The Academy Awards is likely the one awards show that everyone thinks of first when it comes to awards season. After all, an Oscar is not only a coveted career accomplishment for anyone in show business, but it's also arguably the most recognizable award there is.
There are certain, rather contentious categories that everyone waits to see winners in, and sometimes its clear that despite the Academy's best efforts, deserving movies, actors, actresses and film crews don't get nominated.
2021 was the same as many years past. Movies that will likely become huge, lasting favorites, did not receive any Academy kudos, much like The Wizard of Oz or The Shining. This year it was movies like The Surrogate and The Assistant that, while worthy of an Oscar or two, became just two in a number of snubbed films.
The Assistant, according to Sheila O'Malley of Roger-Ebert, is a strong film not because it calls out sexual harassment in a blatant, audacious manner, but because it shows the subtlety with which sexual harassment can be carried out and all but smothered when powerful men - and sometimes women - use their prestige to gain an advantage over an employee.
The Surrogate is another on this years Oscar-worthy titles that simply didn't make the cut. Poignant, moving and timely, this movie explores everything from strained friendships and differences of opinions, to the struggles gay and lesbian couples go through to become parents, to the struggles parents have when faced with a heartbreaking diagnosis for an unborn child. The Surrogate might not have won an Oscar, but it'll win the hearts of audiences for years to come.
Other great movies from 2021 got snubbed in the same cold and bold fashion that great, iconic movies of the past have. In general, horror movies for instance, don't often snag a lot of Oscar nominations. Whether because of topic or content, no one really knows. However, that doesn't mean that they weren't worthy.
Take Stephen King's The Shining, for example. Released in 1981, this masterful horror film captivates you from the first and doesn't let go until the very end - and even then, it hangs on. It didn't, however, get nominated for an Oscar during its prime. Even still, it has since become a standard to meet in the making of future horror films .
The massively popular The Wizard of Oz is another favorite not given its due by the Academy. It's a classic, usually toted as a family tradition, which once aired every Thanksgiving. It is still loved by generation after generation - unfortunately for it, however, it was made in 1939, the same year as Gone With the Wind, which consequently swept the Academy Awards, leaving The Wizard of Oz in it's wake.
It's easy to think that the Academy always gets it wrong, but in a year when there's a movie like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom or Gone With the Wind, it seems a little easier to understand how one movie gets all the accolades while another - deserving as it might be -misses out.
Whether or not a movie deserves an Oscar is certainly a matter of opinion and perspective, but Variety recently put together a list of the top movies ever not to win an Oscar - so dive in and see if any of your favorites got canned.