Naomi Watts is given belated praise for her acting in Mulholland Drive in this list of great performances that never won an Oscar. Rightly so, in my opinion. Scarlett Johansson’s performance in Lost in Translation is another. An actress that unjustly did not win an Oscar for Best Actress was Margot Robbie for her role in I, Tonya (although she was nominated and so does not qualify for this list). Life is just not fair.
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fentonsteve says
Clare Grogan in Gregory’s Girl.
Do I need a reason?
Sitheref2409 says
On a slightly more serious take, Gregory’s sister stole that show in every scene she was in.
Bamber says
And of course she is the correct answer to the question of who is Gregory’s Girl? Madeline.
Moose the Mooche says
Monica Dolan in everything she does, basically.
Foxnose says
I hope you’re not being funny or anything?
Moose the Mooche says
Bollocks!
…oh that was someone else on there
Jaygee says
Monica’s Oscar for her first class delivery of her lines
in TV’s Mr. Bates Is apparently lost in the post
Johnb says
Ray Winston in nil by mouth.charles Durning in dog day afternoon.
dai says
Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation? I like the film, but I don’t really see it as being much of a performance. She was good in Jojo Rabbit
Max the Dog says
Colin Farrell should have got a nomination for supporting actor in Saving Mr. Banks.
Greta Gerwig should have been nominated for Best Director for Little Women as should Baz Luhrmann for Elvis.
I’m sure Cillian Murphy will be nominated later today, but I’m hoping Barry Keoghan will get a nod for Saltburn as well. I haven’t seen All Of Us Strangers yet but I’m sure Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal put in great performances.
Agree with @Munster re Margot Robbie in I, Tonya.
Bingo Little says
The entire point of the Academy Awards is to get all this stuff wrong, in front of an ever-declining TV audience.
Johansson should have won for Under The Skin in 2013. On which note, just look at the absolute list of car crash decisions for Best Picture in the last 15 years (Argo in 2013 – oof).
Jaygee says
Does anyone apart from the various luvvies who voted, handed out and won the major* awards remember or care who the gongs went to a few weeks after they’d finished slapping themselves on the back?
* Non-technical awards like set design, sound, etc, etc are far more meritorious. Sadly, the majority of them are handed out before the actual ceremony
fentonsteve says
Quite. I’d be really happy to receive an “He did his job, was prepared for things to go wrong and if/when they did, he fixed them without anyone noticing” award.
Torch? In my front pocket. 9 Volt battery? Back left pocket. Guitar capo? Back right pocket. Spare strings? Silver case under the desk, next to the spare DI box. That’s me.
Bingo Little says
It’s a meaningless industry back-scratch these days. Used to be vaguely meaningful at the height of Hollywood’s powers and in an era when there was some cache to having large numbers of stars in one room so we could all see what they’re *really* like.
Why people get so wound up by it every year I have no idea. It really doesn’t matter at all, even the marketing benefit is minimal at this stage.
Kaisfatdad says
I’m sure the marketing benefit is not what it was, Bingo.
But as a chap who spends a fair bit of time smooth-talking the burghers of Bagarmossen and trying to persuade them to place their wobbly bottoms on one of our cinema seats, I am convinced that the words Oscar Winner and Oscar Nominee help to attract a bigger audience. If you can add Oscar Wilde you are really quids in.
Here is a list of the best films
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Some wonderful Anglophone movies but also three other non-English gems:
Anatomy of a Fall (French) , Past Lives (English and Korean) and Zone of Interest (German)
That Oscar nomination will make a world of difference in the world market.
However how you can decide between the gentle chamber music of Past Lives and the boombastic orchestral magnificence of Oppenheimer is beyond me!
Gary says
Oscar Pistorius probably doesn’t have the same effect.
Gary says
I would have liked Sophia Lauren to win for her last (and most probably her last) film, The Life Ahead (Renée Zellweger won for Judy).
Talking of Italians, it’s outrageous that Roberto Benigni won for Life Is Beautiful rather than Edward Norton for American History X.
