What movie/performance/song/whatever do you think should have gotten an Oscar/been nominated, and didn't/wasn't? Why?
Friday OT #2 - Shoulda Been A Contender
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
Kill Bill wasn't nominated for anything. Best Actress, plenty of great choices for Best Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Sound, Visual Effects, etc - that would be the most egregious I can think of
Edit: Found this article that lists some of the notable Oscar snubs. One that sticks out to me from this list is Catherine O'Hara not being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in A Mighty Wind. This scene is one of the most bittersweet moments ever put to film. I get misty-eyed every time I see it.
Edit: Found this article that lists some of the notable Oscar snubs. One that sticks out to me from this list is Catherine O'Hara not being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in A Mighty Wind. This scene is one of the most bittersweet moments ever put to film. I get misty-eyed every time I see it.
Last edited:
A few I can think of just offhand, with no actual research:
- Apocalypse Now
- Pulp Fiction
- Fargo
- Almost Famous
- Grand Budapest Hotel
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Apocalypse Now
- Pulp Fiction
- Fargo
- Almost Famous
- Grand Budapest Hotel
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
Chris Cooper for his portrayal of FBI agent Robert Hanssen (who sold secrets to the Russians) in the 2007 film "Breach." The movie was really good, but I don't think it was as strong as some of the other best picture nominees. However, Cooper's performance was definitely worth a nomination.
It's a Christopher Guest movie - he made This is Spinal Tap and Best in Show. This is another one of his mock-umentary movies, only it's about folk music. What's really cool is that all the actors actually play their own instruments, so Catherine O'Hara learned to play the autoharp just for this film.
It's a remarkable film. One of my favorites of his. I mean, it's hard to beat Spinal Tap ever, but it's so clever.
A few Best Picture choices I would dispute. My list skews late-Boomer/early-X’er. In past decade or so, haven’t watched as many films no longer track Oscar that closely.
Listed are my picks (with actual winner in (parentheses). And additional nominees worthy of consideration.
1973
“American Graffiti.” (The Sting). Admittedly, I’ve seen AG numerous times, The Sting only once. So it’s probably an unfair comparison.
1976
“Taxi Driver,” “Network,” “All the President’s Men” (Rocky)
Can’t go too wrong with any of those, “Rocky” had the most positive story arc, so was an unsurprising choice. Elements of the other 3 stand out to me more than about anything in Rocky. (Flame away).
1980
“Raging Bull” (Ordinary People). Also nominated: “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” (Also, Beverly D’Angelo, as Patsy Cline, should’ve been nominated for supporting actress in that one).
1994
“The Shawshank Redemption” (“Forrest Gump”). Historically contentious Oscar year. I have nothing against “Gump.” It’s clever, has its share of humor and several good performances. It has enough to be a safe Oscar choice. But I can watch TSR every time it’s on TV, and the story has much more depth.
Also nominated:
“Pulp Fiction.” Critics bashed the Academy for choosing “Gump” over PF, but I haven’t watched it nearly as many times as the other two to compare. Also, probably too artistic/outside the box to be a likely Oscar winner.
“Quiz Show.” Probably was a long-shot to win, but underrated.
Other “snub” possibilities, but I’m unqualified to judge, since I haven’t seen the winning movie.
1989. (“Driving Miss Daisy”). Also nominated Born on the Fourth of July; Field of Dreams; My Left Foot.
1996. (“The English Patient”). Also nominated: Fargo; Jerry Maguire.
2004. (“Million Dollar Baby”). Also nominated: Sideways.
Listed are my picks (with actual winner in (parentheses). And additional nominees worthy of consideration.
1973
“American Graffiti.” (The Sting). Admittedly, I’ve seen AG numerous times, The Sting only once. So it’s probably an unfair comparison.
1976
“Taxi Driver,” “Network,” “All the President’s Men” (Rocky)
Can’t go too wrong with any of those, “Rocky” had the most positive story arc, so was an unsurprising choice. Elements of the other 3 stand out to me more than about anything in Rocky. (Flame away).
1980
“Raging Bull” (Ordinary People). Also nominated: “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” (Also, Beverly D’Angelo, as Patsy Cline, should’ve been nominated for supporting actress in that one).
1994
“The Shawshank Redemption” (“Forrest Gump”). Historically contentious Oscar year. I have nothing against “Gump.” It’s clever, has its share of humor and several good performances. It has enough to be a safe Oscar choice. But I can watch TSR every time it’s on TV, and the story has much more depth.
