25 Great Films Rejected by the Oscars in 2023: Nope, The Woman King and More Earn

The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are here, and it was a huge morning for the likes of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (11 nominations), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (9 nominations), “The Banshees of Inisherin” (9 nominations) and “Elvis” (7 nominations), among other films. On the opposite end of the spectrum are “Nope,” “The Woman King,” “Devotion,” “She Said” and “Hustle,” all of which earned a combine zero nominations at the 2023 Oscars. It all goes to show you that Oscar nominations mean nothing when it comes to whether or not a movie is a must-see.

Head to Variety’s Oscar nominations list to see all of the nominees for the 2023 Oscars, and read below for our roundup of great movies that were totally rejected by the Academy.

Nope
Jordan Peele was an Oscar wunderkind with “Get Out,” which won him the Academy Award for original screenplay and earned noms for best picture and best director. The beloved writer-director hasn’t been able to get back to the Oscars since, despite strong efforts with “Us” and “Nope.” The latter gave Peele his third straight $100 million grosser. “Nope” stars Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya as siblings who set out to record a UFO that’s hovering over their remote horse farm. Nothing goes as planned, of course. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman called the film “tantalizingly creepy” in his review, adding, “Watching the movie, you can just about taste the DNA of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’”
The Woman King
Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical action film “The Woman King” was completely shut out by the Academy. No nomination for Viola Davis. No nomination for Prince-Bythewood. And, somehow, no nominations for costumes, makeup and hairstyling, production design and more. The film tells the story of the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries, and it was a box office hit for Sony with $94 million worldwide. From Variety’s review: “Prince-Bythewood (a director for whom scope comes easily, coming off Netflix’s globe-spanning ‘The Old Guard’) gives these women the iconic treatment: Rigorous training montages and other rites of passage, seen through the eyes of new recruit Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), build to elaborately choreographed action sequences and, in some cases, dramatic death scenes. These women are formidable.”
Devotion
Perhaps there was only enough room for one fighter pilot movie in the Oscar race, as “Top Gun: Maverick” scored big while J.D. Dillard’s “Devotion” was left out. Dillard’s Korean War drama struggled at the box office and was never in the awards running as a result, although it does boast top-notch crafts work that deserved more Oscar buzz. Variety film critic Peter Debruge praised the film for bringing “Top Gun” energy to the historical war drama, adding, “The film is not just a stirring case of Black excellence; it also celebrates the one white officer who had Brown’s back, Tom Hudner, treating the bond these two men formed as something special unto itself. Director JD Dillard dazzles with see-it-in-Imax airborne sequences, but the meat of the film focuses on the inspirational friendship.”
The Inspection
Jeremy Pope was always considered a dark horse in the best actor race for his performance in “The Inspection,” the A24 drama about a young gay man who joins the military to gain the respect of his homophobic mother. He didn’t land a nomination, nor did Gabrielle Union break into the best supporting actress race. From Variety’s Critic’s Pick review: “Pope gives a career-igniting performance in the role: a man who hopes, for a split second, that the uniform might make him straight, but can’t hide how he feels when the men are all showering together — a biological reaction for which he’s beaten mercilessly by his fellow recruits.”
She Said
Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play The New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein abuse story in a movie Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman praised for being “tense, fraught, and compelling.” There was a time when “She Said” seemed destined for awards glory considering how accountable it holds the industry, but the movie underperformed at the box office and never gained traction with voters. Gleiberman continued: “You may wonder how, exactly, ‘She Said’ is going to capture what that story felt like before it became a story. The movie accomplishes this by tapping into something that was always an essential part the Weinstein saga, but one I’ve never experienced as vividly as I did watching ‘She Said’: the pervasive, unfathomable fear that ruled Harvey Weinstein’s victims.”
Hustle
Adam Sandler’s Netflix tenure has been defined by dopey comedies like “Murder Mystery” and “Sandy Wexler” that rank as some of the worst efforts of his career. Fortunately, the comedian’s streaming run delivered a high point for Sandler with “Hustle.” Directed by Jeremiah Zagar (whose sensitive indie directorial debut “We the Animals” is about as far from your typical Sandler-Netflix movie as you could expect), the film stars Sandler as a struggling NBA scout who gets a shot at redemption after discovering a young basketball phenom with a checkered past. Sandler managed to earn a surprise nomination for best actor from the Screen Actors Guild, but that wasn’t enough to get him his first Oscar nomination after missing out for “Punch-Drunk Love” and “Uncut Gems.”
Barbarian
Horror films never fare well with the Academy, which is a shame considering the shocking “Barbarian” boasts sturdy production design, a twist-filled script and a killer supporting performance from Justin Long. Variety film critic Peter Debruge hailed “Barbarian” as a “ratched new horror classic” in his review, adding, “A deliciously twisted sense of humor runs beneath the surface. In fact, the image of someone (or something) running beneath the surface is one of the film’s most outrageous thrills. Audiences may be expecting something supernatural, but here too, ‘Psycho’ seems to be the reference point, as ‘Barbarian’ builds shock upon shock, giving viewers a movie they won’t soon forget.”
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
