Movies The Oscars Forgot

About three dozen feature films are nominated for Oscars this year, just over 10 percent of the 347 movies that were eligible. The nominations themselves lead to talk about snubs and inconsistencies, some self-inflicted: how can you have 10 best picture nominees and then only five nominations for best director? How are Mahershala Ali of Green Book, and Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, both of The Favourite, all in supporting-acting categories when clearly they are leads in their films? (Indeed, I'd argue that in most respects Olivia Colman, nominated for best actress for The Favourite could have been put in supporting instead.)
Still, beyond what we say about the nominations themselves, every year I find myself with a list of movies that received no Oscar love at all. (I talked last year about some of the reasons for this.)
In a year where the academy's best-picture contenders suggest diversity in Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book and Roma, it's important to note that three of those nominees are period pieces while Black Panther is fantasy; yes, Spike Lee marvelously ties BlacKkKlansman to the present day and Black Panther offers social commentary. But the much more contemporary, and comparably artistic,  The Hate U Give, Sorry to Bother You and Monsters and Men went unnoticed.
What's becoming another puzzle is the clear-eyed  Eighth Grade, writer-director Bo Burnham's debut feature, which also earned raves for the lead performance, Elsie Fisher. After being ignored by the Oscars, Burnham has won the original-screenplay prize for the Writers Guild and the first-directed-feature award from the Directors Guild.
I could go on. In fact, I will:
Boy Erased. Written and directed by Joel Edgerton, based on Garrard Conley's memoir, this tale of what happens to a young gay man after his parents force him into a conversion program is as effective as it is frightening -- not least because the adults in it try so hard to show good intentions while committing awful acts. Lucas Hedges is very good as the young man but Nicole Kidman is awe-inspiring as his mother.
Hereditary. Unsettling horror, but what a performance by Toni Collette.
The Old Man and the Gun. This sweet little character piece about an aging bank robber contains what Robert Redford says is his last screen acting work. And a nice job it was -- a reminder how utterly freaking charming the guy can be, even later in his career. There's a lot of chemistry, too, in his scenes with Sissy Spacek. An acting nomination would have been fine validation for Redford's career, which has included an Oscar win as director but only one nomination as an actor.
On the Basis of Sex. This film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg (made with her cooperation) is a good one to show to young people who do not understand gender discrimination in the past -- and, sadly, always at risk in the present. I think its reputation will grow with time, especially as people look at how it portrays a genuinely supportive marriage in a way that many films fail to do. I also point to the central performances by Felicity Jones as a flinty RBG and Armie Hammer as her husband, Martin/
Operation Finale. A sturdy movie about the capture of war criminal Adolf Eichmann, the Academy voters should have paid attention to Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, and the scenes between Kingsley and Oscar Isaac as one of his captors.
A Quiet Place. Post-apocalyptic terror from a family's perspective, ably done by director John Krasinski, with fine performances including Krasinski's and Emily Blunt's. Blunt, snubbed by the Oscars for this and for Mary Poppins Returns, might have had a better chance at a nomination if the Academy would just use my all-performances-together rule.
Widows. I watched this for the second time recently, and it held up better than the first time. It was mispromoted to audiences as an action drama when it's far more about gender, politics and race -- with a solid script by Gillian Flynn, directing from Steve McQueen and a binding performance by Viola Davis.
I am sure there are more. The Death of Stalin, for one, made it onto some year's-best lists. What I've seen of it is brutally funny from the beginning, as people's fear of their leader is made evident in the wake of one of his whims. I just haven't finished it, Still,  the bottom line here is that you don't have to grab at the Oscar nominees to find plenty of fine films to watch. Then you can ask when and why the voters did not watch more closely as well.