I’m back, folks. If only for this review. Now that I’m 18, I feel that I’ve gained a more direct view on film. I’m beginning to venture into the industry myself, and being a cinephile, I have MANY issues with the Academy. First being that almost every year, the get the awards wrong. They tend to find something political and say “hell, this is the big thing! This will get some buzz! THIS is the future of cinema, because I am an older person that is in touch with modern American society.” So, with this knowledge, I went on a journey through the years. I’ve done something similar to this before, but just for gits and shiggles, I decided to go about making a list of almost all of the awards (excluding the sound editing department and costume department because I am not heavily versed in those fields) that the Academy flopped on. Some of the years had multiple possible winners for Best Picture because I just couldn’t decide which film was the best of that year. So, without further ado, let’s go reverse-chronologically.
2013
BEST PICTURE
Winner – Argo
Snubbed – Cloud Atlas / Django Unchained
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer & Donald R. Elliot: Life of Pi
Snubbed – Cloud Atlas
2012
BEST PICTURE
Winner – The Artist
Snubbed – Source Code / Super 8
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Michael Hazanavicius: The Artist
Snubbed – J.J. Abrams: Super 8
BEST ACTOR
Winner – Jean Dujardin: The Artist
Snubbed – Michael Fassbender: Shame
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – Ludovic Bource: The Artist
Snubbed – Michael Giacchino: Super 8
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Robert Richardson: Hugo
Snubbed – Emmanuel Lubezki: The Tree of Life
BEST EDITING
Winner – Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Snubbed – Maryann Brandon & Mary Jo Markey: Super 8
2011
BEST PICTURE
Winner – The King’s Speech
Snubbed – Inception
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Tom Hooper: The King’s Speech
Snubbed – Christopher Nolan: Inception
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – King’s Speech
Snubbed – Inception
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Winner – In a Better World
Snubbed – Biutiful
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: The Social Network
Snubbed – Hans Zimmer: Inception
2010
BEST PICTURE
Winner – The Hurt Locker
Snubbed – Inglourious Basterds
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker
Snubbed – Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds
BEST ACTOR
Winner – Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart
Snubbed – Sam Rockwell: Moon
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – The Hurt Locker
Snubbed – Inglourious Basterds
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Mauro Flore: Avatar
Snubbed – Robert Richardson: Inglourious Basterds
BEST EDITING
Winner – Chris Innis & Bob Murawski: The Hurt Locker
Snubbed – Sally Menke: Inglourious Basterds
2009
BEST ACTOR
Winner – Sean Penn: Milk
Snubbed – Mickey Rourke: The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS
Winner – Kate Winslet: The Reader
Snubbed – Meryl Streep: Doubt
2008
BEST PICTURE
Winner – No Country For Old Men
Snubbed – Sunshine
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – The Coen Brothers: No Country For Old Men
Snubbed – Danny Boyle: Sunshine
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – Diablo Cody: Juno
Snubbed – Alex Garland: Sunshine
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – The Coen Brothers: No Country For Old Men
Snubbed – Andrew Dominik: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – Dario Marianelli: Atonement
Snubbed – John Murphy: Sunshine
BEST EDITING
Winner – Christopher Rouse: The Bourne Ultimatum
Snubbed – Chris Gill: Sunshine
2007
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Guillermo Navarro: Pan’s Labyrinth
Snubbed – Wally Pfister: The Prestige
2005
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Snubbed – Brad Bird: The Incredibles
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor: Sideways
Snubbed – David Magee: Finding Neverland
2004
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Russell Boyd: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Snubbed – Cesar Charlone: City of God
2003
BEST PICTURE
Winner – Chicago
Snubbed – Road to Perdition
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Roman Polanski: The Pianist
Snubbed – Sam Mendes: Road to Perdition
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – Pedro Almodovar: Talk To Her
Snubbed – Jay Cocks, Steve Zaillian & Kenneth Lonergan: Gangs of New York
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – Ronald Harwood: The Pianist
Snubbed – David Self: Road to Perdition
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – Elliot Goldenthal: Frida
Snubbed – Thomas Newman: Road to Perdition
2002
BEST PICTURE
Winner – A Beautiful Mind
Snubbed – Memento
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Ron Howard: A Beautiful Mind
Snubbed – Christopher Nolan: Memento
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – Akiva Goldsman: A Beautiful Mind
Snubbed – Christopher Nolan: Memento
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner – Jim Broadbent: Iris
Snubbed – Joe Pantoliano: Memento
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Andrew Lensie: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Snubbed – Wally Pfister: Memento
BEST EDITING
Winner – Pietro Scalia: Black Hawk Down
Snubbed – Dody Dorn: Memento
2001
BEST PICTURE
Winner – Gladiator
Snubbed – Requiem For a Dream
BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Ridley Scott: Gladiator
Snubbed – Darren Aronofsky: Requiem For a Dream
BEST ACTRESS
Winner – Julia Roberts: Erin Brokovich
Snubbed – Ellen Burstyn: Requiem For a Dream
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner – Marcia Gay Harden: Pollock
Snubbed – Jennifer Connelly: Requiem For a Dream
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – Stephen Gaghan: Traffic
Snubbed – Darren Aronofsky: Requiem For a Dream
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – Tan Dun: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Snubbed – Clint Mansell: Requiem For a Dream
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – Peter Pau: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Snubbed: Matthew Libatique: Requiem For a Dream
BEST EDITING
Winner – Stephen Mirrione: Traffic
Snubbed – Jay Rabinowitz: Requiem For a Dream
2000
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner – John Corigliano: The Red Violin
Snubbed – Thomas Newman: American Beauty
BEST FILM EDITING
Winner – Zach Staenberg: The Matrix (this made me laugh, actually)
Snubbed – Tariq Anwar: American Beauty
Well, this has been, from the 2000 Oscars to this year’s Oscars, my opinion on what should have won. Thank you for viewing and making your way to this end. If you feel the same or differently, please comment, I’d like to hear differences or agreements.
I left out in 2013
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Snubbed – Wally Pfister: The Dark Knight Rises