a Lifetime,” losing to Anjelica Huston. She won Sunday for playing an unrecognizable and utterly mesmerizing oddball aunt in “Weapons,” a supernatural thriller about missing children. Madigan had earlier picked up wins at the Critics Choice and Actor Awards.

Aunt Gladys’ smeared, heavy makeup, strange hair and large glasses became a popular internet meme and was even played up by Oscars host Conan O’Brien in his opening skit, looking like Gladys as he raced through appearances in other nominated movies chased by children.

On hearing her name, Madigan collapsed into the arms of her husband, actor Ed Harris. Onstage, she thanked film writer-director Zach Cregger for giving her a part in “Weapons” she could “grab by the throat.” She last thanked “my beloved Ed,” adding: “None of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.”

A heavy goodbye to the Reiners

A stage of stars bid farewell to Rob Reiner, led by a long friend and colleague, Billy Crystal.

Crystal kicked off the in memoriam section by saying he met Reiner while cast as a best friend of Reiner’s on “All in the Family” in 1975.

Reiner’s movies included “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men” and “The Princess Bride.”

“My friend Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be: Far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier and far more human,” Crystal said.

Reiner was killed along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with two counts of murder.

After Crystal’s speech, he revealed a stage filled with stars who shone in Reiner’s films, including Meg Ryan, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Kathy Bates, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore, Jerry O’Connell, Annette Bening, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage and Cary Elwes.

In memoriam and Redford

The in memoriam section then highlighted those lost during 2025, like Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Brigitte Bardot, Michael Madsen, Terence Stamp, Diane Ladd, Sally Kirkland, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Val Kilmer.

Barbra Streisand then stepped up to honor her co-star in “The Way We Were,” Robert Redford.

“He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail, and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me,” Streisand said.

She then sang a snippet of “The Way We Were,” which she last performed during the 2013 ceremony, when she sang it as an homage to the late composer Marvin Hamlisch.

Two stunning song performances

The Oscars had only two musical numbers but they were Grammy-worthy.

Singer-actor Miles Caton and songwriter Raphael Saadiq performed the deeply bluesy, slinky song “I Lied to You” from “Sinners,” joined by an ensemble that included Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in a tribute to the film’s visual and musical style.

The camera swept in and among the writhing bodies in a rollicking, kinetic performance.

“KPop Demon Hunters” later celebrated its win as best animated feature by opening its performance of “Golden” with a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance, with dancers in gold waving golden fabric flags. Then Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — the singing voices behind HUNTR/X in the film — belted out “Golden” as members of the audience waved light sticks.

Then “Golden” won the Oscar for best original song, a first for K-pop.

The coolest part was seeing dancers from each song appear in the other’s, a kind of communication between Delta blues and Asian pop.

‘Bridesmaids’ give us a bouquet

Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig and Ellie Kemper celebrated 15 years after “Bridesmaids” hit theaters by showing everyone their funny bones haven’t aged.

“Now, we are not good with numbers, but we figured out backstage that means we shot this movie in 1883,” Wiig joked.

The group — presenting best original score and best sound — had fun at the expense of Stellan Skarsgård, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jacobi Jupe of “Hamnet.”

They pretended to read messages from the crowd, including one from DiCaprio that accused Byrne of staring at him. “I have been staring at you,” Byrne replied. “I thought you were somebody else.”

Rudolph leaned into her dimwit persona when she wondered: “Earlier today, when I was counting my money, I asked myself, “What is sound?”

There was also a mini-“Avengers” reunion with Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. presenting best adapted screenplay. And a “Moulin Rouge!” reunion with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. And there was a Pullman family reunion when Bill teamed up with son, Jack.

Second time’s a charm, Conan

Conan O’Brien hit almost every note on Sunday — savage, playful, heartfelt and dumb.

The second-time host predicted he’d be the last human Oscar MC. “Next year, it will be a Waymo with a tux,” he joked.

He also had a jab at Timothée Chalamet, who got into hot water when he seemed to call ballet and opera dying art forms. “They’re just mad you left out jazz,” O’Brien quipped.

He reached for a Jeffrey Epstein joke when he noted that it was the first time since 2012 that there were no British actors nominated. “A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well at least we arrest our pedophiles.’”

But he also got poetic and sweet when he noted that 31 countries across six continents were represented at the Oscars.

“Every film we salute is a product of thousands of people speaking different language, working hard to make something of beauty,” O’Brien said. “We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today: optimism.”

Of course, sometimes his bits fell flat, like the time he used a leaf blower onstage and a gag about memes with Leonardo DiCaprio.

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For more coverage of this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

European Union foreign ministers are set to discuss extending the bloc’s naval mission Aspides to the Strait of Hormuz at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul confirmed that the issue is being discussed, but voiced scepticism about the operation and Germany’s participation.

Aspides is an EU naval operation launched in the Red Sea in response to Houthi attacks on international shipping in February 2024.

Pressure from Washington is growing on European and Asian partners to help secure the key oil transit route, after energy prices surged following US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump urged the United Kingdom, France, China and Japan to deploy vessels to the area to protect oil shipments.

Around 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran announced last week that it would block the waterway in retaliation for the strikes, and has since attacked several vessels in the area.

Speaking to German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday, Wadephul confirmed that a possible extension of Aspides is under discussion at European level, but ruled out German participation.

He said he did not see an immediate need for such an operation and called on the United States and Israel to provide clarity about their objectives in the war on Iran.

His comments echo criticism from Europeans who argue the US has not shared enough information on the war, its timeline or goals.

US energy secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that the war against Iran would “likely” end in a few weeks. Washington’s efforts to alleviate fears in the energy market have done little to stop oil prices from soaring above $100 a barrel, sparking concerns about inflation and weaker growth.

Iranian authorities say they have arrested dozens of people accused of spying for Israel across several provinces, according to state media reports over the weekend.

Fars, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported Sunday the West Azerbaijan prosecutor’s office had arrested 20 individuals in the northwestern city of Urmia for allegedly providing Israel with information about military, police and security sites.

On Saturday, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence said it had arrested several “enemy operatives” across the country, including a 10-member group in Mazandaran province and another 10-member network in Khorasan Razavi province, according to Tasnim, a semi-official news agency.

Authorities said the suspects transferred the locations of military installations and economic infrastructure and shared coordinates of public places, academic institutions and research centers with Israel.

IRANIAN REGIME SPREADING ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA ACROSS DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: REPORT

In southern Khuzestan province, intelligence officials also reported arresting a three-person “terrorist team” accused of carrying out armed attacks against security forces and government facilities. 

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel has relied on tips from ordinary Iranians to identify targets for strikes inside Iran, citing a senior Israeli security official.

The newspaper said information about potential targets is sent through Israeli Persian-language social media accounts and is verified by Israeli authorities before strikes are carried out.

CIA URGES IRANIANS TO USE BURNER PHONES, TOR TO CONTACT US IN PERSIAN-LANGUAGE VIDEO

In a separate development, Bahraini authorities said Sunday they arrested five people accused of passing sensitive information to the IRGC and helping recruit operatives for potential attacks inside the country.

According to a statement from Bahrain’s Police Media Center, the suspects allegedly collected and transmitted coordinates and images of sensitive locations, including hotels, to the IRGC.

IRANIAN REGIME SPREADING ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA ACROSS DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: REPORT

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Officials said one suspect previously received training at IRGC camps in “trafficking persons and recruiting operatives to participate in implementing terrorist plots.”

The five detainees were referred to Bahrain’s Public Prosecution, while a sixth suspect identified in the case is believed to be a fugitive abroad.