2009 Best Picture: 2 Films That Didn’t Deserve The Nomination (& 8 Replacements)

The 2009 Academy Awards recognized the best films and performances released in the previous year, 2008. That year brought movie-goers films like Definitely, Maybe, Role Models, Pineapple Express, and Cloverfield. But none of these films were nominated for any Academy Awards that year.

The films that were nominated for the Best Picture category this year were: Slumdog Millionaire, which won the coveted award, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Milk. A few of these movies on this list have gone down in history as some of the best movies of the decade, but a couple of others maybe didn’t deserve the nomination. There are even a few others that the Academy may have overlooked.

10 Should Have Been: The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan’s second installment in his Batman franchise has been considered one of the best films ever made in the years since its release. This film, starring Heath Ledger as the Joker, in his final performance, set record numbers at the box office and both Nolan and Ledger were praised for their work on the film.

One of the biggest surprises of award season in 2009 was the fact that this film was not nominated in the Best Picture category.

9 Should Have Been: Bronson

Bronson is a biographical film starring Tom Hardy as the title character. Tom Hardy has become one of the most sought after talents in Hollywood in recent years, and it was this film that made the industry sit up and take notice of this actor’s incredible talent.

This film was praised by critics, not just for Hardy’s performance, but for the storytelling as a whole, yet it was completely left out of award season in the year it was eligible.

8 Should Have Been: The Duchess

This dramatic feature film is based on the late 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and the biography about her life by Amanda Foreman.

The film stars Kiera Knightly as the focal character and was directed by Saul Dibb. This film seemed to have everything the Academy looks for when voting for the year’s honors, yet it only received two nominations, one for Best Costume Design and one for Best Art Direction.

7 Nominated: Frost/Nixon

This film is based on the play by the same name and reunites a lot of the people involved in the play to adapt it to the big screen. Playwright Peter Morgan adapted the play into a feature film and the play’s stars, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen returned to play their original characters, Richard Nixon and David Frost, respectively.

The film and play have been heavily criticized for their historical inaccuracies, which makes fans and critics wonder why this film received such high praise.

6 Should Have Been: Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist

This film stars Kat Dennings and Michael Cera and is based on the book by the same name. It’s a romantic comedy about two teenagers who spend a night looking for their favorite band’s secret show and end up falling for one another.

The film was a big box office success upon its release, especially amongst the other indpednet features released that year, and it received high praise from critics and the independent film awards community, but never seemed to be on the Academy’s radar, despite its undeniable success.

5 Should Have Been: Revolutionary Road

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio reunite for the first time on screen since Titanic in this epic period piece love story. The film seemed like it would be a shoe in for every award during 2009’s award season, but it was surprisingly left out of most of the major categories at the 81st annual Academy Awards.

The Academy gave a Best Supporting Actor nomination to Michael Shannon and nominated the film for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, but the film was snubbed from all of the other major categories.

4 Nominated: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fantasy feature film starring Brad Pitt as a man who ages backwards. When Benjamin Button is born, he looks like an old man, and as he grows up, his appearance gets younger and younger.

The film has been referenced in pop culture numerous times since its release, but its reviews fell short of what the filmmakers anticipated with a lot of critics saying that the film was too long and a bit inflated, which apparently didn’t seem to bother the Academy voters.

3 Should Have Been: The Brothers Bloom

This Rian Johnson comedy stars Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Maximilian Schell, and Robbie Coltrane. The film received decent praise both at the box offices and in critics’ reviews, but developed a big fan base despite not having the industry’s total support.

The film has become a cult classic, especially after Rian Johnson’s more recent successes and the Academy is probably kicking itself for overlooking Johnson’s brilliance in his early years of filmmaking.

2 Should Have Been: WALL-E

It’s safe to assume that WALL-E is one of Pixar’s most important feature films the studio has ever made. The story depicts what could happen to our planet at the rate we are going with pollution and climate change. Not only is this important story told in a clever and entertaining way, but the visual effects are stunning.

The film was nominated for and won Best Animated Feature at the 2009 ceremony, which makes fans wonder why it wasn’t at least nominated in the Best Picture category.

1 Should Have Been: Burn After Reading

This dark comedy Coen Brothers’ film is about a CIA analyst who has recently been let go of his position and misplaces his very confidential memoirs, which are found by a couple of gym employees, who don’t seem to be the sharpest tools in the shed.

Both the performances and the story received a lot of praise from critics and fans alike, so it came as a shock when this film was entirely left out of the Academy Awards the year it was eligible.

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