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John Maddenโ€™s Shakespeare in Love surprisingly won Best Picture of 1998 over Best Director Steven Spielbergโ€™s Saving Private Ryan. Also nominated were Terrence Malickโ€™s The Thin Red Line, Roberto Benigniโ€™s Life Is Beautiful and Shekhar Kapurโ€™s Elizabeth. Not nominated were Bill Condonโ€™s Gods and Monsters, Walter Sallesโ€™ Central Station, and Kirk Jonesโ€™ Waking Ned Devine.

Best Director Sam Mendesโ€™ American Beauty took the 1999 Best Picture Oscar over M. Night Shyamalanโ€™s The Sixth Sense, Michael Mannโ€™s The Insider, Frank Darabontโ€™s The Green Mile, and Lasse Hallstromโ€™s The Cider House Rules . Among the remarkable films that were ignored were Anthony Minghellaโ€™s The Talented Mr. Ripley, Neil Jordanโ€™s The End of the Affair, and Spike Jonzeโ€™s Being John Malkovich.

Oscarโ€™s 2000 Best Picture winner was Ridley Scottโ€™s Gladiator which won over Best Director Steven Soderberghโ€™s Traffic as well as Soderberghโ€™s Erin Brockovich, Ang Leeโ€™s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Lasse Hallstromโ€™s Chocolat. Stephen Daldryโ€™s Billy Elliot, Curtis Hansonโ€™s Wonder Boys, and Edward Yangโ€™s Yi Yi were among those that were left out in the cold.

For 2001, Oscar gave its Best picture and Director awards to Ron Howardโ€™s A Beautiful Mind over Robert Altmanโ€™s Gosford Park, Todd Fieldโ€™s In the Bedroom, Peter Jacksonโ€™s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and Baz Luhrmannโ€™s Moulin Rouge!. Among the missing were David Lynchโ€™s Mulholland Drive, Christopher Nolanโ€™s Memento, and Steven Spielbergโ€™s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

Oscarโ€™s 2002 Best Picture went to Rob Marshallโ€™s Chicago over Best Director Roman Polanskiโ€™s The Pianist, Stephen Daldryโ€™s The Hours, Martin Scorseseโ€™s Gangs of New York, and Peter Jacksonโ€™s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Egregiously ignored were Todd Haynesโ€™ Far from Heaven, Alexander Payneโ€™s About Schmidt, and Steven Spielbergโ€™s Catch Me If You Can.

For 2003, Oscar chose Best Director Peter Jacksonโ€™s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for Best Picture over Clint Eastwoodโ€™s Mystic River, Sophia Coppolaโ€™s Lost in Translation, Peter Weirโ€™s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Gary Rossโ€™ Seabiscuit. Among the nonnominated were Jim Sheridanโ€™s In America, Tom McCarthyโ€™s The Station Agent, and Fernando Meirellesโ€™ City of God.

Oscarโ€™s 2004 Best Picture and Best Director prizes went to Clint Eastwoodโ€™s Million Dollar Baby over Martin Scorseseโ€™s The Aviator, Marc Fosterโ€™s Finding Neverland, Taylor Hackfordโ€™s Ray, and Alexander Payneโ€™s Sideways. Bill Condonโ€™s Kinsey, Terry Georgeโ€™s Hotel Rwanda, and Mike Leighโ€™s Vera Drake are among the films that went unnominated.

Oscarโ€™s 2005 Best Picture went to Paul Haggisโ€™ Crash over Best Director Ang Leeโ€™s Brokeback Mountain, Bennett Millerโ€™s Capote, George Clooneyโ€™s Good Night, and Good Luck, and Steven Spielbergโ€™s Munich. Among those that failed to be nominated were David Cronenbergโ€™s A History of Violence, Fernando Meirellesโ€™ The Constant Gardener , and Noah Baumbachโ€™s The Squid and the Whale.

