The top 25 movies of the past 10 years that got no Oscar love

Every year, without fail, the academy breaks my heart a little by failing to so much as nominate certain films that I loved and/or admired. Now that this year's nominations -- and snubs -- have finally begun to sink in, I thought I'd revisit the past decade of English-language feature films and single out the 25 that, in my humble opinion, were most unjustly excluded.

I encourage you to check out this list and then submit your own selections in the comment section below. (Something tells me we'll see lots of cult-faves like "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days," "Inside Man," "Zodiac," etc.)

1. "Dogville" (2003, d. Lars von Trier)
2. "Synecdoche, New York" (2008, d. Charlie Kaufman)
3. "Thank You for Smoking" (2006, d. Jason Reitman)
4. "The Virgin Suicides" (1999, d. Sofia Coppola)
5. "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007, d. Sidney Lumet)
6. "The Company" (2003, d. Robert Altman)
7. "The Upside of Anger" (2005, d. Mike Binder)
8. "Three Kings" (1999, d. David O. Russell)
9. "Gran Torino" (2008, d. Clint Eastwood)
10. "The Station Agent" (2003, d. Tom McCarthy)
11. "The Lookout" (2007, d. Scott Frank)
12. "Hard Candy" (2005, d. David Slade)
13. "World Trade Center" (2006, d. Oliver Stone)
14. "Shattered Glass" (2003, d. Billy Ray)
15. "The Door in the Floor" (2004, d. Tod Williams)
16. "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" (2005, d. Tommy Lee Jones)
17. "Shopgirl" (2005, d. Anand Tucker)
18. "Bandits" (2001, d. Barry Levinson)
19. "Elephant" (2003, d. Gus Van Sant)
20. "Broken Flowers" (2005, d. Jim Jarmusch)
21. "The Missing" (2003, d. Ron Howard)
22. "Liberty Heights" (1999, d. Barry Levinson)
23. "The Woodsman" (2004, d. Nicole Kassell)
24. "Legally Blonde" (2001, d. Robert Luketic)
25. "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
    

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Photo: Nicole Kidman in "Dogville." Credit: Lions Gate Films

Comments

[john t. johlic]

Great list-Virgin Suicides and Shopgirl should be nearer the top

[TheBaldProd]

Not a bad list, but, even without going past this year, we have to consider Hunger and Gommora.

[Scott3843]

Ron Howard's CINDERELLA MAN.

[Scott Feinberg]

Scott3843, "Cinderella Man" WAS nominated for Oscars -- 3, in fact, including best supporting actor for Paul Giamatti.

[Calirai]

1. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN
2. SUNSHINE
3. MILLIONS
4. BLINDNESS
5. SHOOTING DOGS
6. THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
7. THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND
9.MY LIFE WITHOUT ME
10. THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS
11. LA STANZA DEL FIGLIO
12. THE OTHERS
13. THE ROAD HOME
14. BLOODY SUNDAY
15.OSAMA
16.GOMORRAH
17.4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS
18. HAPPINESS
19.KING ARTHUR
20. TOUCHING THE VOID
21. THE NOTEBOOK
22.INNOCENT VOICES
23.WIMBLEDON
24. THE HOUSE OF SAND
25. RESCUE DAWN

[Calirai]

THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS

MY LIFE WITHOUT ME

[Will]

Thank you!!! Dogville is an extraordinary piece of art! Great list!

[Jonathon Saia]

NOMINEES SHOULD HAVE BEEN

2008:

Blindness
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
Synechdoche, New York
Wall-E

2006:

A Prairie Home Companion
Children of Men
Flags of Our Fathers
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen

2005:

Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
The New World
The Squid and the Whale
Capote

2004:

Million Dollar Baby
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Passion of the Christ
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill Vol 2

2003:

21 Grams
Kill Bill Vol. 1

2001:

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Kate]

Holy lord in heaven. Are you serious about Legally blonde?