Also nominated:
“Pulp Fiction.” Critics bashed the Academy for choosing “Gump” over PF, but I haven’t watched it nearly as many times as the other two to compare. Also, probably too artistic/outside the box to be a likely Oscar winner.
“Quiz Show.” Probably was a long-shot to win, but underrated.
Other “snub” possibilities, but I’m unqualified to judge, since I haven’t seen the winning movie.
1989. (“Driving Miss Daisy”). Also nominated Born on the Fourth of July; Field of Dreams; My Left Foot.
1996. (“The English Patient”). Also nominated: Fargo; Jerry Maguire.
2004. (“Million Dollar Baby”). Also nominated: Sideways.
I agree with you on Pulp Fiction, but it lost out to Forrest Gump, which was a huge movie as well. Shawshank Redemption was that same year as well and it's also one of the best movies of all time. 1994 was juts a great year for movies.
I'll post the unpopular opinion that Forrest Gump wasn't that great of a movie. I liked it a lot when it came out though. When you look back at it, one of the biggest draws was the special effects putting Forrest into famous footage. It's been done so much better since that it doesn't seem that great anymore. The story is actually not as heart warming as it seemed and almost depressing. Oh well.
I have a hard time choosing between Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption as the best movies of 1994. I've seen both more times than I can count.
Luckily Star Wars won a crap ton of Oscars, but it lost best picture to Annie Hall. I guess it doesn't help that I've never seen Annie Hall and Star Wars is probably my all time most watched movie. I went through multiple VHS box sets of the original trilogy watching the tapes until they didn't play on the VCR anymore.
I’ve always felt like Coming to America was worthy of a some kind of recognition, and I’m not really joking. Some serious genius in there, and great versatility from both Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall.
As @cyhiphopp mentioned, 1994 was a pretty freaking amazing year for films. I think I specifically mentioned Pulp Fiction because it's by far my favorite of Tarantino's movies. It was violent (and shockingly so for the time), but didn't devolve into the ending scene gratuitous bloodbath at ridiculous levels that so many of his current movies do. It had the great dialogue and relationships, but without trying to just check off genre boxes. Shawshank is just a huge, amazing movie, and so enduring. (I also really liked Quiz Show!)
I loved Joe vs The Volcano. But it's not winning any Oscars.
Interesting nugget I found during quick research: Richard Attenborough said "ET" should have been named Best Picture in 1982. And he directed "Gandhi," which won that year.
I really enjoyed Gandhi, and I thought Ben Kingsley was great in it - but ET, Blade Runner, Tootsie, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High all came out that year. All are still far more watched.
The fact that Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story didn't get a nominee for Best Picture is a travesty
Here's a couple from my mind.
Shawshank Redemption (one of the best movies ever made)
Goodfellas
Saving Private Ryan (Shakespeare in Love won? F'in' Harvey Weinstein!)
Zero Dark Thirty
Lost in Translation (This isn't a really great movie but it was better than its competition)
I'm going to state the unpopular opinion that Tarantino movies shouldn't be up for too many awards. With the over-the-top language and gratuitous violence, I find that (when I'm done watching a Tarantino movie) I tend to be entertained and slightly numb. I'm not really moved in any way and they don't really make me think much. Trust me, I know plenty about not thinking much.
Also, I'd guess this would make for a good upcoming OT (least deserved oscars) but every few years, the Oscar academy decides to give a best picture award to some British movie that doesn't deserve it. Chariots of Fire (I think this won because the song made for a good trailer), The English Patient (Elaine Benes was right), Shakespeare in Love (It was somewhat entertaining but best picture? Yeah right).
Shawshank Redemption (one of the best movies ever made)
Goodfellas
Saving Private Ryan (Shakespeare in Love won? F'in' Harvey Weinstein!)
Zero Dark Thirty
Lost in Translation (This isn't a really great movie but it was better than its competition)
I'm going to state the unpopular opinion that Tarantino movies shouldn't be up for too many awards. With the over-the-top language and gratuitous violence, I find that (when I'm done watching a Tarantino movie) I tend to be entertained and slightly numb. I'm not really moved in any way and they don't really make me think much. Trust me, I know plenty about not thinking much.
Also, I'd guess this would make for a good upcoming OT (least deserved oscars) but every few years, the Oscar academy decides to give a best picture award to some British movie that doesn't deserve it. Chariots of Fire (I think this won because the song made for a good trailer), The English Patient (Elaine Benes was right), Shakespeare in Love (It was somewhat entertaining but best picture? Yeah right).
Saving Private Ryan for sure was jobbed that year.