And talking of Shakespeare, I think De Caprio should have won for Romeo + Juliet. But the competition was fierce (Hopkins for Nixon, Penn for Dead Man Walking, Cage for Leaving Las Vegas) and he wasn’t even nominated. And he should have won Best Supporting Actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (instead of Gene Hackman for Unforgiven).
dai says
I think Gilbert Grape is his best performance, remarkably
Jaygee says
Two surefire ways of getting ahead in the Oscars race:
* playing a character with a terminal illness, debilitating physical condition or mental disorder
* starring in a film produced by Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax
Bingo Little says
Misty-eyed films about Hollywood/film making also a dead cert (hence Argo, per the above).
Viva Avalanche says
Different years…Gene Hackman won in 1993 for Unforgiven, which was a 1992 film.
DiCaprio was nominated in 1994 for Gilbert Grape, being beaten by Tommy Lee Jones.
Forgive me for this pedantry but it’s only to serve the suggestion that the real loser in 1994 was Val Kilmer, who should really have beaten all comers for his Doc Holliday in Tombstone in ’93. Not even nominated.
Gary says
Dang, that’s a Mac for you. Useless, they are. I’ve never seen Tombstone. I always had a bad impression of Kilmer – director’s dissed him, he was in Top Gun – but the recent documentary Val was very moving and he came across well.
I think Di Caprio in Gilbert Grape would be an astonishing performance by anyone, but especially by someone so young.
Viva Avalanche says
Tombstone is no Unforgiven. Certainly no Searchers, Good, Bad and the Ugly, etc. But it’s a decent western.
However, the cast is where it stands out. Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Sam Elliott being as Sam Elliott as one can. And, yep, Billy Zane.
But Kilmer is fantastic as Doc Holliday.
Don’t know if you subscribe to it but Tombstone was on Disney+.
And I hear you on all the things not to like about Val Kilmer but, much as I love The Doors, I tend to now think of Jim Morrison as Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison.
Sitheref2409 says
He was also excellent in Heat
Black Type says
I didn’t even know the monstrous rent-a-gob harridan was in Nixon! 🤔
dai says
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/entertainment-arts-68062700?src_origin=BBCS_BBC
My predictions (main categories):
Best Picture : Oppenheimer
Best Actor : Cillian Murphy
Best Actress : Emma Stone
Best Director : Martin Scorsese
Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr
Supporting Actress: America Ferrera
Kjwilly says
I’ve got a hunch that Giamatti is growing momentum in Best Actor for his fantastic performance in The Holdovers.
Bingo Little says
It’s a wonderful performance in a wonderful film.
Gary says
I’ve hardly seen any of the nominated films, just the three biggies (Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Oppenheimer). I thought Oppenheimer was by far the best in terms of editing and pacing and how it was constructed and filmed and everything else.
Not having seen Poor Things I can’t comment on Emma Stone, but I’ll still wager my entire life savings that Lily Gladstone wins.
Oh and it’ll be a sin if Scorsese wins best director with his tired old bag of tricks stylee, rather than Nolan, who shines.
dai says
For some reason they don’t always give Best Director and Best Picture to the same film. that ‘s why I am going for Scorsese, his age also a factor.
Kaisfatdad says
Give Scorsese a Lifetime Achievement Award @Dai but then judge each film on its merits.
At the Swedish equivalent to the Oscars (the Guldbagge Awards), there is an Audience Award. An interesting idea but the general public when voting rarely choose a better film then the experts.
Kjwilly says
@Gary It’s interesting that Lily Gladstone didn’t even get nominated in the BAFTAs and the British Academy is also a huge voting bloc in the Oscars. There seems to be some backlash against Lily Gladstone as she is onscreen for less than an hour of the 3 1/2 hour movie. She should rightfully have been in Best Supporting Actress.
Gary says
Interesting. I predicted she’d win thinking the Oscars would lap up the chance to show how diverse they are and while I don’t think her performance was particularly exceptional, it wouldn’t have been the same film without her calm, beatific smile.
duco01 says
Re: Best Supporting Actress
The smart money must be on Da’Vine Joy Randolph, surely?
dai says
Probably. I just think they will give Barbie something
Kid Dynamite says
Godzilla Minus One has been robbed
Bingo Little says
He certainly delivered a memorable lead performance, full of pathos and slow burning catharsis.
