Ignored by Oscar: Our Favorite Movies From 2016 That Got Zero Nominations
Deadpool wasn’t the only acclaimed movie that came up empty this week. When the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, plenty of worthy projects found themselves un-nominated, including some of our absolute favorites from 2016. Below is our staff roundup of the best movies from last year that Oscar left out in the cold. Don’t worry: The Academy might not love you…but we do.
American Honey
Andrea Arnold’s sprawling road-trip saga opened in limited release this fall to rave reviews, but that initial surge of energy fizzled out before awards season. It’s a shame, because the film is timely and one-of-a-kind: the coming-of-age story of 18-year-old Star (the astounding, plucked-from-obscurity Sasha Lane), who escapes her troubled home life by hopping in a van with a group of young people who sell magazines door to door. As Star goes from town to town with the band of misfits and runaways (including Shia LaBeouf in a career-best performance), America opens up to her like a fairy tale, and the streets, houses, and big-box stores of ordinary life become scenes of surprising beauty and villainy. — Gwynne Watkins
Watch the ‘American Honey’ trailer:
Cameraperson
Kirsten Johnson’s brilliant assembled memoir/essay film was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature category, but unfortunately fell short of making the final five. Composed of outtakes and personal footage she’s filmed over her two decades and counting career as a cinematographer, Cameraperson skillfully recontextualizes these “leftovers” into something radical and new. At the very least, the film deserved a Best Editing nomination. — Ethan Alter
Gleason
This year’s documentary field was an especially crowded one, but that doesn’t lessen our disappointment over the lack of a nomination for J. Clay Tweel’s non-fiction account of former New Orleans Saints star Steve Gleason’s battle with ALS — and dedication to leaving behind a video record of himself for his newborn child. It’s a piercing portrait of courage and resilience in the face of adversity, as well as the tearjerker of 2016. — Nick Schager
Watch the ‘Gleason’ trailer:
Green Room
Last spring, we profiled the go-for-the-throat practical effects in Jeremy Saulnier’s spirited, gory indie thriller, particularly the scene when a vicious canine (actually a puppet and some deft camera cuts) wrecks a punk rocker’s neck. It would have been exciting for the Academy to throw Green Room a bone for reminding us how effective non-digital effects can be, or for the memorably menacing performance of Patrick Stewart as sociopathic Darcy, but alas, not every underdog has its day. —Steve Korn
The Handmaiden
A lush period piece with the heart of a pulp movie, Korean auteur Park Chan-wook’s psychological thriller was one of 2016’s most enjoyable viewing experiences and should’ve been a contender in multiple categories, including Best Foreign Language Film. The cleverly plotted, bilingual film is the love story of two women — one a poor thief, the other an heiress — who fall in love in Japanese-occupied Korea. Neither character is quite who she appears to be, and with every twist, The Handmaiden transforms itself, from a parable of class differences, to an S&M romance, to a Dickensian drama, to a gory revenge movie, all against a backdrop of decadent sets and to-die-for costumes. — GW
Watch the ‘Handmaiden’ trailer:
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
There are a lot of the reasons Wilderpeople shouldn’t work, starting with the concept: a smart-mouthed juvenile delinquent and his rugged new foster dad on the run from authorities in the New Zealand bush. But it works so well, as both a fun, but poignant adventure and an effective satire of government bureaucracy and media frenzies. Julian Dennison for Best Supporting Actor was a campaign that should have happened, but Taika Waititi (helming the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok) would have been deserving for either Directing or Screenplay. Also: How could you miss “Happy Birthday Ricky Baker” for Best Original Song? — Christopher Wilson
The Nice Guys
Ryan Gosling’s finest 2016 performance wasn’t in La La Land — it was as the bumbling ‘70s L.A. private eye of Shane Black’s comedic neo-noir The Nice Guys. That his turn (opposite Russell Crowe) didn’t get a nomination is a letdown; that neither Black’s crackerjack script, nor Gosling and Crowe’s stellar teenage co-star Angourie Rice, got any Academy love is downright criminal. — NS
Watch the ‘Nice Guys’ trailer:
Paterson
Oscar voters apparently weren’t taken with the deceptively simple poetry of Jim Jarmusch’s ode to the creative benefits of the daily grind. The movie’s elegantly constructed script, and its low-key star turn by Adam Driver, were among 2016’s most beautifully understated achievements. Here’s our own Paterson inspired poem: Jarmusch is a poet, and we know it. — EA
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Granted, this one was a longshot, but we really hoped Lonely Island’s hilarious concert mockumentary (and future-cult classic, mark our words) about a haughty pop-rapper named Conner4Real (Andy Samberg) would sneak into the Best Original Song category. For what memorably-titled track you ask? “I’m So Humble.” “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song).” “Donkey Roll.” “Turn Up the Beef” (featuring La La Land nominee Emma Stone). Take your pick. But hey, This Is Spinal Tap never got any Oscar nominations, and if Popstar is indeed this generation’s Spinal Tap, the snubbing makes perfect sense. — Kevin Polowy
Watch the ‘Popstar’ trailer:
Sing Street
Writer-director John Carney’s third acclaimed indie musical drama is his first not to get any love from the Academy. Once became an Oscar sensation in 2008 with its stars’s Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová’s charming performance and subsequent acceptance speech for Best Original Song winner “Falling Slowly.”Begin Again followed with a nomination in the same category for “Lost Stars” in 2015. Fans of the Dublin-set coming-of-age tale Sing Street hoped the catchy dance-rock tune “Drive It Like You Stole It” would make the cut, but Carney’s Oscar clout continued its downward trajectory. Wonder if it has anything to do with those regrettable comments he made about his Begin Again star Keira Knightley? — KP
Weiner
The fact that Oscar voters skipped this riveting, timely political documentary is a high crime and misdemeanor. Directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg captured every excruciating minute of disgraced ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner’s 2013 mayoral campaign that imploded after another round of sexting allegations. From Weiner’s dueling ambition and self-destructiveness to his tense, teetering marriage to inscrutable Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, what emerges is a tragic (and tragicomic) portrait of a man who can’t step out of the spotlight, even when it’s incinerating him. — Kerrie Mitchell
Watch the ‘Weiner’ trailer:
The Witness
One of the primal American myths of city life was the infamous case of Kitty Genovese, the Queens woman who was attacked and killed walking home one night in 1964 while 38 witnesses did nothing to stop it. This haunting documentary meticulously unwinds that sensational — and untrue — report through the dogged research of Genovese’s younger brother Bill, whose life was shadowed by his sister’s murder. What starts out as a feat of investigative reporting deepens into a story of grief and mourning, with a finale that takes your breath away. Maybe the Academy should’ve expanded the Best Documentary Feature category this year? — KM
