It's always tough: each year there can be only five nominees in each category and, even if we respect all the Academy's choices, there are always people we'd like to see get the nod who lose out. So here are some of the names we would have liked to see on the list, if only the Academy still had eight nominees per category like they did in the 1930s.
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Gran Torino
Could've been nominated for: Best Actor - Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood's second film of the year after Changeling is billed as his last ever acting performance - and it's a blazingly good one from the 78 year-old, combining his trademark growl with a snarliness and bitter rage that is more extreme than anything he's done before. It's surprising that Oscar chose not to honour his last performance - but perhaps they don't believe that he's really ready to hang up his boots (he did say he was retiring from acting after Million Dollar Baby, remember).
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The Dark Knight
Could've been nominated for: Best Director - Christopher Nolan
Even allowing for the fact that comic book movies don't get nominated for Best Picture, the directorial achievement in putting The Dark Knight together as well as Nolan did should not be ignored. Directing a film of that scale is akin to marshalling an army; managing to also get the performances he did from Heath Ledger and the rest of the cast is an achievement like Caesar conquering Gaul, Napoleon taking out Prussia or Arnie killing Terminator.
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Revolutionary Road
Could've been nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress
Oscar doesn't really like downers, and they've made that clear with the quite marked snubbing of Sam Mendes' bleak relationship drama. Kate and Leo aboard a sinking ship was one thing; Kate and Leo breaking each other's hearts in Surburbia is clearly another. The overlooked performances are particularly galling: in ignoring DiCaprio, Oscar once again proves that they don't reward good young actors, and while Winslet ran the risk of splitting her own vote, she gives a subtly brilliant turn here.
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Gomorrah
Could've been nominated for: Best Foreign Film
Every year, the Academy's bizarre rules on Films Not In English result in brilliant films missing out: examples in recent years include The Band's Visit, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Talk To Her to name but three. This year, it was the turn of Italian crime drama Gomorrah, the story of Naples' Camorra and the way they have infiltrated every facet of local (and national, and international) society. Between the controversies over countries choosing the wrong nominees, arguments over what constitutes "foreign" and decisions that are plain baffling, it's yet another sign that the Foreign Film category is broken and needs serious overhaul.
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Wall-E, Waltz With Bashir and Man On Wire
Could've been nominated for: Best Picture
Here's a thought: the ghettoisation of animation, foreign films and documentaries increasingly means that the Best Picture category doesn't contain many of the Best Pictures of the year. These three are a good example of the results of Oscar failing to think outside the box: it doesn't have to be a biopic, literary adaptation or Peter Morgan screenplay to be one of the year's best. It could be a heartbreaking epic about a far future, an animated semi-documentary about the effects of war or a full-on documentary about a grandiose, well-nigh unbelieveable stunt that also touches upon one of the biggest events of our time.
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I've Loved You So Long
Could've been nominated for: Best Actress - Kristin Scott Thomas
The Golden Globes and BAFTAs both recognised Kristin Scott Thomas' impressive turn in this French family drama, but come Oscar season she was nowhere to be seen. It's tempting to conclude that this smaller foreign film simply wasn't seen by the voters - or that they felt they had filled their indie quotient with Melissa Leo's nod for Frozen River. But it's still a shame: Scott Thomas' performance is muted but layered like an onion, and it - and the film - deserve the burst of publicity that an Oscar nomination would bring.
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The Wrestler
Could've been nominated for: Best Original Song - Bruce Springsteen
Fair play to the Academy for choosing two songs from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack - but what gives with ignoring Bruce Sprinsteen's wistful ballad from Darren Aronofsky's movie? The lyrics would bring a tear to the eye, never mind the achey, bluesy tune, and the whole is probably the equal to his winning effort for Philadelphia in 1995. Yet not only was it not nominated, but it must have been actively ignored because there were only three nominees; it's not even been edged out by a crowded line-up. Shocking.
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Happy-Go-Lucky
Could've been nominated for: Best Actress - Sally Hawkins
The film was warmly received here, but positively rapturously acclaimed in the US, where relatively unknown British actress Sally Hawkins has been much praised for her role as a perpetually bubbly primary school teacher. She's been Golden Globe nominated, SAG nominated and feted at numerous critics awards - but come the Oscars she was ignored completely, which is rather a poor finish to a great season. And it's films like this that need the nominations far more than a Doubt or a Changeling.
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