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) /

23 of 26

4. Heat

1996 was apparently full of well-regarded films that the Academy had no desire to express any admiration for. The Academy honoring now-problematic films like Braveheart and The Usual Suspects at the expense of Casino, Se7en and Heat just seems so, so wrong in 2019. The former two films at least received a nomination though; Heat was completely shut out of the ’96 Oscars.

That seems baffling given the talent involved in Heat. It was directed by Michael Mann, and was billed as the ultimate cat-and-mouse game between acting titans Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The supporting cast featured the likes of Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore, William Fichter and a young Natalie Portman. And most importantly, it was good! What’s not to like here?

If either De Niro or Pacino had been nominated for Best Actor, they could’ve at least contended with winner Nicholas Cage (LOL) for Leaving Las Vegas. Same with Kilmer for Supporting Actor, whose win in that category would’ve aged much better than Spacey’s for The Usual Suspects. Hindsight might also vault this film all the way to Best Director and Best Picture. Bye, Braveheart.

The lack of nominations for Heat anywhere is so sparse that its awards page on IMDb includes Kilmer being nominated for Most Desirable Male at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards for Batman Forever, WHICH IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MOVIE. Now that’s just sad.

Home/Entertainment