Top 5: Oscar Snubs

Well it's that time of year when Hollywood is patting itself on back for finding cures to cancer and solving worldwide hunger issues... uh, what... they're just making movies and getting paid millions to do it. That's my bad... I just thought with the constant barrage of movie awards we've seen and or are about to see that they must of done something pretty terrific, but yeah, making movies is right up there with resolving the heath care issue, so let me rephrase...

We'll it's that time of year when Hollywood is patting itself on the back for being totally and completely awesome... after all, name another industry that gives itself more awards than there are weeks in a year to televise them.

Anyway, the Oscars recently released their annual nominations for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, etc. and, as is standard, the media pointed out their short sightedness in quick fashion. Most notably this year, Andrew Garfield from 'The Social Network' and Mila Kunis from 'Black Swan' were not nominated for anything. Garfield I get, but Kunis... come on, have you seen that scene (the scene) with her and Natalie Portman... GREAT stuff! When is someone going to have an awards show for best girl on girl scene. That's an awards show that I watch. Just sayin.

Anyway, it got me to thinking what were some of the biggest Oscar snubs or mistakes of all time. And, since it's been awhile since I've done a top 5... well let's just say I'm throwing a rock and two birds.

5. Brad Pit - 12 Monkeys - Should have won for Best-Supporting Actor. Don't get me wrong Kevin Spacey was great in 'The Usual Suspects' but really all he did was gimp around and act like a puss. Not much of a stretch for Kevin Spacey. Pitt's performance was killer and stole the show. Another Pitt snub was for his single scene performance from True Romance when he played Floyd. They should make an award for "Best Cameo" or "Best Single Scene." That's an awesome idea if I have to say so myself. Think of it; Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller in The Legend of Ron Burgandy, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in every Kevin Smith film.

4. Paul Newman - Cool Hand Luke - Let's face it, Newman should probably have won about 5 Best Acting awards... it wasn't until he played Fast Eddie in The Color of Money that he finally did. Yes they skipped over him 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof', 'Hud', 'The Hustler', 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid', and of course 'Cool Hand Luke.' Losing that year to Rod Steiger for his performance from 'In The Heat of The Night.' Name me another Rod Steiger film. Hell, Newmans performance as Reggie Dunlop in Slap Shot was better than Steiger's Chief Gillespie. Ok, maybe that's a stretch... but I can tell you no one goes around quoting lines from 'In The Heat of The Night." Keep shaking that bush boy... keep shaking that bush. It should be noted that Steiger beat Dustin Hoffman to for his performance in 'The Graduate' too... really!

3. Saving Private Ryan - It wasn't so much that this movie didn't win Best Picture, but what did... Shakespeare in Love. Que? In what I would consider a WEAK year in Best Picture noms, Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love. The other nominees were Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, and A Thin Red Line. After seeing any of these movies I would never see them again. I would never even want to see most of them in the first place ( exception; Thin Red Line). What crap is this? Saving Private Ryan was spectacular, it was huge, it gave a whole new generation a new respect for "the greatest generation." It made World War II matter again. And, what did it get... snubbed.

2. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola's epic Vietnam drama was so complex and riveting that I don't think the Academy knew exactly what to do with it. Listed at #28 on the AFI Top 100 Films list, Apocalypse Now lost the Best Picture award to , 'Krammer vs. Krammer,' which isn't even on the list. Roger Ebert wrote in his review "Apocalypse Now achieves greatness not by analyzing our 'experience in Vietnam', but by re-creating, in characters and images, something of that experience." And, it took you through some pretty dark, f***ing experiences at that. Perhaps because it took us there is why it was snubbed in 1979.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Number 22 on AFI's Top 100 Films list wasn't even nominated for Best Picture in 1968. The Academy instead chose to nominate 'Funny Girl,' 'The Lion In Winter,' 'Oliver' (winner), 'Rachel, Rachel,' and 'Romeo and Juliet.' None of which are on the top 100 list. Furthermore, in 1991 the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry calling it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Funny, I don't recall anyone saying that about 'Oliver.' The film is noted by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as "hugely inspirational." Those guys are pretty good, I'll take their word for it.

Well, there you go, the biggest Oscar snubs and f***-ups ever. So, maybe Mila Kunis chowing down on Natalie Portman's box isn't in the top 5, it's still worthy of snubbery and, who knows, in 20 years maybe it'll make the top 5.

p.s. - Brad Pitt was a joke... sorta. The guy was awesome and deserved to win Best-Supporting Actor in 12 Monkeys, but snubbed? Not on this level...

5. Star Wars - This movie REWROTE the book on special effects in movies . It gave us 34 years of Star Wars lore, fan clubs, action figures, 5 more movies, cartoons out the a$$, Harrison Ford, the Force, Billions in sales. And, what did we give it... just a nomination for Best Picture. What the f*** has Annie Hall done for you lately.