Selfies, sniffer dogs and superstition – Peter Bradshaw’s big night out at the Oscars!

KPop Demon Hunters fans screamed with glee, Adrien Brody grossed out the audience and Timothée Chalamet broke all the rules. The Guardian’s film critic on a gobsmackingly glamorous ceremony Key takeaways from Oscars 2026: horror wins, tech loses and politics is hard to ignore These were the Oscars for a life during wartime. President Trump’s still-to-be-explained attack on Iran meant warnings of a possible retaliatory drone attack from Tehran on the target-rich environment of downtown Los Angeles. The glittering Dolby Theatre was reportedly in the crosshairs. It didn’t happen. But this was a ceremony aware of the distant politics of threat, and the politics of a nation that is rich enough to afford war and peace at the same time. Joining the tuxed masses heading towards the theatre felt traditional. But Los Angeles is very different from when I was last here to report on Oscars night, back in 2017. Last time, I’d had a hilarious conversation with my cab driver, who turned out to be a comedian and actor striving to make it in LA. No chance of that in this year’s driverless Waymo – an apt metaphor for the way that things are changing in life as in art. This is a town tha