We write this today before the Oscar winners are announced tonight. And the Oscar for Best Picture? Well, history tells us that the Academy gets it wrong more often than not.
We were reminded of a seminal Washington Post article from a few years ago—The Oscars Are Usually Wrong. It laid out a compelling case that the Academy consistently picks the wrong winners. We couldn’t agree more.
So, starting from 2003, we’re setting the record straight.
More than anything, this is a definitive watchlist of the best films of the last 20+ years—the ones you should add to your queue when you’re scrolling through Netflix, Prime, or HBO, trying to find something truly great.
2024
✅ Who should win: Dune: Part Two
❌ Who will win: Anora
- Anora (Nominee)
- The Brutalist (Nominee)
- A Complete Unknown (Nominee)
- Conclave (Nominee)
- Dune: Part Two (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Emilia Pérez (Nominee)
- I’m Still Here (Nominee)
- Nickel Boys (Nominee)
- The Substance (Nominee)
- Wicked (Nominee)
2023
✅ Who should have won: Killers of the Flower Moon
❌ Who won: Oppenheimer
- American Fiction (Nominee)
- Anatomy of a Fall (Nominee)
- Barbie (Nominee)
- The Holdovers (Nominee)
- Killers of the Flower Moon (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Maestro (Nominee)
- Oppenheimer (Winner)
- Past Lives (Nominee)
- Poor Things (Washington Post’s Pick)
- The Zone of Interest (Nominee)
2022
✅ Who should have won: Everything Everywhere All at Once
❌ Who won: Everything Everywhere All at Once
- All Quiet on the Western Front (Nominee)
- Avatar: The Way of Water (Nominee)
- The Banshees of Inisherin (Nominee)
- Elvis (Nominee)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (Winner) (Who should have won)
- The Fabelmans (Nominee)
- Tár (Nominee)
- Top Gun: Maverick (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Triangle of Sadness (Nominee)
- Women Talking (Nominee)
2021
✅ Who should have won: Belfast
❌ Who won: CODA
- Belfast (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- CODA (Winner)
- Don’t Look Up (Nominee)
- Drive My Car (Nominee)
- Dune (Nominee)
- King Richard (Nominee)
- Licorice Pizza (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Nightmare Alley (Washington Post’s Pick)
- The Power of the Dog (Nominee)
- West Side Story (Nominee)
2020
✅ Who should have won: Nomadland
❌ Who won: Nomadland
- The Father (Nominee)
- Judas and the Black Messiah (Nominee)
- Mank (Nominee)
- Minari (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Nomadland (Winner) (Who should have won)
- Promising Young Woman (Nominee)
- Sound of Metal (Nominee)
- The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Nominee)
2019
✅ Who should have won: Jojo Rabbit
❌ Who won: Parasite
- Ford v Ferrari (Nominee)
- The Irishman (Nominee)
- Jojo Rabbit (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Joker (Nominee)
- Little Women (Nominee)
- Marriage Story (Nominee)
- 1917 (Nominee)
- Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (Nominee)
- Parasite (Winner) (Washington Post’s Pick)
2018
✅ Who should have won: Bohemian Rhapsody
❌ Who won: Green Book
- BlacKkKlansman (Nominee)
- Black Panther (Nominee)
- Bohemian Rhapsody (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- The Favourite (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Green Book (Winner)
- Roma (Nominee)
- A Star Is Born (Nominee)
- Vice (Nominee)
2017
✅ Who should have won: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
❌ Who won: The Shape of Water
- Call Me By Your Name (Nominee)
- Darkest Hour (Nominee)
- Dunkirk (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Get Out (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Lady Bird (Nominee)
- Phantom Thread (Nominee)
- The Post (Nominee)
- The Shape of Water (Winner)
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Nominee) (Who should have won)
2016
✅ Who should have won: Fences
❌ Who won: Moonlight
- La La Land (Incorrectly Announced as Winner)
- Moonlight (Winner)
- Manchester by the Sea (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Arrival (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Fences (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Lion (Nominee)
- Hidden Figures (Nominee)
- Hacksaw Ridge (Nominee)
- Hell or High Water (Nominee)
2015
✅ Who should have won: The Big Short
❌ Who won: Spotlight
