Oscars: 10 Best Pictures That Actually Were The Best

3. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King - 2004

Another genre little loved by the Academy needed another film too good to ignore in order to get noticed. Peter Jackson and New Line's Lord of the Rings trilogy is an incredible filmmaking achievement, from the epic sweep of its storytelling to the incredible attention to detail in every aspect of its production. Whether the third film is the best of the three is up for debate, but nevertheless it received the Academy's honours for the whole trilogy. The Return of the King won all 11 of the Oscars for which it was nominated, equaling the highest Oscar haul ever. Other nominees: Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation is comfortably her best film, a sweet low key drama of a developing relationship between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, both at their very best. Coppola won the Best Screenplay award, usually the compensation for films too small scale genuinely to compete for Best Picture. Much larger in size, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World won director Peter Weir a Bafta, one of the rare occasions Peter Jackson was beaten. The film is a great rendition of life on a Napoleonic warship, but was never going to be as pop culturally significant as Lord of the Rings. Other deserving contenders: With one fantasy film and one naval adventure already amongst the nominees, it was unlikely that the first, joyously entertaining, Pirates of the Caribbean film would get any more nominations than Johnny Depp's acting nod. Animations both blockbusting (Finding Nemo) and indie-artistic (Belleville Rendez-vous) were also great, but ignored in favour of the more traditionally Oscar friendly Seabiscuit and Mystic River. Perhaps the best film of the year from outside Middle Earth, though, came from Brazil thanks to powerful, vibrant favela gangster picture City of God.