It’s a well-acknowledged fact that acquiring the Academy Award aka an Oscar is a very honorable occasion. Likewise, it’s also a popular fact that the Academy itself can make somewhat wrong choices. Obviously, we cannot underestimate the authority of the judges. However, the critiques and the audience throughout the 2000s had repeatedly been noticing that some choices were at least strange or even wickedly unfair. Here are some of the popular examples kindly provided by our good friends, Ukrainian girls online.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Nominees: The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, and Sideways.
The reasons for not including this controversial movie into the list of nominees is quite obvious: the controversy it represents and, of course, its director. Mel Gibson has been overlooked by the Academy for decades and this is just another good example of this trend. And while including Sideways and even Million Dollar Baby is totally understandable, Finding Neverland and Ray were destined to be forgotten in several years.
The Lives of Others, Pan’s Labyrinth, Little Children, and United 93 for Best Picture (2006)
Nominees: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen.
There’s something about the Oscars and controversy that just doesn’t work out. The Departed as a nominee still seems totally out of place, while the 9/11 drama, United 93, would have been a solid and wise choice. However, Paul Greengrass’s masterpiece wasn’t fully omitted as he was nominated for Best Director. It might appear that it was just too soon to shoot a film about this tragedy.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Once again we’re back. 2004 has brought out a lot of strange decisions. And not including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is by far the worst of them all. This drama has basically everything that the Academy highly appreciated for decades—and somehow the movie was overlooked completely. This thought-provoking picture very likely would have actually won the Oscar for Best Picture. And let’s not forget about Jim Carrey’s performance in the role obviously created for his unique talent.
Animated films unable to manage the Best Picture nomination: Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and Wall-E (2008)
Obviously, we wouldn’t be that disappointed if such cutting-edge animated films as Toy Story (1995) and Finding Nemo (2003) were left out without proper attention and, at least, an honorable mention. However, in 2001, the genre received the recognition of its own in its own group but it by far does not represent the importance of its influence. In 2008, Wall-E could have been (and should have become) great company to Milk and The Reader. Well, at least 2009’s Up, which is undoubtedly a masterpiece in every way possible, joined Beauty and the Beast as a Best Picture nominee.
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