Not all forgotten Oscar movies are bad. Some are just fine, but this list is a reminder that Oscar nominations are a snapshot. They reflect a moment, and the Academy\u2019s voting block has ebbed and flowed over the decades, marking exponential evolution in just the past few years. It\u2019s easy to forget now, but some of the films on this list were\u00a0huge<\/em>\u00a0deals when they were released, and fever clearly struck enough Academy members to make an impact. But unlike\u00a0Titanic<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0The Deer Hunter<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or even\u00a0Kramer vs. Kramer<\/em><\/strong>, these movies have, for one reason or another, stopped finding new fans.<\/p>\n So below, a rundown of 10 Oscar movies that time forgot.<\/p>\n Image via Miramax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Sound, Costume Design, Cinematography<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0Picture, Director (Anthony Minghella), Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Costume Design, Score<\/p>\n The English Patient<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was a\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0big deal when it hit theaters in 1996, but then again at that time it fit the mold\u00a0of the kind of movie that wins Oscars. It\u2019s a period epic with a sweeping love story\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0it\u2019s based on a beloved book: in the 90s this was the perfect formula for \u201cOscar bait.\u201d But it didn\u2019t just get a ton of Oscar nominations (and wins), it was also a smashing success at the box office, scoring over $230 million. This was a big movie!<\/p>\n So why, then, has it been forgotten? The film isn\u2019t terrible in hindsight, but it does feel a bit old fashioned now. Its cast continued to find success and writer\/director\u00a0Anthony Minghella<\/strong>\u00a0would be back at the Oscars a few years later with the superior\u00a0The Talented Mr. Ripley<\/em><\/strong>, but\u00a0The English Patient<\/em>\u2014despite winning a ton of awards\u2014has just kind of faded. Though it should be noted not\u00a0everyone<\/em>\u00a0was a fan at the time, as the film was the subject of a particularly memorable episode of\u00a0Seinfeld<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0in which Elaine couldn\u2019t understand what all the fuss was about. As is almost always the case,\u00a0Seinfeld<\/em>\u00a0was ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Fox Searchlight<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Score<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0Score<\/p>\n Oh yes, that British movie about male strippers\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0nominated for Best Picture! The England-set dramedy follows a group of unemployed men who decide to form a striptease act. That\u2019s the premise of this Oscar-friendly film. The 90s were a weird time, and 1997 in particular saw a pretty diverse Best Picture lineup that included\u00a0Good Will Hunting<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0L.A. Confidential<\/em><\/strong>, and of course\u00a0Titanic<\/em><\/strong>. Those films continue to be remembered (and beloved) today, but the curious case of\u00a0The Full Monty<\/em>remains one of the Academy\u2019s\u00a0biggest\u00a0head-scratchers of the last few decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Miramax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Editing, Original Score, Art Direction, Adapted Screenplay<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0Supporting Actor (Michael Caine), Adapted Screenplay (John Irving)<\/p>\n In the wake of\u00a0The English Patient<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s sweeping success, not to mention\u00a0Titanic<\/em><\/strong>, romances became all the rage.\u00a0The Cider House Rules<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was one of these that hit the Academy in a big way, while the flip side is something like\u00a0Snow Falling on Cedars<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(which to this day I still get confused with\u00a0Cider House<\/em>\u00a0given that they\u2019re both snowy romance Oscar-friendly movies). This is a film that\u2019s pretty epic in its storytelling scope, as it follows the goings-on at an orphanage before, during, and after World War II, but as you can tell if you possibly dozed off just reading that sentence, this one didn\u2019t exactly fire audiences up in the ensuing years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Miramax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Actress, Score, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0None<\/p>\n Chocolat<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is probably most memorable nowadays as a punchline in the\u00a0Paul Rudd<\/strong>\/Jason Segel<\/strong>\u00a0comedy\u00a0I Love You, Man<\/em><\/strong>. In 2000,\u00a0The Cider House Rules<\/em><\/strong>director\u00a0Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m<\/strong>\u00a0was at it again, this time crafting a period romance set in France.