Some earlier Oscar bait to complete our list now, with Steven Spielberg's good-but-flawed The Colour Purple. The criteria to make it Oscar-baiting are countless: it's adapted from a book, boasts an all-star cast (Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, and Oprah Winfrey), has a period setting, and is directed by Steven Spielberg. What's perhaps most shocking about the movie's awards status is that, despite earning 11 Oscar nominations, Spielberg somehow didn't get an Oscar nod for his direction, which seems like a glitch in The Matrix given how he had 3 prior nominations, and the movie was otherwise so highly regarded by the Academy. Still, the movie hilariously failed to win even a single Oscar, and despite being a pretty decent film overall, is the textbook example of a movie that's good enough for the Academy to recognise, but not to actually award anything outright. It all worked out for Spielberg, though, as he received his fourth directing nomination for Schindler's List eight years later, and went on to finally win the gong that time. Are there any other major works of Oscar bait we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
