25 best movies that never won an Oscar

20. The Wolf of Wall Street

By the time The Wolf of Wall Street came out, Martin Scorsese had finally won his long-awaited Oscar. Of course, with the exception of The Departed, he had spent his career watching his films be grossly overlooked by the Academy. So he probably wasn’t all that surprised when The Wolf of Wall Street didn’t win a single Oscar in 2014. It’s easy to get used to rejection.

Scorsese’s three-hour biopic chronicling the rise and fall of Wall Street wiz kid Jordan Belfort was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was essentially completely overshadowed by a combination of 12 Years A Slave, Gravity and Dallas Buyers Club.

The biggest travesty here is DiCaprio not winning what would have been his first Best Actor Oscar for crushing the role of Belfort. His performance was Oscar-worthy and him winning this year would’ve had a positive ripple effect on subsequent Academy decisions. Their actual Best Actor decision was far from alright, alright, alright.

DiCaprio did win the Golden Globe that year, but seriously, imagine a world where he won for The Wolf of Wall Street like he should have. He probably would never have had to crawl into a horse carcass for his art in The Revenant. There’s commitment, and then there’s being spurned by the Oscars so many times you’re willing to do that.