Jaygee says
He was also the only big name actor in the film who got paid the union scale
Black Type says
Scales?
Jaygee says
Bit part actors/extras, etc, get paid scale/union scale
Black Type says
*Whooosh!*
Godzilla… scales…GEDDIT? 😉
Gatz says
When the film Willow was released the trailer was frequently played in TV ads, with a growling voiceover saying, ‘Val Kilmer … in Willow’. Except the voiceover accompanied a shot of Warwick Davies. I hadn’t heard of either man, so I got it into my head that Val Kilmer was the name of the actor playing Willow.
A while later I heard that Oliver Stone was making his Doors film, and that Jim Morrison was played by Val Kilmer, which I thought was a very bold piece of casting.
Jaygee says
@Black-Type
Godzilla being a scaly creature was the joke to begin with.
The fact that he was being played by a fairly anonymous talent who would be paid scale further adds to the hilarity
Jaygee says
Wonderful to see the predictable speed with which the UK press has claimed actors and films from the Republic of Ireland as “British and Irish talent”
fentonsteve says
Until they lose, when they become ‘Southern Irish’ again.
See also, Cameron Norrie: British until he lost yesterday, South African-born again today.
Jaygee says
Andy Murray’s metamorphosis from plucky Brit to surly Scot
is another goodie
Kaisfatdad says
I am not someone who gets very starstruck so when Ruben Östlund and his entourage came to Bio Reflexen for our screening of Triangle of Sadness I wasn’t that tongue-tied.
But to actually see the two real Palmes D’Or that he has won at the Cannes Festíval in the foyer of our cosy local cinema.
That was rather cool.
Entourage? He really was just like Vince Chase and his pals!
Our audience sadly does not consist of too many hotties and starlets. Irmgard and Gun-Britt and their pals can still remember the golden days of silent movies.
Jaygee says
Brilliant!
Jaygee says
While not an actor, Norman Jewison ( who died a few days ago aged 97)should definitely have beaten Mike Nichols (The Graduate) to the 1967 Best Director Oscar for In the Heat of the Night
Cookieboy says
Toni Collette should have won for Hereditary, she was not even nominated. I can only assume no one in the Academy bothered watching a horror film.
Bigshot says
double post
Bigshot says
You might think I’m joking here, but I’m not. Some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in a film was by the dog Benji in “Benji the Hunted”. It was the last Benji movie I think, and it’s definitely the best. You can see the thought process on the dog’s face, and he conveys complex emotions. The timing and reaction of the dog to the other humans and animals in the film are brilliant. If you have a chance to check it out, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Bigshot says
By the way, my pick for Oscar omission is Beau Is Afraid. It’s kind of like Tod Solondz’s Happiness… a black comedy that is so black, many people can’t take it. I heard at screenings people would get up and leave the theater because the opening sequences are so intense and extreme, they were triggering people. But if you can take a powerful first-person cinematic depiction of paranoid schizophrenia and anxiety, you’re rewarded with a film that is brilliant on every level… the acting, the cinematography, the editing and the art direction are fantastic. Too bad the film bombed in theaters.
Jaygee says
@Bigshot
IIRC, the dog in Happiness came to a rather sticky end
Junglejim says
Well, the Oscar was originally conjured up by Hollywood studio heads to essentially be a bauble to placate actors, so they wouldn’t demand what they were actually worth .
Like a shitty office scheme getting teams to compete against each other rather than question why tbey always feel overworked & under resourced & demand change. So any year the best category is actually won by what was genuinely the standout in that field, it’s a bonus.
But to stick to the OP title, have a look at this scene from Mare of Easttown. The context is the 2 characters are detective colleagues working on a grim case in a small, very tight town & making little headway . She’s gone to the bar for a breather, & he’s rocked up straight from a car crash school reunion.
An acting masterclass IMO.