Well, I have decided to give this week’s Monday Movie Meme a look. The Oscars is a time of the year that I look forward to a lot and Nicole’s subject this week really inspired to post. there have been many movies that I have loved that have been snubbed by The Academy. Some have been nominated, so have not.
I have a few examples here of great movies that really should have won the Best Motion Picture statue but were either beaten by other nominees or didn’t even get a nod. You may be very surprised at this small list, but I’d love to hear your comments on my choices.
First up is The Shawshank Redemption. Considered by many to be one of the best movies ever made and it still tops IMDB’s Top 250 with a mark of 9.3/10, This film, that was based on a Stephen King short story did not do great things at the box office, but was nominated for 7 Oscars in 1995. It took home ZERO! Unbelievable to be honest. That year, the Best Motion Picture was…..Forrest Gump. A great film, but not even in Shawshank’s ballpark in my opinion. Pulp Fiction was also nominated that year. So what can you say? The Academy obviously thought the complete opposite to everyone else in the world, but this is a group of people who nominated Zero Dark Thirty in the same category, so anything is possible I guess.
Second, is Pyscho. A film that was nominated for 4 Oscars, but Best Motion Picture was NOT one of them. Horror fans would probably list this 1960 classic in their top 5 lists, but apparently Hitchcock’s crowning glory wasn’t good enough to be considered for the top prize. Its original storyline and groundbreaking filming techniques make this one of the most popular film never to win the Best Motion Picture Oscar. Personally, I prefer other Hitchcock movies, but I am writing on general opinion here in this case, so not to be even nominated comes as a surprise. the winner that year by the way was…The Apartment. This filkm ewas remade, but it just wasn’t the same and needless to say, the remake didn’t get a nomination either, but it is still surprising that the original didn’t do quite as well as Hitchcock had hoped.
My third choice today is The Usual Suspects which like Psycho, wasn’t even nominated for the Best Motion Picture Oscar. This movie is a masterpiece of cleverness and keeps the viewer going right up until the end. At number 23 in the IMDB Top 250, this Bryan Singer directed movie has a whole host of star cast members including Kevin Spacey who gives a truly magnificent performance as the bumbling cripple Roger “Verbal” Kint. This film was just a really clever exercise and for it not to be nominated for an Oscar was just criminal. The movie did win 2 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay, but The Academy thought that Babe was a better nomination for Best Motion Picture in a year that saw Braveheart win the top prize.
I have a few more that I could mention, but I will be writing about some of them at a later date, so for now I will leave you with just three. What do you think of my choices?, Can you offer other suggestions? Comment below and thanks for reading.
Smurfin' The Web 
Although “Psycho” isn’t among my favorite Hitchcock films and I still have yet to watch it in it’s entirety, the Oscar snub for this movie comes as a shocker. In many ways, “Psycho” is part of what defines the horror genre as a whole in many ways. People study this film, so for it not to even get a nomination, puzzles me.
As “The Usual Suspects” still sits in my Netflix queue, I’ve read enough about it, watched enough on it and heard a great deal about the movie to know that something is very wrong with a film like “Babe” being better suited for a Best Picture nomination, over Kevin Spacey’s flick. That’s just ridiculous. Your choices are stellar! All of these are great movies and it’s a tragedy when classics such as Hitchcock’s film doesn’t get the kind of recognition that it deserves.