4. Do The Right Thing - Best Picture
Genre snobbery as in 2009 is one thing, but in 1990, the Academy rewarded the same old, fluffy, sentimental, Oscar-baiting crap rather than opt for the edgier, far more engrossing and intellectually engaging alternative, because apparently voters love being condescended to. The Best Picture winner in 1990 was Driving Miss Daisy, a pat, horribly dated drama about an elderly Jewish lady in the South who treats her black driver like s**t, and is a prime example of what people mean when they refer to "Oscar bait". The only saving grace is that it made Morgan Freeman famous to the world. The most infuriating thing is that there was a far superior film about race released that year - Spike Lee's incendiary masterpiece Do the Right Thing. It conceded some uncomfortable truths about the US that perhaps voters either didn't want to face, or living in their fancy loft apartments, weren't able to identify with, namely that there was still a pronounced racial divide in the US. Instead of Best Picture and Best Director nominations, all the film got was nods for Original Screenplay and Danny Aiello's excellent performance.