\u00a0Johnny Depp<\/strong>\u00a0is in this movie! That\u2019s a weird thing. The story revolves around a young mother (Juliette Binoche<\/strong>) who opens a chocolate shop in a repressed French village, changing the lives of its citizens forever. Yes indeed, this Best Picture nominee is a French love story about a chocolatier. The pic was shut out at the Academy Awards ceremony and in the years that followed,\u00a0English Patient<\/em>-esque romances began to fade out of Hollywood\u2019s (and the Academy\u2019s) favor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Miramax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0None<\/p>\n In the Bedroom<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is a movie that virtually no one talks about anymore, for no good reason at all. Filmmaker\u00a0Todd Field<\/strong>\u00a0would follow this film up with the more incisive and memorable\u00a0Little Children<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0in 2006, but his feature debut is a dark and surprisingly violent family drama with terrific performances from\u00a0Tom Wilkinson<\/strong>,\u00a0Sissy Spacek<\/strong>,\u00a0Nick Stahl<\/strong>, and\u00a0Marisa Tomei<\/strong>. Again it\u2019s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly why everyone forgot about\u00a0In the Bedroom<\/em>\u00a0beyond the fact that it\u2019s just kind of a very small, simple drama. But that definitely doesn\u2019t make it bad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Paramount Vantage<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actress, Score, Editing<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0Score<\/p>\n The thirstiest of thirsty Oscar movies. Before\u00a0Alejandro G. I\u00f1\u00e1rritu<\/strong>\u00a0became the first filmmaker to ever win back-to-back Best Director Oscars for\u00a0Birdman<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0The Revenant<\/em><\/strong>, he made a prior splash at the Academy Awards with\u00a0Babel<\/em><\/strong>. The film was I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s biggest yet and boasted A-listers\u00a0Brad Pitt<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cate Blanchett<\/strong>\u00a0in lead roles, but while it attempted to tell the story of unconnected characters in three separate locations, it fell flat and rang hollow. You could basically smell this film begging to win Oscars, and indeed the finished product is probably better left forgotten. Practically all involved went on to make better movies that would score major Oscar nominations (and wins), and obviously I\u00f1\u00e1rritu further honed his craft in the ensuing years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via The Weinstein Company<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0Actress (Kate Winslet)<\/p>\n The Reader<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was so forgettable from the get-go that in\u00a0Hugh Jackman<\/strong>\u2019s opening song-and-dance number for the Oscars ceremony, his song for\u00a0The Reader<\/em>\u00a0was all about how no one had actually seen the film or knew what it was about. This is the movie that\u00a0Harvey Weinstein<\/strong>\u00a0famously squeezed into the Best Picture race over the favorite\u00a0The Dark Knight<\/em><\/strong>, and it so rattled the Academy that the following year they expanded the number of Best Picture nominees.\u00a0The Reader<\/em>\u00a0is\u2026fine, but it is so utterly, achingly forgettable it\u2019s hard to even single out anything about it.\u00a0Kate Winslet<\/strong>\u2019s performance isn\u2019t even markedly better than ones she\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0have won for (Eternal Sunshine<\/em>,\u00a0Little Children<\/em>). Even her turn in\u00a0Revolutionary Road<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0the same year was more memorable than her\u00a0The Reader<\/em>\u00a0role, but Harvey worked his behind-the-scenes magic, and\u00a0The Reader<\/em>: Best Picture nominee and Best Actress winner was born.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Image via Universal Pictures<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nominations:<\/strong>\u00a0Best Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing<\/p>\n Wins:<\/strong>\u00a0None<\/p>\n But\u00a0The Reader<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0wasn\u2019t the only forgettable Best Picture nominee in the 2008 lineup\u2014Ron Howard<\/strong>\u2019s biographical drama\u00a0Frost\/Nixon<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0was also nominated that year. The film offers a portrait of Richard Nixon through the lens of his famous interviews with David Frost, and while there\u2019s nothing noticeably bad or unworthy about the film, it\u2019s just a little too traditional, a little too old fashioned to make any kind of long-lasting mark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe English Patient (1996)<\/h2>\n
![\"the-english-patient\"](\"http:\/\/cdn.collider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/the-english-patient.jpg\" "\\"the-english-patient\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Full Monty (1997)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Cider House Rules (1999)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nChocolat (2000)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the Bedroom (2001)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBabel (2006)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Reader (2008)<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFrost\/Nixon (2008)<\/h2>\n
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