# List the best movies not even NOMINATED for Best Picture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411 "2002-03-27T17:56:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/21 "2002-03-28T07:46:02Z")
In recent years, the Oscars have shunned films that are really different and original in favor of those that are more formulaic. The worst abuses that I can think of are _Being John Malkovich_ and _Pleasantville_. Also, any such list would have to include all of the great Disney animated films except for _Neauty and the Beast_. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/22 "2002-03-28T13:01:23Z")
**American Psycho** (2000) At least Christian Bale could have been nominated for Best Actor! ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/23 "2002-03-28T22:06:54Z")
Terry Gilliam’s Brazil wasn’t nominated, was it? Politics. ---
**Author:** ![Mondeo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Mondeo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mondeo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/24 "2002-03-28T22:32:17Z")
Tarantino’s Resevoir Dogs ---
**Author:** ![Kyuzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@Kyuzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyuzo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/25 "2002-03-28T23:16:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d agree with most of those on this list and add Hoop Dreams. Unbelievably, Hoop Dreams wasn’t even nominated for Best Documentary. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/26 "2002-03-28T23:18:09Z")
Monkeybone. ---
**Author:** ![ThePyroWeasel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@ThePyroWeasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThePyroWeasel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/27 "2002-03-28T23:21:06Z")
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, for crying out loud! ---
**Author:** ![skalman83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@skalman83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skalman83)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/28 "2002-03-28T23:42:38Z")
Fight Club ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/29 "2002-03-28T23:58:05Z")
**Miller’s Crossing**. And I’ll agree that **The Royal Tenenbaums** should have been nominated. **Yondan** , your loathing of **The Untouchables** borders on the irrational. The movie is part of our cultural lexicon. (The baseball bat scene? Classic.) Then there’s the nice little homage to Battleship Potemkin. That’s worth some points as well. Granted, Costner is a bit wooden (he always is), but hey, so was Gary Cooper. Would you exclude **High Noon** for that reason? Except for Costner, the entire cast turned in exceptional performances. And I don’t understand your complaint about the storyline. I thought it was a nicely-done and entertaining narrative (though not historically accurate, of course). What’s your beef? Do you really think it shouldn’t even have been nominated for best picture? Do you really think that Moonstruck, Broadcast News and Fatal Attraction, all of which were nominated that year, were better pictures? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/30 "2002-03-29T00:23:58Z")
Wow. After researching that last post, I am drawn to the conclusion that 1987 was really an off year for the Academy. Check out the films from 1987 that didn’t get nominated for best picture:[ul][li]Full Metal Jacket[_]Good Morning Vietnam[_]Au Revoir, Les Enfants[_]Radio Days[_]Wall Street[_]Empire of the Sun[_]Raising Arizona[_]House of Games[_]The Untouchables[/ul][/li] And yet, Moonstruck, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction and Hope and Glory got nominated? Yeesh! ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/31 "2002-03-29T00:24:45Z")
Honey, I Blew Everybody Meet Black Joe Position Impossible Raiders of the Lost Arse Wet Dream on Elm Street There’s Something Inside Mary Free Willy Inspect Her Gadget Screw the Right Thing Studley Do-Right Forrest Hump Pulp Friction Romancing the Bone Snow White and the Seven Sailors Shving Ryan’s Privates Buffy the Vampire Layer Tennage Mutant Ninja Dildoes Rambone Monty Python and the Holey Girl E-three: The Extra Testicle The Joy Suck Club Schindler’s Fist ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/32 "2002-03-29T03:57:22Z")
::shudder:: **Fatal Attraction** nominated for Best Picture!!! We might need to check that film again for subliminal advertising directed at academy members. Couldn’t they have done a “Milli-Vanilli” --retracted that nomination and replace it with a more deserving movie? Nearly anything would do. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/33 "2002-03-29T05:08:04Z")
Trainspotting. ---
**Author:** ![Mann\_Slaughter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@Mann\_Slaughter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mann_Slaughter)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/34 "2002-03-29T09:15:59Z")
**SPIDER-MAN!!!** 😃 It won’t be released until May 2002, but I know that no one will even consider it for best picture. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/35 "2002-03-29T15:18:57Z")
Amelie ---
**Author:** ![Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/53a042/32.png) [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/36 "2002-03-29T15:34:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mann Slaughter \* > \*\ ***SPIDER-MAN!!!** 😃 > > It won’t be released until May 2002, but I know that no one will even consider it for best picture. 😛 \*\* Now THAT’S positive thinking . . Does **Once Upon a Time in the West** belong on the list? How about **The Exorcist**? (I’m too lazy to look up whether they were nominated or not!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/37 "2002-03-29T15:37:28Z")
Someone suggested **Cleopatra**. I haven’t seen that, but it comes up constantly in lists of expensive Hollywood bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/38 "2002-03-29T15:41:35Z")
“Someone suggested Cleopatra. I haven’t seen that, but it comes up constantly in lists of expensive Hollywood bombs.” —Now, now. It may not have been Theda Bara’s BEST picture, but the cinematography and costumes were amazing! True, though, Under Two Flags and Salome are more satisfying than Cleopatra for the Bara fan. [What’s that? Legomancer wasn’t referring to Theda Bara’s 1917 Cleopatra? Oh, well, I suppose the Helen Gardner and Claudette Colbert versions were okay, too . . .] ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/39 "2002-03-29T15:58:51Z")
(Once again) **Eve** , you slay me. I am going to go out on a limb and assume that **Legomancer** may be referring to the 1963 version of **Cleopatra**. That movie was nominated for best picture, but lost to **Tom Jones**. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411/40 "2002-03-29T16:03:15Z")
Oh, and among the movies not nominated in 1963:[ul][_] **Hud** [_] **The Birds** [_] **Dr. No** [_] **8 1/2**** Jason & the Argonauts**[/ul] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-the-best-movies-not-even-nominated-for-best-picture/100411.md?page=3)