25 best movies that never won an Academy Award

25 best movies that never won an Oscar

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 03: Director Greta Gerwig (R) accepts the Nomination Medallion for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 'Lady Bird' from actor Saoirse Ronan onstage during the 70th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 3, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for DGA) /

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7. Se7en

(Yes, Se7en is No. 7 on this list on purpose. Don’t @ me.)

We’ve already established that Fincher is one of the best yet least rewarded directors of all time. This entire list could’ve just been made up of Fincher films, but that seemed like overkill. Instead, let’s opine about Se7en, another well-made, well-acted original Fincher creation with a killer twist that was almost entirely ignored by the 1996 Oscars.

The only Academy Award nomination it picked up was for Film Editing, which it lost to Apollo 13. That’s not exactly a grave injustice, but one can question it. The bigger issue is Fincher once again not being nominated for Best Director, which just seems silly in retrospect. It was the kind of year when Chris Noonan could be nominated for directing Babe. Sorry pig, that won’t do at all.

Stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman should’ve also been considered, though their equal screen time might’ve made categorizing them tough. Pitt also happened to star in 12 Monkeys in 1995, for which he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. It’s quite possible the Academy didn’t want to nominate him twice.

Se7en will go down as an under-appreciated gem that just happened to come out before its director had become an Academy darling. And like most Fincher films, it’ll remain one that fans love despite its lack of awards-season love.

You know what wasn’t in the box? An Oscars win.

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