Best Picture Oscar nominations: the films that missed out

When the Oscar nominations are released later on today, the five films put forward for Best Picture will no doubt be the subject of some quite intense debate.

And rightly so. For we’ve checked out the Best Picture nominations for every year since 2000’s awards were announced, and in each case, have come up with what, in our opinion, is a strong alternative shortlist of films that simply didn’t even get a sniff of a prize. That’s not to say we don’t agree with some of the films that did get a Best Picture nomination, just that some films are clearly much more Academy friendly than others. So let’s get cracking…

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2008’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
No Country For Old Men
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
Atonement

Our Alternatives
Ratatouille
This Is England
The Bourne Ultimatum
Breach
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

To be fair, last year’s nominations were a strong bunch that it’s hard to find a weak spot in. If there was one film on our alternative list we’d have liked to have seen make the step up more than any other, it’d be the underrated Breach (although it’s hard to see what we’d take off the list of actual nominations). Unusually, the 2007 line-up doesn’t include a more out and out commercial film, hence our putting forward of the terrific Bourne Ultimatum. But, in our hearts, we know it’d never get the nod.

Spare a thought too for the superb This Is England – surely Shane Meadows’ time will come? – and one of Pixar’s very best, Ratatouille. And while The Diving Bell and The Butterfly picked up some awards attention, it still wasn’t enough…

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2007’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
The Departed
Babel
The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine
Letters From Iwo Jima

Our Alternatives
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Lives Of Others
Children Of Men
Thank You For Smoking
This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Of the list of actual nominees, you can take The Queen and Little Miss Sunshine off for starters, and that’s in spite of us really liking the latter. But they have no place there against, at the very least, the first three on our list of alternatives. The Lives Of Others, in particular, is better than any of the nominated films, while Children Of Men is one of the boldest films to come out of Hollywood in years. And then there’s the wonderment of Pan’s Labyrinth, too, which surely deserved a Best Picture nod in its own right.

It wasn’t a huge surprise that This Film Is Not Yet Rated didn’t get a nod, though. Cracking movie, that...

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2006’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night and Good Luck
Capote
Munich

Our Alternatives
A History Of Violence
Murderball
Grizzly Man
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
The Descent

Crash wouldn’t even have made it on to our nominees list, let alone take home the gong. We could build a case for the other four being included, but 2005 proved to be a strong year for documentaries, none of which tend to sneak into the Best Picture line up any more (remember the Hoop Dreams controversy of the 90s?). If we had to pick one from the three documentaries we put forward – and that’s really, really tough – then Grizzly Man is probably the one that sticks the most in the mind (although the Enron film was easily the most shocking). A History Of Violence was a major oversight on the part of Academy voters, though.

And as for The Descent? It’s just the kind of strong genre film that Oscar doesn’t like. Particularly when that genre is horror. It’s much, much better than Crash, though…

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2005’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
Million Dollar Baby
The Aviator
Ray
Sideways
Finding Neverland

Our Alternatives
Before Sunset
The Incredibles
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hero
Collateral

You can get Ray off that list for starters, and we’d listen with compassion for a case to take The Aviator off as well (one of the most blatantly Oscar-baiting movies in recent years, for all its merits). Disagree? Then just look at the queue of films looking to take its spot. If we had to pick one of our alternatives to put forward, then Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had no place not being nominated. Before Sunset is arguably the finest American love story made since the equally wonderful Before Sunrise, Hero was incredible, while Collateral was the Jamie Foxx film that should have been put forward. We’d have, ideally, put Shaun Of The Dead in our list too, although clearly it would never have stood a chance in Oscar voting land…

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2004’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master & Commander
Seabiscuit
Mystic River

