Oscars 2018: 9 Movies That Deserved Best Picture Nominations

The 2018 Academy Awards air Sunday night, and there is a stacked docket of films up for Best Picture.

The Best Picture nominees are: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

While (most of) those movies are definitely worth the top Oscars prize of the night, there are a slew of other films that are deserving of consideration. Any of the films we listed could definitely fill the one spot the Academy chose to leave open, or even replace some of the more bland Oscar-fare that was nominated.

Scroll to see what films we thought were worthy of Best Picture nominations at the 2018 Oscars.

‘The Big Sick’

The Big Sick earned a nomination for its screenplay but nothing else at the Oscars. It was possibly the best comedy of 2017, so it definitely deserves more Oscar love.

The rom-com tells of the peculiar true story of the early days of the film’s writers, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon. 

Kumail (played by Nanjiani himself) falls in love with Emily (portrayed by Zoe Kazan) before breaking up early on in the film due to his reluctance to tell his judgmental family about her. Then tragedy strikes as Kazan’s character suddenly falls ill and becomes unconscious in a hospital.

Kumail is then faced with proving to her parents (Holly Hunter, Ray Romano) that he still truly loves Emily and going against his parents’ wishes to date the love of his life.

‘The Florida Project’

The Florida Project is a marvelous piece of low-budget filmmaking that many critics hoped would squeeze into the Best Picture category.

The film is all about the day-to-day lives of people living a dingy motel near Disney World. Mainly, the film follows the childhood adventures of a troublemaking young girl (Brooklynn Prince) and her friends. However, you also see girl’s mother (Bria Vinaite), who lives a rather shady life, and the motel manager (Willem Dafoe, who is nominated for Best Actor), who does all he can to help his residents.

It’s captivating film that showcases not only the wonders of childhood, the struggles of the poor and the beauty in the tiny blessings life brings.

‘Logan’

Fan of the comic book/superhero genre were sure either Logan or Wonder Woman would win big at the Oscars. However, Logan is the only one who got the Academy’s attention (just not enough the score a Best Picture nom).

Logan is the gritty final film in the series of Wolverine movies starring High Jackman. It strips back all the flashy superheroics and tells a grounded story about the character’s grim and isolated future.

It did get a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, but it was worthy of much more.

‘Mudbound’

Mudbound was another one of the most high-profile Best Picture snubs.

The film, which was distributed by Netflix, centers around a black family and a white family navigating the tough realities of rural U.S. life after World War II.

The films scored some big nominations (supporting actress, screenplay, cinematography, original song), but the Academy still left it high and dry in the Best Picture category.

‘I, Tonya’

I, Tonya is crowd-pleasing film that could have perfectly bridged the gap between the films most see as “Oscar-worthy” and films easily consumed by the masses.

I, Tonya tells the real life story of Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) and the infamous attack on Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver).

However, the acclaimed 2017 flick, which is still in theaters, features solid figure skating scenes paired with a killer soundtrack and Robbie’s anchoring performance. The mockumentary shows a slew of events in Robbie’s life through her own words, the words of her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and her abusive mother LaVona Fay Golden (Allison Janney).

It received nominations for Best Actress (Robbie), Best Supporting Actress (Janney) and film editing, but a Best Picture slot was just beyond its grasp.

‘Blade Runner 2049’

Blade Runner 2049 was seen by many as a cinematic high-mark for 2017 sci-fi, but the genre flick just could not win over Oscar voters.

The epic uses stunning visuals to revisit the world of Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner, with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling starring. The movie received five technical nominations (cinematography, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects), but the performance, directing and Best Picture categories were just not in the cards.

‘Coco’

Coco is Pixar’s latest offering, and it should have filled the absence of animated flicks in the Best Picture category.

The film follows a Mexican boy’s journey into the land of the dead, and his journey to regaining hope. It’s a delightful film with wonderful original music, but it only scored Best Animated Feature and Best Music (Original Song) nominations.

‘Baby Driver’

A wild card in the Best Picture race was Baby Driver.

The heist picture is a remarkable cinematic achievement, with director Edgar Wright syncing up a loaded soundtrack to all the film’s scenes. The editing and sound work alone are worthy of recognition, but the cast is also phenomenal.

It was nominated in the editing, sound mixing and sound editing categories, but that was it. It could have been the inclusion on now-disgraced actor Kevin Spacey in the film’s cast that made voters veer away, or it could have just been seen as too light of flick for inclusion.

‘Wonder Woman’

As previously noted, Wonder Woman was the second superhero move of 2017 to get major Oscar buzz. However, the film was completely shut out.

The film rode a similar wave as Get Out, with it being a remarkable genre film with great social importance. However, it seems like Wonder Woman was too flashy for the Academy to deem it worthy of recognition.

Regardless, it is still a solid flick with a lot of heart and action that make it far more interesting watch that some of the organization’s more-bland picks.

The 2018 Oscars ceremony will air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.