Going with a comedy, i'd pick: The Jerk. I especially Loved that gorgeous musical beach scene.

[TORRENCE5]

Joan Allen in "Upside of Anger" should have not only been nominated, but won the lead actress award (especially over Reese) that year. Eastwood & Gran Torino were robbed atleasts nominations this year.

[HAN]

Birth (2004, d. Jonathan Glazer)
Last Days (2005, d. Gus Van Sant)
Elephant (2003, d. Gus Van Sant)
Gerry (2002, d. Gus Van Sant)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Hunger (2008, d. Steve McQueen)
Savage Grace (2007, d. Tom Kalin)
Old Joy (2006, d. Kelly Reichardt)
Waking Life (2001, d. Richard Linklater)
The House of Mirth (2000, d. Terence Davies)
Dogville (2003, d. Lars von Trier)
Manderley (2005, d. Lars von Trier)

[brainypirate]

Nice list, Scott, but it sure is white. Are any of those directors people of color?

[Robert Hamer]

I got to say, I despised Dogville. A bunch of thinly-veiled, poorly-filmed, overacted, anti-American propaganda from a hack who had never even been there.

[Guy Lodge]

Scott, "Apocalypto" got three Oscar nominations, if memory serves.

Some smart inclusions (I'm certainly with you about "Dogville"), but why so little foreign (particularly foreign-language) film?

"Bad Education," "Morvern Callar," "I've Loved You So Long," "Cache," "All or Nothing," "This is England," "Lantana," "The Science of Sleep," "In the Mood for Love" and "Under the Sand" would all make my list. I'll stop at ten.

[Scott Feinberg]

Hey Guy,
Thanks for catching my "Apocalypto" error -- I've now pulled it out, moved everything up, and added "Punch-Drunk Love" at the bottom.
The reason there are so few foreign films and no films primarily in a foreign language is that I've limited my selections (see the top of the post) to English-language films. Otherwise, the list might be entirely foreign language films, since so many great ones never get the attention they deserve.

[Charles]

After much agonizing regarding this, I finally got my list down to 25 movies from the past 10 years. And then after even more agonizing, I had the films arranged in order from 1 to 25 and here they are.

1. L.I.E. (2001, Directed by Michael Cuesta)
2. SHORTBUS (2006, Directed by John Cameron Mitchell)
3. KUNG FU HUSTLE (2005, Directed by Stephen Chow)
4. GARDEN STATE (2004, Directed by Zach Braff)
5. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD (2007, Directed by Sidney Lumet)
6. HAPPY ENDINGS (2005, Directed by Don Roos)
7. FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY (2005, Directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino)
8. MYSTERIOUS SKIN (2005, Directed by Gregg Araki)
9. SWIMMING POOL (2003, Directed by Francois Ozon)
10. FACTORY GIRL (2006, Directed by George Hickenlooper)
11. LAKE OF FIRE (2007, Directed by Tony Kaye)
12. MILLIONS (2005, Directed by Danny Boyle)
13. BAD EDUCATION (2004, Directed by Pedro Almodovar)
14. HOT FUZZ (2007, Directed by Edgar Wright)
15. GRAN TORINO (2008, Directed by Clint Eastwood)
16. KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (2003, Directed by Quentin Tarantino)
17. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001, Directed by John Cameron Mitchell)
18. THE HISTORY BOYS (2006, Directed by Nicolas Hytner)
19. TALK TO ME (2007, Directed by Kasi Lemmons)
20. IGBY GOES DOWN (2002, Directed by Burr Steers)
21. BRICK (2006, Directed by Rian Johnson)
22. YOSSI & JAGGER (2003, Directed by Eytan Fox)
23. DOGMA (1999, Directed by Kevin Smith)
24. ONE HOUR PHOTO (2002, Directed by Mark Romanek)
25. KNOCKED UP (2007, Directed by Judd Apatow)

