by Edward Baillargeon
On January 23, 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards. While there were some great films that got a lot of really well-deserved nominations, there were some great films from last year the Academy skipped over. My qualifications for a “snub” would be if a great movie from last year got only one or two nominations but deserved more, or if a great movie that didn’t get any nominations at all. So here is my list of Eight Films that Got Snubbed from the Oscars.
1. The Big Sick
This romantic comedy that was based on a true story is about Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner who fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash, and is forced to face her feisty parents, his family’s expectations, and his true feelings after she suffers from an illness and gets in a coma. While the movie did get one nomination for Best Original Screenplay for its writers Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon, I would’ve thought this could’ve been an easy contender since it was considered one of the best reviewed films of the year with a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and it would’ve got more noms than it did. I would’ve definitely considered Ray Romano and Holly Hunter for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress nominations, and maybe even a contender for a tenth Best Picture spot and for some reason the Academy went with just the odd number 9. Or maybe it’s because the Academy consists of a bunch of old white guys with absolutely no sense of humor which can explain why a comedy getting a Best Picture nomination is a major rarity. If you haven’t seen The Big Sick, I highly recommend it.
2. The Disaster Artist
Going from one comedy based on a true story to another is the best movie about the worst movie ever made. The Disaster Artist tells the story of Greg Sestero, an aspiring film actor, who meets the weird and mysterious Tommy Wiseau in an acting class and they form a unique friendship and travel to Hollywood to make their dreams come true by making the “so bad it’s good” masterpiece The Room. The movie did get a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s screenplay from the book of the same name by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, but back when it was showing at a couple of festivals like the South by Southwest Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, it got some serious Oscar buzz with notable praise towards the movie’s humor, screenplay, and James Franco’s performance as Tommy Wiseau. Franco won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy for his performance in The Disaster Artist, but soon afterwards he got slammed with allegations of sexual misconduct which was the most likely reason for his snub besides the aforementioned Oscars having no sense of humor. The Disaster Artist was one of my favorite films of the year and I still recommend it.
3. The Lego Batman Movie
This animated spin-off of the also Oscar snubbed hit comedy The Lego Movie, is all about Batman having to drop being a lone vigilante after he accidentally adopts an orphan named Dick Grayson who dreams of being sidekick and having to team up to stop The Joker’s hostile takeover of Gotham City. The Lego Batman Movie was one of the few American animated films of 2017 to get praise from critics, with the other two being DreamWorks’ snubbed Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Pixar’s nominated, and most likely to win, hit Coco. And the Academy was “smart” enough to nominate DreamWorks’ mediocre misfire The Boss Baby over the best Batman movie in years being dismissed like its predecessor as “just a toy commercial”. Heck, I would’ve given The Boss Baby’s spot to any other 2017 animated film with mixed critical reception like The Lego Ninjago Movie, Cars 3, My Little Pony: The Movie, or Despicable Me 3 over Boss Baby. But back on to Lego Batman, that movie should’ve easily deserved a nomination for its clever references to previous Batmen, great use of animation, and a script that can be both consistently hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt. The Lego Batman Movie was one of the funniest movies of the year that I also give a recommendation.
4. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was one of the biggest box office hits of the summer and holds the milestones of both being the first good female led superhero movie and the first, and so far only, good movie in the DC Extended Universe. In the early 20th century, the Amazon princess Diana Prince meets American military pilot Steve Trevor when he is washed ashore. After learning from him about the ongoing events of World War I, she leaves her home to bring an early end to the war. After many protests by feminists to get Wonder Woman nominated for Best Picture, the Academy decided to not listen. And with that last sentence, I’m not sexist. I’m just saying is that it was a good movie, just not quite “the first superhero movie to be a Best Picture nominee” good which one I think deserved a spot more than Wonder Woman I’ll talk about later. I think it should’ve at least gotten a couple of technical nominations like Original Score, Production Design, and Costume Design. While the movie’s third act is a disappointment compared to its first two, Wonder Woman is still a pretty enjoyable movie and one of the few good non-Batman DC movies out there.