- The Big Short (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Bridge of Spies (Nominee)
- Brooklyn (Nominee)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (Nominee)
- The Martian (Nominee)
- The Revenant (Nominee)
- Room (Nominee)
- Spotlight (Winner)
- Ex Machina (Washington Post’s Pick but Not Nominated)
2014
✅ Who should have won: The Grand Budapest Hotel
❌ Who won: Birdman
- American Sniper (Nominee)
- Birdman (Winner)
- Boyhood (Washington Post’s Pick)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- The Imitation Game (Nominee)
- Selma (Nominee)
- The Theory of Everything (Nominee)
- Whiplash (Nominee)
2013
✅ Who should have won: The Wolf of Wall Street
❌ Who won: 12 Years a Slave
- American Hustle (Nominee)
- Captain Phillips (Nominee)
- Dallas Buyers Club (Nominee)
- Gravity (Nominee)
- Her (Nominee)
- Nebraska (Nominee)
- Philomena (Nominee)
- 12 Years a Slave (Winner) (Washington Post’s Pick)
- The Wolf of Wall Street (Nominee) (Who should have won)
2012
✅ Who should have won: Argo
❌ Who won: Argo
- Amour (Nominee)
- Argo (Winner) (Who should have won)
- Beasts of the Southern Wild (Nominee)
- Django Unchained (Nominee)
- Les Misérables (Nominee)
- Life of Pi (Nominee)
- Lincoln (Nominee)
- Silver Linings Playbook (Nominee)
- Zero Dark Thirty (Nominee)
- Skyfall (Washington Post’s Pick)
2011
✅ Who should have won: Moneyball
❌ Who won: The Artist
- The Artist (Winner)
- The Descendants (Nominee)
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Nominee)
- The Help (Nominee)
- Hugo (Nominee)
- Midnight in Paris (Nominee)
- Moneyball (Nominee) (Who should have won & Washington Post’s Pick)
- The Tree of Life (Nominee)
- War Horse (Nominee)
2010
✅ Who should have won: True Grit
❌ Who won: The King’s Speech
- Black Swan (Nominee)
- The Fighter (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Inception (Nominee)
- The Kids Are All Right (Nominee)
- The King’s Speech (Winner)
- 127 Hours (Nominee)
- The Social Network (Washington Post’s Pick)
- Toy Story 3 (Nominee)
- True Grit (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Winter’s Bone (Nominee)
2009
✅ Who should have won: Inglourious Basterds
❌ Who won: The Hurt Locker
- Avatar (Nominee)
- The Blind Side (Nominee)
- District 9 (Nominee)
- An Education (Nominee)
- The Hurt Locker (Winner)
- Inglourious Basterds (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Precious (Nominee)
- A Serious Man (Nominee)
- Up (Nominee)
- Up in the Air (Nominee)
2008
✅ Who should have won: The Dark Knight (Not Nominated)
❌ Who won: Slumdog Millionaire
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Nominee)
- Frost/Nixon (Nominee)
- Milk (Nominee)
- The Reader (Nominee)
- Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
- The Dark Knight (Who should have won but not nominated)
2007
✅ Who should have won: There Will Be Blood
❌ Who won: No Country for Old Men
- Atonement (Nominee)
- Juno (Nominee)
- Michael Clayton (Nominee)
- No Country for Old Men (Winner)
- There Will Be Blood (Nominee) (Who should have won)
2006
✅ Who should have won: The Departed
❌ Who won: The Departed
- Babel (Nominee)
- Letters from Iwo Jima (Nominee)
- Little Miss Sunshine (Nominee)
- The Queen (Nominee)
- The Departed (Winner) (Who should have won)
2005
✅ Who should have won: Brokeback Mountain
❌ Who won: Crash
- Brokeback Mountain (Nominee) (Who should have won)
- Capote (Nominee)
- Crash (Winner)
- Good Night, and Good Luck (Nominee)
- Munich (Nominee)
2004
✅ Who should have won: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Not Nominated)
❌ Who won: Million Dollar Baby
- The Aviator (Nominee)
- Finding Neverland (Nominee)
- Million Dollar Baby (Winner)
- Ray (Nominee)
- Sideways (Nominee)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Who should have won but not nominated)
2003
✅ Who should have won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
❌ Who won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Winner) (Who should have won)
- Lost in Translation (Nominee)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Nominee)
- Mystic River (Nominee)
- Seabiscuit (Nominee)
Whether you agree or disagree, one thing is certain—the Oscars have a long history of getting it wrong. But the silver lining? This list doubles as an incredible watchlist. If you haven’t seen these films, now’s the perfect time to dive in.
