Oscars 2015: 10 Outrageous Decisions That Are Completely Wrong

7. No Love For Inherent Vice

If you were to run through your predictions for the Best Picture nods based on the typical behaviour of the Academy, there's probably a very slim chance (if any at all) that you'd have picked Inherent Vice out of the long list as a real contender. It's too obnoxious, too provocative and too daringly confused to ever get the Oscar committee's bag, and it's probably not the best testament that critics didn't quite fall over themselves the way a Paul Thomas Anderson film would usually inspire. In all honesty, had it made it onto that shortlist, there would probably have been some grumbles, but did the film deserve only a costume nomination and props for adapted screenplay? Joaquin Phoenix is brilliantly cast and brilliant, and Anderson's commitment to adapting Pynchon into the film, rather than adapting a film out of his literature is stunningly effective. Why It Went Wrong... There are genuinely no answers, but the Academy does have a track record of disliking populist choices. Just ask Leonardo DiCaprio.