The Best Movies Never Nominated for a Single Oscar
Last updated: January 24, 2023
Judging from the complaints that pour in each year, the Academy gets many things wrong—including, with surprising regularity, completely ignoring some of each year's most acclaimed films. In the gallery above, you can find the 30 highest-scoring films since 2000 that did not receive any Oscar nominations (in any category). They are ranked by Metascore, but all of these films scored or higher—suggesting massive critical acclaim.
Note that documentaries are excluded (since there are fewer opportunities for those films to receive nominations). Also excluded are movies that qualified for Emmys rather than Oscars (such as the Small Axe films).
Additional content by Keith Kimbell
Before moving on to mainstream success with several Bourne films and Captain Phillips, director Paul Greengrass made arguably his best film: a drama about the infamous 1972 shootings in Northern Ireland (yes, the same ones that inspired the U2 hit). The film attracted widespread critical acclaim, shared top honors at the 2002 Berlinale, and won an audience award at Sundance. But it was ineligible for any Oscar consideration due to a technicality: The film was broadcast in the UK on ITV a few days before it opened in theaters.
| Stream On |
|
| Stream On |
|
| Buy on |
|
| Stream On |
|