Our Alternatives
Belleville Rendez-Vous
American Splendor
Capturing The Friedmans
Open Range
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Seabiscuit? Crikey. That’s not right, is it? The other four that made the official nomination list we have more love for, but the horse film has to go. In its place? That American Splendor didn’t get more love is a disgrace, as it’s as bold and interesting a biopic as we’ve seen in the last ten years (and much, much better than Ray, that picked up a nod the year after). Likewise, if documentaries were more widely watched, then surely the shocking Capturing The Friedmans would have stood a chance. Our outside shot was Kevin Costner’s terrific Western Open Range (featuring a really, really good and unconventional shoot out scene). Likewise, the animated Belleville Rendez-Vous is just sublime. And – why not? – even the Pirates deserved a shout for 2003…

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2003’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
Chicago
The Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist
Gangs of New York

Our Alternatives
Y Tu Mama Tambien
About A Boy
Adaptation
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Spirited Away

Once again, the film that won the Best Picture Oscar is the one we’d want to see nowhere near the nominations. And much though we love Scorsese – and we really, really do – Gangs Of New York was too muddled to make the top five. The Hours, you’ll be surprised to hear, isn’t our bag at all either.

And just look at what it usurped! Adaptation is a brilliant offbeat movie, and one that features two great Nicolas Cage performances. Y Tu Mama Tambien is an intelligent international drama, treading decidedly uncomfortable ground (and all the better for it). Then there’s Studio Ghibli’s stunning Spirited Away, a film that won the Best Animated Feature category, which is increasingly a prize to apologise for animators for not regarding their films any higher (you can read our thoughts on animation and the Oscars here). And what about About A Boy? Too often written off as just another Hugh Grant romcom, it’s actually a superbly made, and funny, drama that deserves far more love. One Hour Photo, incidentally, was also on our shortlist here, but didn’t make the final cut, as was Punch Drunk Love.

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2002’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
Gosford Park
In The Bedroom
A Beautiful Mind
The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge!

Our Alternatives
Ghost World
Lantana
AI: Artificial Intelligence
Enemy at the Gates
Amores Perros

If someone can explain to us how Memento didn’t get a Best Picture nod from a body attempting to reward bold, brilliant films, and manages to do it without us feeling like tabling a no-confidence motion in the Academy, then we’d gladly buy them a beer. Instead, the world was left wondering what kind of body decides to point a nod in the direction of A Beautiful Mind instead. It hardly bodes well for them does it?

And so off the official list comes A Beautiful Mind (the weakest best picture winner of the decade?), and Moulin Rouge – even though we appreciate its merits – is a luxury the list can ill-afford. So let’s shake it up by bringing in the quite outstanding Ghost World, a film that urgently needs rediscovering and was, bluntly, one of the very best pictures of the year. For the first half alone, AI deserves a nod, while Enemy At The Gates is a tense, gripping war movie that again seems to have been heavily overlooked. But for us, the other major omission is the staggering Amores Perros. Never mind best film of 2001, it’s one of the very best of the entire decade. Also nearly making our cut? Well, there was an argument for Monsters, Inc, but no room for it, and the Australian drama Lantana couldn’t get a deserved look-in either.

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2001’S ACTUAL NOMINEES
Gladiator
Erin Brockovich
Traffic
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Chocolat

Our Alternatives
You Can Count On Me
One Day In September
Requiem For A Dream
Chuck and Buck
O Brother Where Art Thou?

Chocolat? Really? Just how safe is the Academy looking to be? Put Chocolat next to the intensity of the documentary One Day In September, and for our money there’s just no competition at all. Heck, then there’s the small matter of Requiem For A Dream, an exceptional piece of filmmaking, whether you warm to it or not. And they chose Chocolat? Well, we don’t want to labour the point…

Erin Brockovich is a well made and very good film with a towering central female performance, but Laura Linney and You Can Count On Me beat it every step of the way. The Academy doesn’t like rewarding comedies, which is why Annie Hall’s mid-70s Best Picture gong is probably the last time a film from that genre will win the top prize. But O Brother Where Art Thou, nonetheless, was a huge, and narrow-minded oversight.

And then there’s arguably the film of the year, the little-seen but quite brilliant Chuck & Buck. Where was that when they were giving all the prizes out?

Agree? Disagree? Head to the comments…

22 January 2009