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With the 98th Academy Awards just around the corner, there has already been a lot of discussion surrounding this year's nominations. From the mesmerizing set pieces within Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, to the jaw-dropping cinematic techniques on display in Ryan Coogler's Sinners, this year's Oscars ceremony is shaping up to be one for the history books.
In honor of the Academy Awards' status as the ultimate celebration of contemporary cinema, I have compiled a list of notable films from past decades which have all been nominated for Hollywood's most prestigious awards... even if you don't remember them that way.
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
There is no single filmmaker that has been more regularly disrespected by the Academy than Stanley Kubrick. The legendary director was nominated a dozen times during his forty-seven year career, winning only once in the Best Visual Effects category for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The Academy seemed particularly adept at overlooking Kubrick during the final years of his career, completely shutting out films like The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut from awards consideration. Most surprising, however, was the Academy’s unusual recognition of Full Metal Jacket at the 60th Oscar's ceremony. The harrowing Vietnam drama was nominated only for Best Adapted Screenplay despite significant praise directed towards Kubrick's austere filmmaking and the intensity of Vincent D’Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey's performances. Although the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket absolutely deserved its lone nomination, it's a shame that the Academy was not able to properly recognize Kubrick's impact on the cinematic medium until after his death.
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
Though the cinematic adaptation of E.L. James' erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey was universally panned by critics and audiences alike, the film still managed to earn an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category.
"Earned It" was written and performed by The Weeknd, and served as the lead single on the film's soundtrack. The track reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best R&B Performance at that year's Grammy Awards. Against these accolades, the Academy's recognition of Fifty Shades of Grey begins to make more sense (even if the film racked up five Golden Raspberry Awards that same year).
Coraline (2009)
The Best Animated Feature category at the 82nd Academy Awards was a caravan of modern classics. While Pixar's Up was positioned as a strong frontrunner for a majority of awards season, the immense quality of Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog made the outcome anything but certain. Facing fierce competition, Henry Selick's Coraline seemed to quietly fade from public consciousness despite strong box office results and a positive critical reception.
Although Pixar ultimately took home the award in 2010, Coraline's reputation has significantly blossomed in recent years. The film was rereleased in theaters during 2023 and 2024, earning millions at the box office despite being fifteen years old. The fanbase for Neil Gaiman's coming-of-age tale has continued to steadily grow in online spaces as well, with Coraline overtaking both Up and The Princess and the Frog in total user logs on film platforms such as Letterboxd and IMDb.
The Patriot (1928)
If you've never seen Ernst Lubitsch's historical drama The Patriot, you're not alone. The film was released in 1928 by Paramount Pictures and was nominated for five Oscars at the 2nd Academy Awards. Despite its immense success at the time of release, The Patriot is now considered a lost film due to poor preservation efforts. While the picture initially ran for nearly two hours over twelve reels, the UCLA Film & Television Archive estimates that only about a quarter of the film still survives.
The loss of The Patriot serves as a cautionary tale within the media preservation sphere, warning scholars and audiences alike that even works from renowned auteurs can disappear if proper care is not taken.
Taxi Driver (1976)
While any self-respecting cinephile remembers that Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver was nominated for several awards at the 49th Academy Awards, there's one glaring oversight that you may have forgotten – Paul Schrader's legendary script was not nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
Schrader famously penned the film during a serious depressive episode, keeping a loaded handgun next to his typewriter in order to stay focused. These extreme measures seemed to pay off, as Taxi Driver is often lauded as one of the greatest character studies ever put to the silver screen. Although Scorsese's filmmaking and Robert De Niro's leading performance contribute greatly to the film's timeless quality, it's a shame that Paul Schrader was not formally recognized for laying the groundwork in the writer's room.
Schrader would not be acknowledged by the Academy until 2019, finally earning a Best Original Screenplay nomination for his work on First Reformed.
Whether you're thrilled with the Academy's choice of nominations this year, or feel that your favorite film of 2025 was snubbed, it's important to remember awards season recognition is only one piece of the puzzle. While industry trends and audience tastes are always shifting, the inevitable passage of time remains cinema's most influential critic. And though the Academy Awards often succeed in recognizing incredible films, it is the cinematic works that persist in public discourse for years to come that ultimately earn their place amongst the greatest of all time.
