13 Awesome 2018 Movies That Deserve Best Picture (But Won't Get Nominated)

Hereditary's gonna get robbed.

By Jack Pooley /

a24

In recent years the Academy has attempted to shake off accusations that it's stuffy and out-of-touch with what average moviegoers - as opposed to critics or cineastes - are watching at the movies.

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Though this year's Oscar race is likely to see the populist likes of A Star is Born and perhaps even Black Panther nominated for Best Picture, the voting body is once again set to sleep on a huge number of the year's best and most unique movies.

They can't all be nominated, of course, but with the Best Picture race being so typically focused on marketing and campaign momentum rather than sheer quality, it's infuriating that these hugely acclaimed and successful films aren't going to make a dent with the Academy.

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If they truly want to stop people calling them snotty and elitist, what better way than to throw some love in the direction of these movies?

13. Annihilation

Netflix

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88% (7.8/10 average score)

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Why It Deserves Best Picture: Alex Garland's sci-fi thriller is without question one of the year's most thought-provoking and artistically uncompromising films.

With a terrific Natalie Portman leading a similarly superb, mostly female cast, Annihilation is delicately balanced between abject horror, existential food-for-thought and perhaps the most jaw-dropping third act of any film released in 2018.

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It's exactly the sort of intelligent genre offering the Academy needs to be rewarding.

Why It Won't Get Nominated: For starters, the Academy hates sci-fi, and if Blade Runner 2049 couldn't get nominated last year, then the similarly challenging Annihilation doesn't stand much of a chance.

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Above all else it's probably too "out there" for more down-the-line Oscar voters, and the fact that it tanked at the North American box office does it no favours at all.