Biggest Oscar (award season) snubs

[Robotman]

Every year there are numerous worthy films that the Academy snubs. There weren’t any epic snubs like say, Hitchcock getting overlooked for Vertigo, but there were a number of directors and performers who could/should have been at least nominated.

For me, the biggest snub was The Lighthouse. Such a great flick with two amazing performances. The fact that Defoe wasn’t even nominated is a crime. Not only did it get an Oscar snub but the Golden Globes didn’t even take notice.

[Midvillian1322]

Adam Sandler I feel like was snubbed. I woulda gave him best actor over anyone who's not Joaquin Phoenix.

Defoe for lighthouse is a big one. Then after him Jamie foxx for Just Mercy. I'd take Pacino and Pesci out for those two. Though funny enough I want Pesci to win just because I like him. But yea he didnt do anything award worthy in that movie.

[Batman Begins 2005]

Taron Egerton missing out on a Best Actor nomination for Rocketman.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The male actor categories are both stacked this year. So I'm not surprised to see that so far alot of the snubs are for those awards.

Best actor:
Phoenix- would walk away with the award any given year
Driver- also would walk away with this award any given year
Banderas- having the performance of his career
Dicaprio- having one of his best performances in one of his best films
Pryce- having one of his all time performances after a storied career.

Honestly when your weak nominations are Pryce and Dicaprio having laudied performances in benchmark films showcasing their acting, you know this is a ridiculous category.

Supporting might be even tougher:
Hanks: Pretty much carried a film off his portrayal as Rogers
Pitt: the frontrunner giving the performance of his career.
Pesci: going out of his comfort zone and giving arguably his best performance outside of Goodfellas (and if Pitt had won an award before I firmly believe Pesci wins this)
Pacino: giving the best performance he's probably had in the last 20 years and a return to form for a legend
Hopkins: great performance.

Again Hopkins was fucking fantastic and he's the weak link here by a mile.

I can't really complain about those categories. Probably Lupito Nyong'o or Jennifer Lopez. They definitley suffered for having amazing performances be in decisevely non traditional Oscar films. Even then, I'd only really maybe take out Charlize Theron so one of them still gets snubbed.

Honestly the real snubs for me are going to be when Once Upon a Time in Hollywood wins alot because I really didn't care much for that film

[Scott Taylor]

Hanks should never have been nominated for Beautiful Day. His performance was just ok, a tad creepy, and that film was strangely off-kilter. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and make sure it wasn't made because it doesn't portray Fred Rogers very well.

[titanfan]

Parasite receiving no acting awards is crazy.

[C_Miller]

Parasite receiving no acting awards is crazy.

I think Americans tend to struggle with judging acting in other languages. It was so surprising to see Yalitza Aparicio get nominated last year. I even heard a lot of criticism about the acting in Parasite, which I didn't really understand. Song Kang-ho, Park So-dam and Cho Yeo-jeong were some of my favorite performances of the year.

My biggest snub of the year would probably be Greta Gerwig for Little Women. While I think her script did a lot of work, I think the direction was extremely strong as well. The color schemes between the two timelines, the seamless movement back and forth between said time lines. I'd mention how she did a great job mirroring the story, but that's definitely a script thing. A couple of the scenes like Mr. Laurence listening to Beth play piano and the first dancing scene with Jo and Laurie were blocked incredibly well and Gerwig gets the best performances out of Saoirse Ronan, who gives strong performances to begin with.

[Kieran_Frost]

Of the films I've seen, the two biggest "missed opportunity" nominations:
- Noah Baumbach not getting nominated for Best Director
- George MacKay not being nominated for Best Actor.

Both were perfect in their roles, and in films that got a lot of Oscar love. Such a shame. But it was a VERY tough year. A lot of great films this year, true contenders. Last few years have been a little weaker; and a lot of these snubs listed would have stood a better chance last year.

I think Americans tend to struggle with judging acting in other languages.

From a detailed acting performance, acting in another language looses elements of nuance, and remember it's actors who nominate actors at the Oscars. So it's harder to shine in a foreign language, because from an acting point of view: how another actor plays with a word, how they choose to emphasis a word in a phrase over another one, and what that says about the character. How they are playful with the script. All things that it takes an actor to know and recognise in a performance. ALL OF THAT cannot be judged, and that's an unavoidable problem. And so judging an actor in your own language opens a lot more detail.

Some roles have overcome it, or shined so bright that it's gotten passed that. But it's an uphill battle. A lot of the nuance is lost.

[WebLurker]

Think Knives Out should've gotten a "supporting cast" and maybe "best picture" nomination to go with its screenplay one.

[Marvelgirl]

- Jennifer Lopez not getting nominated for Hustlers
- Christian Bale not getting a nod for Ford vs Ferrari

[C_Miller]

From a detailed acting performance, acting in another language looses elements of nuance, and remember it's actors who nominate actors at the Oscars. So it's harder to shine in a foreign language, because from an acting point of view: how another actor plays with a word, how they choose to emphasis a word in a phrase over another one, and what that says about the character. How they are playful with the script. All things that it takes an actor to know and recognise in a performance. ALL OF THAT cannot be judged, and that's an unavoidable problem. And so judging an actor in your own language opens a lot more detail.

Some roles have overcome it, or shined so bright that it's gotten passed that. But it's an uphill battle. A lot of the nuance is lost.

Definitely. As much as I appreciated the acting in Parasite, I know there's stuff I missed. During one of the scenes with the housekeeper, I read she puts on a North Korean accent, which apparently was very funny. Unfortunately as an American who speaks no Korean or has any passing familiarity with Korean, I completely missed it.

[Kieran_Frost]

Definitely. As much as I appreciated the acting in Parasite, I know there's stuff I missed. During one of the scenes with the housekeeper, I read she puts on a North Korean accent, which apparently was very funny. Unfortunately as an American who speaks no Korean or has any passing familiarity with Korean, I completely missed it.

You and I clearly see eye-to-eye on film. The fact is we are reading subtitles. Which means our critical eye is less focused on the actor than we would be in an English language film. So we miss things. So much nuance is lost, so much detail. Sometimes a character can rise above it, when it's a more physical performance, or a performance with less dialogue and more silence. Then we can be more critical, but when you're not even watching the actor for a large chunk of time... how can you truly evaluate it?