Oscars 2017: 20 Predicted Best Film Nominees Ranked Worst To Best

It almost seems unfair that the Academy only choose a handful of contenders for their Best Film gong every January (unless they're having one of those off years where they can't decide, so they just change their own rules, of course). Such rampant favouritism does little but turn a broad spectrum of films into a sprint finish through a bottle neck that sees far too many truly great films fall by the wayside.

And then you have to consider the fact that the Oscar-pickers have an unwritten (or at least unpublished) set of rules for what they consider Oscar-worthy (hence the rise of "Oscar-bait" as a derogatory term), which basically means no comic book movies, no horrors and very few animations could ever get recognition for the Best Film category. Talk about elitism.

Having said that, the cream does have a habit of floating to the top in Academy circles, and it's more often than not true that early favourites for acknowledgement get their dues. It's just a matter of defining which films every year are considered the favourites outside the top two or three sure things. And then, since it's important to feel included, it's even more important to know which of the potential nominees you absolutely cannot afford not to see.

Here are the 20 films considered the bookmakers' favourites (according to oddschecking sites), ranked from worst (though it's very much a comparative term) to best...

Matthew McConaughey might be legitimately A-list gold now, but even he can't really save Gold from being something of a bore. He's now getting to the point where his transformations for roles are arguably overshadowing the performances themselves (something Daniel Day Lewis would never have allowed), and while his disguise is admirable, it's also a little too distracting.

This apparently true story - which is being priced at an outsider price of 100/1 with a couple of industry bookmakers - simply doesn't match up with the majority of his recent work. It's disjointed and suffers from tonal mix-ups that suggest it's as unsure of its identity as McConaughey is of his character's.

Sure there are moments to enjoy, and when McConaughey and co-star Oscar Ramirez are in full flow they're charming and entertaining - but it seems to be trying too hard to be another verbose, swaggering drama with a strong politicised underbelly (in the vein of Wolf Of Wall Street and The Big Short). And it's never all that successful.