Oscar Mistakes
As this year's Oscars approach, everyone seems certain that Dame Helen Mirren's performance in 'The Queen' is a surefire bet for Best Picture, but the Academy has a long track record (in my view) of picking the wrong film. For starters, the best films of 2006 - Pan's Labyrinth and United 93 - aren't even nominated this year.
So here is a rundown of previous fifty years of winners and the films that should have won:
2006 - Crash - should have been A History of Violence (not even nominated)
2005 - Million Dollar Bay - should have been Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (not even nominated)
2004 - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2003 - Chicago - should have been The Pianist
2002 - A Beautiful Mind - should have been Memento (not even nominated)
2001 - Gladiator - should have been Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2000 - American Beauty
1999 - Shakespeare in Love - should have been Saving Private Ryan
1998 - Titanic - should have been LA Confidential
1997 - The English Patient - should have been Fargo
1996 - Braveheart - should have been The Usual Suspects
1995 - Forest Gump - should have been The Shawshank Redemption
1994 - Schindler's List
1993 - Unforgiven
1992 - Silence of the Lambs - should have been JFK
1991 - Dances with Wolves - should have been Goodfellas
1990 - Driving Miss Daisy - should have been Field of Dreams
1989 - Rain Man - should have been A Fish Called Wanda
1988 - The Last Emperor - should have been Full Metal Jacket (not even nominated)
1987 - Platoon
1986 - Out of Africa - should have been Ran (not even nominated)
1985 - Amadeus - should have been The Killing Fields
1984 - Terms of Endearment - should have been The Right Stuff
1983 - Gandhi
1982 - Chariots of Fire - should have been Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981 - Ordinary People - should have been Raging Bull
1980 - Kramer Vs Kramer - should have been Apocalypse Now
1979 - The Deer Hunter
1978 - Annie Hall - should have been Star Wars
1977 - Rocky - should have been Taxi Driver
1976 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - should have been Dog Day Afternoon
1975 - The Godfather Part 2
1974 - The Sting - should have been The Exorcist
1973 - The Godfather
1972 - French Connection
1971 - Patton - should have been MASH
1970 - Midnight Cowboy - should have been Easy Rider (not even nominated)
1969 - Oliver! - should have been A Lion in Winter
1968 - In the Heat of the Night - should have been Bonnie and Clyde
1967 - A Man for All Seasons
1966 - Sound of Music - should have been Doctor Zhivago
1965 - My Fair Lady - should have been Dr Strangelove
1964 - Tom Jones - should have been How the West Was Won
1963 - Lawrence of Arabia
1962 - West Side Story - should have been The Hustler
1961 - The Apartment - should have been Elmer Gantry
1960 - Ben Hur - should have been Anatomy of a Murder
1959 - Gigi - should have been The Defiant Ones
1958 - Bridge Over the River Kwai - should have been 12 Angry Men
1957 - Around the World in 80 Days - should have been The King and I
1956 - Marty - should have been Bad Day at Black Rock (not even nominated)