Top 10 Most Egregious Oscar Snubs

First top 10 of the month. In keeping with the spirit of Academy Awards month, I'm taking us through the most egregious Oscar snubs. Understand that a true snub is when one of the five most deserving candidates isn't even nominated for an award in their respective categories. There are plenty of arguments about whether the right person/film won the award, but it's only a true Oscar snub if the candidate wasn't even nominated. Everyone clear? Alrighty then! I did a bit of research, and these are the worst examples I could find, in order, and of course, as my own personal opinion dictated.

(Also, in case you don't know, the years marked for each film are the years they came out in theaters. However, the Academy Awards is always held in February or March of the following year. So if I say Rear Window should have been nominated for Best Picture in 1954, that means it should have been nominated with all of the 1954 competitors, but in research materials it would be listed as competing in the 1955 Academy Awards. Sorry if that's confusing, or if no one cares!)

• 10. The Empire Strikes Back, 1980: Best Picture - It's not that 1980 was a bad year; both Raging Bull and Ordinary People were nominated. But many consider Empire the most compelling in the entire Star Wars collection; it's the darkest and most atmospheric, contains the turning point of the series, some of the most iconic imagery, and introduces Yoda. If The Lord of the Rings trilogy can get nominated for every installment, I see no reason why Star Wars best entry should be left out of the race.
• 9. Rupert Everett, 1997: Best Supporting Actor, My Best Friend's Wedding - Again, 1997 did nominate some excellent supporting performances (though not as impressive a year as 1993), but Everett was the most vital part of My Best Friend's Wedding. His scene-stealer was just the dose of grounded wisdom the film needed. And you can't tell me that him leading an entire restaurant in a chorus of "I Say a Little Prayer" wasn't hilarious! He manages to be the moral center of the film, Julia Robert's true best friend, and he does it all with charm and wit galore! He was the amusing gay friend, before it was all the rage.
• 8. Tron, 1982: Best Visual Effects - Most of you have probably never heard of this movie, but in it the main characters are transported inside a video game where the majority of the film takes place. It was creating a believable video-world entirely on green screen digital background, but before that technology was even available. Look at it today and you'll laugh; no where near the kind of digital details or imagery we are used to now. But in 1982, this work was landmark and deserved a nod.

• 7. Danny Elfman, 1990: Best Score, Edward Scissorhands - He's Tim Burton's main music man, and yet nothing from that body of work has ever been nominated (including the fabulous The Nightmare Before Christmas). I went with the score for Edward Scissorhands because the music is what makes that film more than just a satiric homage to horror movie creatures. The score is haunting and melodic, and contains a whimsical vibe that raises the tone of the film to that of a mythic fable. This score, aided immeasurably by Johnny Depp's touching performance, is what gives the film it's emotional resonance.
• 6. Almost Famous, 2000: Best Picture - You probably think this is only here because it's one of my favorite films, but I have always railed against the set of Best Picture nominees for 2000. How Cameron Crowe's most personal film, gloriously depicting the heyday of rock 'n' roll, failed to get nominated over the lesser Gladiator, Chocolat, and Erin Brockovich, I'll never know. (And if you ever wanna hear about the injustice that allowed Gladiator to beat both Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the big prize, it's one of my better rants!)
• 5. Do the Right Thing, 1989: Best Picture or Best Director, Spike Lee - This is one of the most powerful films about race relations in recent years, always popping up on AFI and "Best Films of the '80's" lists, and is Spike Lee's personal masterpiece. He perfectly captures the mood of a hot summer day when the racial tension in a black neighborhood erupts in violence, breaking tentative truces and exposing buried resentments. The Academy did nominate Lee in the writing category, but a film of such significance should have gotten a Director or Picture nod.

• 4. Paul Giamatti, 2004: Best Actor, Sideways - This is a tough one for me because I don't know who I'd cut from the category to make room; there were no slouches this year. But Paul Giamatti gave the performance of his career as Miles, a depressed oenophile trying to put on a happy front in the face of his best friend's debauched bachelor week. He breaks my heart in this movie, allowing me to understand this character in spite of his poor choices, and he makes me laugh while doing it.
• 3. Singin' in the Rain, 1952: Best Picture - This is the most acclaimed musical of all time, and it wasn't even nominated for Best Picture that year. Travesty! Now, some of the competition, High Noon and The Quiet Man, were worthy adversaries, but The Greatest Show on Earth, Moulin Rouge, and Ivanhoe are no match. Compound this with a lack of nominations for art direction, costume design or best song for "Singin' in the Rain," and this is definitely one of the most unbelievable snubs of all time.

• 2. Hoop Dreams, 1994: Best Documentary - This film, depicting the lives of two young, African-American basketball players, is one of the most socially conscious films of the last 30 years, raising important questions about the value we place on athletes in today's society. In a world where professional sports holds the key to escape for many young, black men, this film explores at what price they are exploited, and how their youth can be a disadvantage in this system. Generally appearing on "Best Films of the '90's" lists, it's absence from the list of Best Documentary nominees is conspicuous and disheartening.
• 1. Bernard Herrmann, 1960: Best Original Score, Psycho - Like Jaws, this is a score that only takes seconds to recognize. Earning a place in film history for appearing in one of the most infamous horror scenes of all time, and actually helping the audience visualize the gore, this score should absolutely have been considered along with the paltry entries for Elmer Gantry, The Alamo and winner Exodus. In addition to this glaring omission, Herrman was not nominated for any of his Hitchcock scores (The Birds, Marnie, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and the incomparable Vertigo), and received his one and only Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster, a film that no longer even registers on anyone's radar.