5. Logan
If there had to be one superhero movie in a year of many great superhero movies that deserved a Best Picture nomination, I would’ve honestly given it to Logan. In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X somewhere on the Mexican border. However, Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are upended when a young mutant named Laura arrives, pursued by dark forces. While Logan became the first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and the first superhero movie since The Incredibles in 2004 to be nominated in a screenplay category, I thought it would’ve gotten more consideration like in Best Actor for Hugh Jackman and Best Supporting Actor for Patrick Stewart. I thought Patrick Stewart should’ve received a Best Supporting Actor nomination, even though I hear Christopher Plummer was great in All The Money In The World, but I think he got a nomination just for replacing Kevin Spacey at the last minute. What makes Logan special among all the other superhero movies of 2017 is that it doesn’t feel like any other superhero movie out there with its gritty tone and brutal violence, deserving its R rating, and at some points during the movie, I felt like I was watching an Oscar worthy drama just with Wolverine in it. While he clawed his way to that writing milestone, Logan was one of the best superhero movies in recent years that should’ve received more attention.
6. The Post
This political drama directed by Steven Spielberg has everything going for it to be an Oscar sweeper. It’s based on a true story from the 1960’s, it has two Oscar winning actors, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, in the lead roles, and it’s directed by Oscar darling Steven Spielberg. A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government. While The Post did get two nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress for Meryl Streep, it was believed that Steven Spielberg got snubbed from a Best Director nomination. The Post also hasn’t been doing too great at the box office, so let’s just hope Spielberg’s next movie Ready Player One, turns out better financially. If you’re looking for a Best Picture nominee to check out, then The Post is a solid recommendation.
7. Coco
The latest masterpiece from the masterminds at Pixar Animation Studios has been considered for multiple categories and in my opinion, it should’ve deserved more. Miguel dreams of being a musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, despite his family’s generation-old ban on music. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the Land of the Dead where he meets a charming trickster named Hector and sets off on a journey to unlock the story behind his family history. Coco only got two nominations for Best Animated Feature, which it’s obviously going to win because #OscarsSoDisney, and Best Original Song for “Remember Me”. I think it could’ve been a contender in the Sound Editing/Mixing categories as well as even Best Original Screenplay in the ways it honors the Mexican culture of Dia de los Muertos and the ways it talks about life and death. Heck, I would even go as far as saying it would have deserved a Best Picture nomination if the Academy didn’t treat animation as an inferior artform. But then again, this is coming from the same people who thought that an overrated, incoherent, and Michael Bay-esque disaster like Mad Max: Fury Road was more worthy of a Best Picture nom than a funny and emotional masterpiece like Inside Out. So, that’s why I take their tastes with a grain of salt. To date, only 3 animated films have been nominated for Best Picture with those being Beauty and the Beast in 1991, Up in 2009, and Toy Story 3 in 2010. If the Academy weren’t so stubborn with animation, Coco should’ve deserved a Best Picture nomination, but if you haven’t seen it yet, I still give it my highest recommendation.
8. The Greatest Showman
Now, I’m going to be cheating on this one since the critics didn’t really like this movie as much as audiences did, but I still would’ve given it a fair shot at a couple more nominations. Inspired by a true story, this musical celebrates the birth of show business and tells of P.T. Barnum, a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. The Greatest Showman did get one nomination for Best Original Song for “This Is Me” giving songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul their second Oscar nod in a row following their win last year for “City of Stars” from La La Land. In my review, I highly praised the movie’s visual spectacle as it had deserved nominations for Cinematography, Production Design, and Costume Design. Which the later is common for a movie taking place in another era of time with this year’s nominations in there including Beauty and the Beast (18th century France), Phantom Thread (1950’s Britain), and The Shape of Water (1960’s Baltimore). I also thought that before the movie was released that this was going to be the Oscar bait musical of the year like 2016’s La La Land and that it got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Musical/Comedy Picture, but the mixed reviews from the critics because of the movie’s inaccuracies of who P.T. Barnum really was in real life was much more cruel than how Hugh Jackman portrays him in the movie. And if you haven’t seen The Greatest Showman yet, definitely go check it out. Were there any movies that I missed that you think got snubbed from the Oscars? Feel free to let me know!
