Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction? The Oscars have frequently gotten it wrong with giving out Best Picture, and these 5 nominated movies should’ve won the award.
When the Academy Awards roll around each year, several traditions kick into high gear: guessing who will be nominated, lamenting over who got snubbed, judging the red carpet looks a little too harshly, and wincing at the cheesy musical numbers at the ceremony.
Another tradition is arguing with your friends (or yourself) about who should’ve won the Oscar in years past. The Best Picture category is the most recognizable category of the Oscars, so it makes sense that it’s the one that inspires the most passionate discussion. Should Oppenheimer win over Barbie? What about The Zone of Interest? The below list details five times the Academy got it wrong with their Best Picture winners, and which other nominated movie should’ve won the statuette.Call Me By Your Name over The Shape of Water (2017)Other nominees: Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
It’s not that The Shape of Water is bad. As Best Picture winners go, it’s above average, and it was great to see a genre master like Guillermo del Toro finally get recognized by the Academy. But 2017 was a great year for movies, and the Academy had better films to select for its top prize. A convincing case can be made for Phantom Thread, Dunkirk, Get Out, or Lady Bird, and even The Post and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri have their fans, but there’s one film that bests them all in my mind.
That Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name was nominated at all was a small miracle, as the film is bit too … European for the normally conservative Academy. Sensual, lyrical coming-of-age tales aren’t usually fully embraced by the Oscars, but this one should have been as it contains some of the best cinematography, acting, song selection (justice for Sufjan Stevens!), and writing in the last few decades. James Ivory’s adapted screenplay deservedly won an Oscar, but the Academy shouldn’t have stopped there and given its ultimate prize to this fine movie.The Social Network over The King’s Speech (2010)Other nominees: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone
This one still hurts.
