Barring some unforeseen break in character, the Academy will not bestow Best Picture honors upon Gravity or Her (And as we know ... they didn't). Most likely, the critics have agreed, the Academy's preference for straight dramas and period pieces will hold true once again. American Hustle or 12 Years a Slave will take home the statue, making the remaining seven films token nominees.
That's nothing new for sci-fi movies, which have always been in the happy-to-be-nominated pool as more typical Oscar bait takes home the award. The expansion of nominees from five to 10 in 2009 at least opened the door for more geeky films to get nominated. Still, nothing that you'd ID as true sci-fi has ever won the big award. But these should have:
2001: A Space Odyssey
The clearest choice. Number 1 on PopMech's list of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time wasn't even nominated for Best Picture in 1968. No offense to the movie musical Oliver!,, which won that year, but one of the most innovative films ever made deserved the selection here.
Blade Runner
Number 2 on our list wasn't nominated either. The sprawling epic Gandhi won the award, because of course it did. But if any year should have been sci-fi's breakthrough, it was 1982. Besides Blade Runner, Ridley Scott's brilliant, rain-soaked, blue-gray interpretation of a Philip K. Dick dystopia, there was the much happier E.T., which actually earned a Best Picture nomination. The best Trek movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, also came out this year.
The Empire Strikes Back
Although Empire is the critical darling of the original Star Wars trilogy, I'd be open to the argument that the 1977 original deserved the statuette. But even now it's hard argue against Annie Hall, which won the award that year. So let's talk about the trilogy's marvelous and dark middle child. While Star Wars grabbed a nomination, The Empire Strikes Back got no Oscar love despite weaker competition. Ordinary People infamously took home the 1980 Best Picture Oscar. It should have been Empire, or if not that, Raging Bull.
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