Summary
- Critically acclaimed movies like Reservoir Dogs and Princess Mononoke were unfairly snubbed by the Oscars.
- The lack of nominations for action-packed films like Zodiac and John Wick highlights a bias against certain genres.
- Recognition from the Academy is not solely based on artistic merit, as demonstrated by overlooked movies like Heat and Léon: The Professional.
Despite being near-universally praised, certain noteworthy movies were not nominated for even a single Oscar. Among the most shocking Oscar snubs of all time are iconic movies that are considered staples of their genre. However, making waves within a specific genre is not a guarantee of a nomination. Supposedly, they need to demonstrate artistic merit through writing, directing, acting, etc. to be recognized.
However, some of these movies are doubtlessly well-written and directed, but the filmmakers' efforts still went unrecognized for the film. Even the best action movies are overlooked by the Academy, especially when they have no innovative CGI for which they can earn a token nomination. The movies that were not nominated for any Oscars demonstrate certain arbitrary preferences throughout Oscar history for specific types of movies and directors.
Oscars 2024 Nominations: 15 Biggest Snubs & Surprises
The nominations for the 96th Academy Awards have arrived and they are full of surprises and snubs for some of the best movies of the year.
12 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Quentin Tarantino's breakout movie did not get him in with the Academy.
Reservoir Dogs
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Quentin Tarantino's feature-length debut Reservoir Dogs is an ensemble movie starring Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Chris Penn, and Edward Bunker. The 1992 film centers around a group of criminals who begin to suspect one of them is an undercover cop when their supposedly perfect diamond heist goes wrong.
- Director
- Quentin Tarantino
- Release Date
- October 9, 1992
- Writers
- Quentin Tarantino
- Cast
- Quentin Tarantino , Tim Roth , Michael Madsen , Harvey Keitel , Steve Buscemi , Chris Penn
- Runtime
- 99 minutes
Quentin Tarantino first broke into Hollywood with a contained, psychological drama about a gang of criminals having an ongoing argument about who betrayed them. However, Reservoir Dogs wasn't quite enough to get the Academy's attention. This did not happen until Tarantino returned two years later with Pulp Fiction, which brought home seven nominations, including one for Best Picture. Tarantino himself won for Best Original Screenplay.
Although Tarantino has been a regular at the Oscars since Pulp Fiction, his style is too outrageous to be universally appealing. He is among the modern directors who have yet to win the Oscar for Best Director, although he won a second screenplay award for Django Unchained. While Reservoir Dogs is good, it might not have been undeniably brilliant enough to get Tarantino's violent style past the initial screening.
11 Princess Mononoke (1997)
Princess Mononoke came out several years too early to win an Oscar nomination.
Princess Mononoke (1997)
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In this epic animated fantasy by Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke explores the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. The story follows Ashitaka, a young warrior inflicted with a deadly curse, as he navigates a battle that pits the industrialized human society against the gods of the forest, alongside San, a fierce girl raised by wolves.
- Director
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Release Date
- July 12, 1997
- Writers
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Cast
- Yôji Matsuda , Yuriko Ishida , Yûko Tanaka , Kaoru Kobayashi , Masahiko Nishimura , Tsunehiko Kamijô , Akihiro Miwa , Mitsuko Mori , Hisaya Morishige
- Runtime
- 133 Minutes
The Academy simply wouldn’t have thought of Princess Mononoke as a contender at the time.
Princess Mononoke came out before the Academy instituted the category for Best Animated Feature, as well as before Spirited Away finished bringing anime into Western pop culture. However, it is not as though anime was a completely separate world; Akira’s release in 1988 also constituted a major breakthrough in this regard. The Academy simply wouldn’t have thought of Princess Mononoke as a contender at the time.
Had the movie come out in the mid-2000s, it still would have faced an uphill battle where the Oscars are concerned. Studio Ghibli’s movies have won twice out of five times they were nominated against Hollywood-produced animated movies, while critics still favor live-action over animation overall. The unfortunate circumstances mean that Princess Mononoke, doubtlessly one of the best Ghibli movies, would never get its due for its powerful storytelling, showcasing Ghibli’s characteristic environmental themes at its best.