Oscarโ€™s 2006 Best Picture and Best Director awards went to Martin Scorseseโ€™s The Departed over Clint Eastwoodโ€™s Letters from Iwo Jima, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farisโ€™ Little Miss Sunshine, Stephen Frearsโ€™ The Queen, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarrituโ€™s Babel. Not Nominated were Alfonso Cuaronโ€™s Children of Men, Guillermo del Toroโ€™ Panโ€™s Labyrinth, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarckโ€™s The Lives of Others.

Oscar closed out the decade with its 2007 awards going to Best Directors Joel and Ethan Coen for their Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men over Paul Thomas Andersonโ€™s There Will Be Blood, Joe Wrightโ€™s Atonement, Jason Reitmanโ€™s Juno, and Tony Gilroyโ€™s Michael Clayton. David Cronenbergโ€™s Eastern Promises, Sean Pennโ€™s Into the Wild, and Sarah Polleyโ€™s Away from Her failed to make the cut.

FILMS THE ACADEMY SHOULD HAVE NOMINATED BUT DIDNโ€™T

GODS AND MONSTERS, directed by Bill Condon (1998)

Condonโ€™s film of 1930s director James Whale at the height of his career in Hollywood and in his waning days in the 1950s is a masterpiece of storytelling, one of only three films to win an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay without being nominated for Best Picture. The others were The Bad and the Beautiful and Sling Blade. Ian McKellen was nominated for Best Actor his brilliant portrayal of Whale, as was Lynn Redgrave for Best Supporting Actress as his housekeeper. Brendan Fraser received awards recognition from various critics but not from the Academy for his portrayal of Whaleโ€™s gardener and sometimes model.

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, directed by Antony Minghella (1999)

The second screen adaptation of Patricia Highsmithโ€™s novel was written by director Minghella directly from the source, not as a remake of Renรฉ Clรฉmentโ€™s 1960 film, Purple Noon in which Alain Delon and Maurice Ronet had the roles played here by Matt Damon and Jude Law as the con man and the wealthy man whose identity he steals after murdering him. The film was nominated for five Oscars for Minghella for his screenplay, Law for Best Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design, and Score. The strong supporting cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, Jack Davenport, and Philip Baker Hall.

FAR FROM HEAVEN, directed by Todd Haynes (2002)

Awards season started off strongly for Haynesโ€™ tribute to Douglas Sirkโ€™s 1956 film, All That Heaven Allows, winning New York Film Critics awards for Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Supporting Actor (Dennis Quaid in the Rock Hudson role), and Supporting Actress (Patricia Clarkson in the Agnes Moorehead role). It was Oscar nominated it for Best Actress (Julianne Moore in the Jane Wyman role), Screenplay (Haynes), Cinematography, and Score. Moore lost the New York Film Critics award to Diane Lane in Unfaithful and the Oscar to Nicole Kidman in The Hours.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, directed by David Cronenberg (2005)

Cronenberg, who is not a fan of films made from comics, was unaware that the film was taken from a graphic novel until he signed on to direct. Voted the top film of 2005 by a Village Voice poll, the film received widespread critical acclaim for the performances of Viggo Mortensen as the small-town diner owner who may or may not be a former big city hitman, Maria Bello as his wife, Ashton Holmes as their teenage son, and Ed Harris as the principal villain were all highly acclaimed, but it was William Hurt in a ten-minute role as another mobster who received the filmโ€™s only Oscar nod for acting. John Olson was also nominated for his adapted screenplay.

CHILDREN OF MEN, directed by Alfonso Cuaron (2006)

Cuaron received two of his ten Oscar nominations for his writing and editing of this film version of P.D. Jamesโ€™ dystopian novel set in 2021. Although better known for Gravity and Roma for which he won his four Oscars to date, this is the multi-talented Cuaronโ€™s finest film bar none. Although not a mystery in the traditional way that Jamesโ€™ other novels are, there are plenty puzzles to be investigated and resolved here, including the ending that depends on your close listening as well as looking to figure it all out. The film features great performances from Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, and others.

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