16 Great Recent Movies The Oscars Outrageously Snubbed
15. We Need To Talk About Kevin
Nominated For:
Nothing.
While it was a small-ish British drama, We Need to Talk About Kevin feels like the sort of deep drama the Academy would at least nominate in other years. It might not be a message movie and it might be pretty bleak and nihilistic, but that still doesn't justify such an exclusion.
This deft drama with the levels of terror normally seen in horror films is seriously worth seeking out. What's truly notable are the performances from Ezra Miller as Kevin, the murderous student, and Tilda Swinton as his traumatized mother. Both are fantastic and should have been cast-iron certainties for Academy Award nominations.
There's another thing to remember: this film would have been nominated at the 84th Academy Awards, which honored the films of 2011. This particular Oscar ceremony boasted one of the worst Oscar line-ups ever. Nearly every single film nominated was forgettable and slight and absolutely nobody is still talking about any of those films.
The Artist, The Help, Midnight in Paris, War Horse, The Iron Lady, Bridesmaids, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy... have you ever seen a more forgettable collection of nominated films? Worst of all, it came after such a great line-up at the 83rd ceremony. This film was far more memorable than the majority of films nominated, so who knows what they were thinking?