Over the years, a buddy of mine will occasionally mention how Pulp Fiction got robbed. He considers Forrest Gump 'a nice movie' but believes very fervently that the Tarantino flick was far and away the superior film and should've taken Best Picture that year.

As for me, I wasn't overly happy about Nomadland taking home the Best Pic statue last year. I know Zhao wanted to make a meditative film but she threw in too many practical problems that nomads face (being told at the employment office that there's no work, having to pay for repairs to their vehicles/homes, dealing with severe illness with no health insurance, etc.) that kept pulling me out of the poetic mood she was going for and back down to reality. If my vote counted for anything, it would've gone to Promising Young Woman, which I thought was daring, provocative, and unpredictable.

I'm sure others here have opinions about films that should have gotten Best Picture over the ones that actually received the award. Please share.

Rocky winning best picture over Taxi Driver, Network, and All the President’s Men.
Should have been Taxi Driver.

In the last 10 years I would have voted for:
2021 - Judas and the Black Messiah (Nomadland shouldn't even have been nominated)
2020 - Parasite
2019 - BlacKkKlansman
2018 - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017 - Moonlight
2016 - Spotlight
2015 - Whiplash
2014 - 12 Years A Slave
2013 - Argo
2012 - Warrior (wasn't nominated for Best Picture) out of the nominees: War Horse (pretty weak year)
2011- The Social Network

So it's 50/50.

Goodfellas over Dances with Wolves

MY Best Picture winners of the last 11 years.

2020: Trial of the Chicago 7
2019: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2018: First Man (Wasn’t Nominated)
2017: Hostiles (Wasn’t Nominated)
2016: Hell or High Water
2015: Sicario (Wasn’t Nominated)
2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel
2013: Prisoners (Wasn’t Nominated)
2012: Skyfall (Wasn’t Nominated)
2011: Warrior (Wasn’t Nominated)
2010: Inception

I haven't even seen most of the movies that have been nominated in the last 20+ years, so I have no idea which ones were better than others.

I do remember walking out of Star Trek II in 1982 thinking that it deserved a nomination. My mom kind of chuckled and said they'd never nominate a Science Fiction movie, especially not one based on a TV show, but I really thought it deserved it.

Thinking back, and looking at how well that movie has held up, it really was one of the best movies of that year. But my mom was right - even if it had been the greatest movie ever made it wouldn't have gotten nominated because of what it was.

I also thought, and still do, that My Favorite Year deserved a nomination that year, but the Academy hates to nominate comedies for any major categories. Peter O'Toole got nominated, and he probably deserved to win, but it was a brilliant performance in a comedy, so he didn't get the Oscar.

My votes for 2010-2001

2010 - Avatar (over The Hurt Locker)
2009 - The Dark Knight (not nominated over Slumdog Millionaire)
2008 - There will be Blood (over No Country for old Men)
2007 - Letters From Iwo Jima (over The Departed)
2006 - Brokeback Mountain (over Crash)
2005 - The Aviator (over Million Dollar Baby)
2004 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003 - Adaptation. (not nominated over Chicago)
2002 - A Beautiful Mind
2001 - Gladiator

I would have taken any of those over Rocky, but especially Taxi Driver.

My list would be very long as the majority of times I did not agree with what the Academy picked. A lot of times what I considered the best film wasn't even nominated!

I'll take Rocky over Taxi Driver any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I'm not a fan of Taxi Driver. It's not bad, but I just didn't like it.

I'll start with what I think is the best and greatest movie made since I graduated from high school.

1994: Pulp Fiction over Forrest Gump

And these are ones I have strong opinions about:

1996: Fargo or Jerry Maguire over The English Patient

1998: Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in Love

1999: The Cider House Rules or The Sixth Sense over American Beauty

2001: Moulin Rouge over A Beautiful Mind

2005: Brokeback Mountain or Sin City over Crash

2009: Inglouious Basterds or Avatar over The Hurt Locker

2010: The Social Network or Toy Story 3 over winner The King's Speech

2014: Boyhood over Birdman

2016: Hell or High Water over Moonlight

2018: BlacKKKlansman over Green Book

2019: Avengers Endgame or Once Upon A Time in Hollywood over Parasite

2020: They should have just given it to Hamilton and called the year a wash.

Throw Bound for Glory in there as well. You could make an argument that was the most stacked best picture race ever and Rocky was the worst of all of them.

Perhaps the Academy saw the greatness, which made it into a movie which still is going strong, more than 40 years later, the 9th movie in the franchise is going to be released.

