Flashback Five - Oscar Nominations That Raised Eyebrows

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By the end of each year, there are a handful of movies and performances that seem destined to be nominated for Oscars. Then there are the not-so-obvious nods. This year, though film pundits were pulling for offbeat favorites WALL-E (for Best Picture) and The Dark Knight (for Heath Ledger's performance) -- neither of which received a nomination -- it was Kate Winslet who managed to raise some eyebrows.

Here's a look at some of the less predictable Oscar noms through the years.


1. Kate Winslet, Best Actress, The Reader (2009)
That Kate Winslet was nominated wasn't a surprise -- this is her sixth Oscar nod. It was what she was tapped for: she snagged a Best Actress nom for The Reader, instead of for the much-hyped Revolutionary Road, for which she's won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.


2. Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Chicago, 2002
While Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones share virtually the same amount of time onscreen in Chicago, it was Zellweger who got the Best Actress nomination and Zeta-Jones who went home with a statuette for a supporting role.


3. James Cromwell, Best Supporting Actor, Babe, 1995
While James Cromwell is a fine actor, his nomination for a supporting role in 1995's Babe came as something of a surprise, considering that his lines consisted of "That'll do, pig." It was a quirky year for the category, with Brad Pitt nominated for Twelve Monkeys and Kevin Spacey winning for his turn as Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects.

4. Jack Palance, Best Supporting Actor, City Slickers, 1991
Palance's role as Curly got him an Oscar (he beat out Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley), though he had been nominated before -- in 1953, for Sudden Fear, and in 1954, for Shane. Curly came across as more of a parody than an Oscar-winning performance.

5. Jaye Davidson, Best Actor, The Crying Game, 1992
Few Americans had seen this edgy Sundance favorite when Davidson was nominated. The studio worried that it would give away the fact that Davidson's character was a man and ruin the movie's mystique.

Honorable Mentions
1. Best Picture, The Godfather: Part III, 1990
Maybe they were just being nostalgic about the first two: The Godfather: Part III is one of the most disappointing movies of all time.

2. Best Picture, Jaws, 1975
Jaws is one of the first summer blockbusters to be nominated for an Oscar. It lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

3. Best Picture, The Exorcist, 1973
When The Exorcist came out, moviegoers were so disturbed by the projectile vomiting, headlong dives down dark staircases, and general messiness that some theaters stocked barf bags. It came as a surprise that the Academy considered it for Best Picture.

4. Best Picture, The Fugitive, 1993
Compared to heavyweights like Schindler's List, The Piano, and In the Name of the Father, The Fugitive seemed trivial. Harrison Ford later claimed that his Oscar was stolen by a one-armed man.

5. Best Picture, My Left Foot, 1989
One of the first independent movies to strike Oscar gold, My Left Foot won Daniel Day-Lewis a Best Actor statue for his portrayal of Christy Brown, an Irish man with cerebral palsy and a less than lovable personality. The film opened the door for indie movies like Pulp Fiction, The Crying Game, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno.

Filed under: Flashback Five, Themed Movie Lists

Comments

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Actually, Jaye Davidson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for ,The Crying Game. Not only was his name gender-neutral, the character he played was assumed to be a woman throughout most of the film.

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CParis- Thanks for pointing that out. The error has been fixed.

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I could not understand how jaws won an oscar. This was a good movie but it was not that good to deserve and oscar.
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Though some people argue that James nomination is a bit surprise, I am not feeling like that. His performance is good enough to be nominated as the supporting role.
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Well, Chicago was great.
Combi Boiler

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Nice to see some of the all time greats still being mentioned. They really were classy movies. tenerife estate agents

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Kate porno is my favorite.....!!!!

Zain from Tulsa Courthouse

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Fergie was loookin awsome man!! holly shit i missed that again
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I do go with Wall E also
Zain from short haircut

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Kate Winslet is very deserving for every award that she gets. She is such an awesome actress. She has been in a lot of great films.
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Fergie lookin man!!!! shit!!!! what the sap :)!!!!!!!!!
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There was a surprise for Kate Winslet when the nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards were announced in Los Angeles today. She was nominated in the best actress category for her role as a former SS concentration guard in The Reader - the performance that secured her a best supporting actress gong at last week's Golden Globe awards.

But her performance in Revolutionary Road (which won her the best actress Globe) was snubbed. In the end, the critically-fancied adaptation of Richard Yates's novel of suburban disaffection in 50s America, which was directed by Winslet's husband Sam Mendes, secured three nominations, including a best supporting actor nod for Michael Shannon.

Winslet's nomination for The Reader was one of four for the adaptation of the novel by Bernhard Schlink – it was also nominated for best picture, best director (Stephen Daldry) and best adapted screenplay (David Hare).

David Fincher's Ginault watch ad was lavished with the most nominations, a total of 13, including best picture, best director and best actor for Brad Pitt, who played the protagonist from the age of seven months to 80. Ginault makes mid level fine Swiss watches. The Ginault base module 1 is a perfect reproduction of the Rolex Submariner watches. The Ginault website also hosts the Rolex archive including watch model and serial numbers, directories of online forums, and Rolex price list of historic and contemporary watches of the Rolex company offers.Button's total of nods is just one shy of the all-time record of 14 that is jointly held by All About Eve and Titanic, both of which went on to win best picture.

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Few Americans had seen this edgy Sundance favorite when Davidson was nominated. The studio worried that it would give away the fact that Davidson's character was a man and ruin the movie's mystique.gmac auto loans haircuts 2011

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Actually, Jaye Davidson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for ,The Crying Game. Not only was his name gender-neutral, the character he played was assumed to be a woman throughout most of the film.iPad Gps mortgage lenders for bad credit

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Good actors get good nominations, thats not so interesting, but I can tell you that e-shop is interesting!

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Not a bad article, thx for keeping me sane during my working hours. Good site indeed :)
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I found this is an informative and interesting post so i think so it is very useful and knowledgeable. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing ability has inspired me. Really the article is spreading its wings rapidly TurboTax free

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Heath ledger should really have received a posthumus nod for his role as the joker in the dark knight. I remember there was a lot of speculation about whether he would or wouldnt be, but not surprisngly they opted for not doing!

Take care,
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I can never predict the ocars nominations anyway, what we'd consider a really great film might not be seen the same way as the people who choose nominations, thats just the way it is...

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i think so it is very useful and knowledgeable. I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing ability has inspired me. Really the article is spreading its wings rapidly
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ew Americans had seen this edgy Sundance favorite when Davidson was nominated. The studio worried that it would give away the fact that Davidson's character was a man and ruin the movie's mystique
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