[J Editor]

Interesting List. How about this?
"The Virgin Suicides" (1999) – One of the worst movies I ever saw.
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007) - Couldn’t make it past the first twenty minutes.
"Three Kings" (1999) – Enjoyed every minute of it, along with my popcorn. Wouldn’t have voted for it, though.
"Gran Torino" (2008) – Aww… everybody loves Mr. Eastwood’s heartwarming if not redundant and perfected role as the crusty old heroic bad guy brimming with racial slurs. Parts were laugh out loud and since I live within a few miles of the setting, I can relate. But let’s be honest, there was some subpar acting from supporting cast that was a little distracting, just intermittently.
"The Lookout" (2007) – I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t go out on a limb for it.
"World Trade Center" (2006) – so many of these they run together. I don’t know if I know which was which anymore. I get irritated when I feel they have a political agenda.
"The Missing" (2003) –This is a tough one. It should have been a contender, at least. (I have a soft spot for the actor playing the photographer….a very brief role…) Did they need to go that far with the burning thing?
"The Woodsman" (2004) – I saw no purpose for the making of this film. It was not enjoyable in any way, regardless of how well it was made.
"Legally Blonde" (2001) – Lighten up, folks. This was good. Why can’t a light movie be a contender for an Oscar? It need not be deep to be amusing.
CINDERELLA MAN – was robbed. Temper tantrums should have no bearing on Awards. What a sham.
SUNSHINE – A great sleeper, but it didn’t scream “Oscar!”
MILLIONS – Really?
THE OTHERS – Granted. A contender.
THE NOTEBOOK - Maybe. I tend to have a strong dislike for movies ending on depressing notes.
WIMBLEDON – Hated it.
THE HOUSE OF SAND – Definitely not. It was just weird, that’s all there is to it.
RESCUE DAWN – Great. Not Oscar material, though.
Children of Men- great. A contender.
Flags of Our Fathers- good, but there have been so many of these as of late—they begin to blend and I have trouble keeping these straight, too.
Notes on a Scandal – NOT. I kept looking at the clock hoping it would soon end. Cate and Helen were great, no question, but when the actual subject matter of the movie is dry, even they cannot redeem it.
The Queen – Believe it or not, I didn’t see this. I heard only great things, though. This didn’t get nominated?
Brokeback Mountain – Bleck.
The Constant Gardener – good, wouldn’t have nominated it.
The New World – Kidding? Shame on Mr. Farrel.
Capote – the only good thing was PSH
Million Dollar Baby – Good, but Cinderella Man was better.
The Passion of the Christ – Should have been nominated, should have taken it home. I was truly sucked in.
Kill Bill Vol 2 – Fabulous
SIN CITY (2005, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino)–I was disappointed in this—over the top without the redeeming qualities of Kill Bill.
SWIMMING POOL (2003) – Good and creepy. Not a contender, though.
HOT FUZZ (2007) – Yikes! Not a chance.
KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (2003) – Fabulous.

Here are the biggest travesties of the Academy Awards:

All the President’s Men losing Best Picture Award to Rocky in 1976.
Copolla for Godfather losing Best Director award to Fossee for Cabaret.

Regarding missing movies that were neglected during the nominations, the only one that leaps to mind:
Narc deserved consideration for an Oscar for sure. If not for Patrick or Liotta, for picture.

[Kev]

Three Kings (screenplay, supporting actor for Wahlberg, at least)
Punch Drunk Love(Sandler, script, Director, Watson)
Upside of Anger (Allen, Costner, yes Costner!)
Heat (any category)
Bringing Out the Dead
Shattered Glass (sarsgaard)
Melinda and Melinda (underrated)
State and Main (nod for Baldwin, at least)
Outside Providence(nod for Baldwin)
Miller's Crossing
Zodiac
Hudsucker Proxy
Big Lewbowski (Bridges should have won easily!!!)