Votes 2000-1991
2000 - The Matrix (not nominated, over American Beauty)
1999 - Saving Private Ryan (over Shakespeare in Love)
1998 - Titanic
1997 - Fargo (over The English Patient)
1996 - Braveheart
1995 - Pulp Fiction (over Forrest Gump)
1994 - The Remains of the Day (over Schindler's List)
1993 - Unforgiven
1992 - JFK (over The Silence of the Lambs)
1991 - Dances with Wolves

Of those 4 movies, Rocky is the most optimistic about the state of America, post-Vietnam and post-Watergate.

Will people say that Power of the Dog should have won best picture over Coda in 2022?

^ No need to wait...I'm saying that now.

Couple of others from me:

1983: The Verdict (over Gandhi)
1998: L.A. Confidential (over Titanic)
2019: A Star Is Born (over Green Book)

I'm pretty sure both movies won't be in the conversation for many years to come. It was a very weak year for movies.

Room should have won over Spotlight. And if not Room, then Brooklyn. Nothing wrong, per se, with Spotlight, I just found it very procedural and by-the-numbers, they didn't do anything that hasn't been already done.

The Florida Project wasn't nominated, but it should have won. Ingrid Goes West should have gotten a nomination that year too, although probably not good enough to win.

Even though I loved Parasite winning, and it was the best film that year, I was a little surprised that all the Academy voters (who are mostly actors) didn't fall for the Hollywood love letter Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Think of how many actors have found themselves exactly where Rick Dalton was in that movie; no longer desired to be a lead in a movie and watching a bunch of kids come and take your place. Unless it hit too close to home for them?

Restricting my choices to those films nominated:

• 2010 - The Social Network.
• 2011 - A pretty weak crop of nominees to be honest. I don't think any of them deserved it. Some very strong films like Take Shelter and Shame somehow didn't even get nominated. This happens every year, obviously, but it was especially obvious this year.
• 2012 - Zero Dark Thirty
• 2013 - I still have not seen 12 Years a Slave so I cannot really opine against it here. Of the remaining nine, I would have voted for Dallas Buyers Club.
• 2014 - I didn't hate Birdman winning, but I would have voted for Whiplash. I also could not have been upset to see Grand Budapest Hotel win. It was, and likely still is, the pinnacle of Wes Anderson's work. OTOH, I would have been shocked if it had won.
• 2015 - Personally, I would have voted for Brooklyn, but I was not upset to see Spotlight win.
• 2016 - I would have voted for Manchester By the Sea, but it is pretty hard to argue against Moonlight. It really was that good.

Here I will stop as there at least three nominees per year for 2017 to present I have not yet seen.

2020: Same
2019: If Beale Street Could Talk (no nomination) or BlacKkKlansman (nominated) over Green Book
2018: One Cut of the Dead (no nomination) or Dunkirk (nominated) over The Shape of Water
2017: Same
2016: Fury Road over Spotlight
2015: The Grand Budapest Hotel over Birdman
2014: Prisoners (no nomination) or Gravity (nominated) over 12 Years a Slave (although have not seen it)
2013: I guess Same? Maybe Django or Moonrise Kingdom over Argo
2012: Drive, Samsara, (no nominations) or Tree of Life (nominated over The Artist
2011: Black Swan or Inception (both nominated) over The King's Speech
2010: Avatar or Inglourious Basterds (both nominated) over The Hurt Locker
2009: The Dark Knight (no nomination) or The Wrestler (nominated) over Slumdog Millionaire

I think a great film being overlooked by the Oscars elevates the "cool" factor among its fans. Once a film is recognized by the establishment (the Oscars) as great, it somehow diminishes it as just another mainstream film that everyone has seen and acknowledges as a classic.

I think another reason why most of these didn’t win was because they’re too “Guy” movies.

If I would have chosen another winner, that doesn't have to mean, I think the real winner is undeserving, although that happens too. I can't understand why anyone would even consider Nomadland a best picture candidate in the first place. The movie has a great perfomance but not really a story to tell. The most memorable scene is completely unnecessary (shitting in a bucket). I don't mind that the movie is so damn depressing so was The Father, but that told a compelling story. Nomadland looks like a documentary, but isn't one, so like Borat, but without the fun.

That was my thought as I typed Drive, Inception, and Prisoners

I haven't seen all the nominees from 2020, but I did see Nomadland and loved it. Taste in movies is subjective of course, and not everyone is going to like the same thing, but I would point out to you that not every movie needs a plot in the traditional sense. There's a lot of great movies out there without a standard plot that are highly acclaimed and enjoyed. And finally, I do agree with the sentence in your post that I bolded. Now ask yourself, is that perhaps the reason it got the accolades it did?

I'll 3rd that one too. It was good but not the best.

A few picked Warrior, I'll have to rewatch that one as it seems I liked it but did not love it.