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 89 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
One of four 2015 releases on our list (though it dates back to 2013 when it made its first festival appearance), this artsy and grotesque Russian sci-fi film finds a group of scientists heading to a planet populated by human-like beings who are stuck in a period resembling the middle ages. The second film based on the novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, it was also the final feature by director Aleksei German, who died while completing work on the film. Russia failed to submit the film for Oscar consideration.