Universal / Universal
When the Academy Awards roll around each year , several tradition quetch into high gear : guessing who will be nominated , lament over who got snub , approximate the red carpet front a little too harshly , and wincing at the cheesy musical numbers at the ceremonial occasion .
Another tradition is arguing with your admirer ( or yourself ) about who should ’ve succeed the Oscar in years past . The Best Picture class is the most recognisable category of the Oscars , so it makes horse sense that it ’s the one that urge the most passionate discussion . ShouldOppenheimerwin overBarbie ? What aboutThe Zone of Interest ? The below list details five times the Academy got it ill-timed with their Best Picture winners , and which other nominative movie should ’ve won the statuette .
Universal / Universal
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Call Me by Your Name over The Shape of Water (2017)
Other nominees: Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
It ’s not thatThe Shape of Wateris bad . As Best Picture winners go , it ’s above ordinary , and it was great to see a genre master likeGuillermo del Torofinally get recognise by the Academy . But 2017 was a bang-up yr for motion picture , and the Academy had good films to select for its top prize . A convincing guinea pig can be made forPhantom Thread , Dunkirk , Get Out , orLady Bird , and evenThe PostandThree Billboards Outside Ebbing , Missourihave their fans , but there ’s one film that bests them all in my mind .
That Luca Guadagnino’sCall Me by Your Namewas nominated at all was a pocket-size miracle , as the film is bit too … European for the normally conservative Academy . Sensual , lyrical total - of - age tales are n’t usually fully embraced by the Oscars , but this one should have been as it contains some of the best cinematography , do , song selection ( justice for Sufjan Stevens ! ) , and writing in the last few decennium . James Ivory ’s adapted screenplay deservedly won an Oscar , but the Academy should n’t have break off there and given its ultimate pillage to this fine movie .
The Social Network over The King’s Speech (2010)
Other nominees: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone
This one still hurts . There ’s no understanding whyThe Social Networkshouldn’t have won Best Picture in 2011 . It was the rare levelheaded drama movie that played well with younger audiences , was adored by critic , and was a commercial-grade success . It was filmmakerDavid Fincher ’s best and most accessible filmto date while still display his trademark dark humour and stylish direction . Plus , it was about something everyone could empathise and come to to : Facebook .
The Academy , however , just could n’t resist run low forThe King ’s Speech , a musty , unremarkable picture that combine two writing style the Oscars love life : WWII movies and biopics . Colin Firth , Helena Bonham - Carter , and Geoffrey Rush all give good performance in the cinema about King George VI overcoming a words handicap , but they could n’t compare with Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield as real - living technical school bros who inadvertently change how masses communicate incessantly . Time has treatedThe Social Networkwell , while barely anyone even remembersThe King ’s Speech .
Pulp Fiction over Forrest Gump (1994)
Other nominees: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption
It was n’t a surprise thatForrest Gumpwon Best Picture on March 27 , 1995 . The Robert Zemeckis picture had been a critical and commercial-grade bang in the summertime of ’ 94 , and had already fix itself in pop acculturation perpetually with the immortally stupid blood line , “ biography is like a box of chocolates . You never get laid what you ’re gon na get . ”
Whatever . Even asGumpwas winning every accolade in sight , everyone knew thatPulp Fictionwas good and more memorable . In fact , I ’d argue thatGumpis the sorry nominee of the lot ; I ’d much rather watchFour Weddings and a Funeral , Quiz Show , orThe Shawshank Redemptionagain than that slushy schlock . ButPulp Fictionnot only was the good of the bunch , it was groundbreaking , helped cement the indie scene as the dominant force out in nineties filmmaking , and point the arrival of one of movie house ’s most talented directors ever , Quentin Tarantino .
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial over Gandhi (1982)
Other nominees: Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict
When the Academy honoredGandhiwith the Best Picture Oscar in 1983 , it was generally not seen as a crime to do so . The Richard Attenborough cinema was admired by many ( although New Yorker critic Pauline Kaelhatedit ) and was typical of what a Best Picture achiever appear like : bountiful , expensive , swish , and about something important . Today , it ’s seen as well - intentioned , but gravely dull and uninspired .
The Academy cut two outright classics that year : TootsieandE.T.On another Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , I ’d pickTootsieas my winner since it ’s one of the funniest clowning ever made , its ’ screenplay is often summon in film school as one of the best ever written , and Dustin Hoffman , Teri Garr , Bill Murray , and Jessica Lange all turn in calling - well workplace . But it ’s hard to ignore the timeless magic ofE.T. , Steven Spielberg ’s toppingly warm and respectable - hearted sci - fi tarradiddle about a boy and his pet unknown . Its images are burn into every ’ 80 and ’ 90s nipper ’ brainpower and its account is the soundtrack to a generation ’s ambition of soaring into the sky . No plastic film made before or since can quite touch it , and that ’s whyE.T.deserved to make headway the Best Picture Oscar .
Chinatown over The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Other nominees: The Conversation, Lenny, The Towering Inferno
It ’s a testament to just how great 1974 was for picture show thatThe Godfather , Part IIis justly deliberate a classic , and yet , I still do n’t imagine it should ’ve gain Best Picture in 1975 . In fact , it ’s not even the moon-curser - up ; Francis Ford Coppola ’s other 1974 movie , The Conversation , is my No . 2 that year . No , the right winner that year should ’ve been Roman Polanski ’s misanthropical , pitch - black noirChinatown , a film that ranks as the best movie of the 1970s and of all clock time .
It ’s not hyperbolic to claim its all - time status ; if you ’ve watched it , then you ’ll understand why . Polanski ’s benighted history about putridness in sunny California revolutionise the genre , cemented Jack Nicholson as both an doer and star for the ages , gave Faye Dunaway one of her best roles ever , and had one of the most memorable close in the history of film . “ block it , Jake , it ’s Chinatown , ” is the last personal credit line uttered , but few have forgotten the film 50 years later .