Richard Linklater returns to the dazzling rotoscope animation style of “A Scanner Darkly” and “Waking Life” in “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood,” but his film was left out of the animated race after originally failing to qualify and then being allowed to compete. From Variety’s review: “‘Apollo 10 1/2′ is above all a nostalgia trip for Americans who sat glued to their televisions as the country made one of its greatest scientific achievements. But it’s also a teleportation device for those who weren’t there, loaded with everyday details about what life was like — the kind of observations that made the director’s ‘Boyhood’ resonate so strongly with millennial audiences.”
Thirteen Lives
Ron Howard’s Thai cave rescue thriller stars Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell (an awards contender with “The Banshees of Inisherin”) and Joel Edgerton as the heroes whose daring mission captured the world’s attention. This ticking-clock survival drama found Howard putting a new variation on his beloved “Apollo 13” formula, but it never gained traction with awards voters despite a technical prowess and a heartfelt story. From Variety’s review: “With ‘Thirteen Lives,’ the director goes for a different approach: grittier, more immersive… Back in the ’90s, Howard brought us such white-knuckle spectacles as ‘Backdraft’ and ‘Apollo 13.’ More recently, he helmed emphasize-the-positive disaster docs ‘Rebuilding Paradise’ and ‘We Feed People.’ So he’s got plenty of experience in this arena.”
Good Luck to You Leo Grande
Emma Thompson earned rave reviews for “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” but she never emerged as a contender for best actress. Variety film critic Peter Debruge named the film the third best movie of 2022. Thompson plays a widowed woman who starts a unique relationship with a male escort (Dylan McCormack). Debruge writes: “It seems condescending to call Thompson’s performance ‘courageous.’ However, in our image-conscious, body-shaming era, the vulnerability she shows in the movie’s mirror scene is both a radical act and a breakthrough in Nancy’s tentative embrace of self-love.”
X and Pearl
Ti West’s “X” is a worthy homage to 1970s slasher classics and one of the best horror movies of 2022, while prequel “Pearl” is a Douglas Sirk-inspired 1950s melodrama with a hellish twist. Both films feature Oscar-worthy production design, while Mia Goth’s seismic “Pearl” performance should’ve made her a best actress lock. From Variety’s “X” review: “It’s a movie made with genuine mood and skill and flavor. Your average ‘Chain Saw’ knockoff never seems remotely like a movie from the grainy outlaw ’70s. It is, rather, contempo product that feels like product. But ‘X,’ set in 1979, actually achieves the look and atmosphere of 1979.”
Bros
“Bros” was a box office bomb, but there was still hope during the fall movie season that Billy Eichner’s delightful romantic-comedy would gain some Oscar buzz for its screenplay. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman named “Bros” the fourth best movie of 2022, writing, “Eichner, who co-wrote the film, infuses ‘Bros’ with his literate acid wit, and he plays the most entertaining brainiac romantic dyspeptic since the heyday of Woody Allen. Entwined in the tale of Bobby, a New York podcast host, and Aaron, an estate lawyer too sexy for his job, is a full-on comic vision of gay romantic life in the 21st century. The characters may be looking for love, but they keep getting tripped up by the hookup culture they’ve created as a kind of playground — a culture the film both celebrates and satirizes. The movie’s secret weapon is its unconventional ideology: its embrace of the idea that gay culture and straight culture have very different ways to court and spark.”
After Yang
Oscar season wasn’t big enough for two Colin Farrell movies. Although Farrell is in the running for best actor thanks to “The Banshees of Inisherin,” there was no room for his equally-moving “After Yang” in the Oscar race. Farrell plays a father figuring out how to mourn the loss of his family’s android in the near-future. From Variety’s review: “This film is precise, with its desaturated palette, meticulous framing and near-mathematical cutting style. And yet, Kogonada’s concerns remain fundamentally human. The movie’s pulse seldom rises above resting, but the director invites audiences to dive as deep as they want to go into the film’s themes, to read subtext into body language, silence and the space between characters.”
The Menu
Searchlight Pictures’ horror comedy “The Menu” prevailed with $36 million at the domestic box office and over $60 million worldwide, but buzz around the film has surged this month after the movie made its HBO Max streaming debut. Anya Tayloy-Joy plays a young woman who attends a lavish meal with her rich boyfriend, but the chefs, led by Ralph Fiennes, have a nefarious plan up their sleeves. Perhaps Feinnes devilish role or the movie’s script would’ve gained better traction had the buzz been turned up to 11 for a longer period of time. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman named “The Menu” a critic’s pick, calling it “a Michelin Star version of ‘Saw’ and a tasty satire of what high-end dining has become.” He added, “‘The Menu’ is a black comedy, but one played close to the bone. And it is a thriller, because after a while what’s being served to the diners segues from pretentious to dangerous.”
Sr
Despite the backing of Netflix and the involvement of Robert Downey Jr, the touching biographical documentary “Sr.” failed to make the Oscar shortlist. From Variety’s review: “’Fyre’ director Chris Smith lets underground movie icon Robert Downey Sr. have a hand in shaping how his life will be remembered in this unexpectedly revealing documentary… it’s a a loose seemingly seat-of-your-pants portrait of the antiestablishment director (perhaps best known for siring ‘Iron Man’ star Robert Downey Jr.) that sneaks up on you, emotionally speaking, seeing as how it doubles as a kind of farewell exercise between the two generations (plus grandson Exton) in the months before Downey succumbed to Parkinson’s Disease.”
Emily the Criminal
Aubrey Plaza earned rave reviews for her role on “The White Lotus” Season 2, but she delivered another incredible performance last year in the under-seen indie gem “Emily the Criminal.” Plaza plays a young woman in student debt who turns to scamming in order to gain a quick fortune. From Variety’s review: “Plaza, who also produced the film, is strong as a scammer who invites sympathy and simultaneously pushes it away… It’s a fluorescent-lit noir that spends a fair amount of time near the anonymous big box stores scattered across Los Angeles, which as cinematographer Jeff Bierman sees it, is a city that’s dim even in the daylight.”
Good Night Oppy
Ryan White’s “Good Night Oppy” was once considered a lock to earn an Oscar nomination for best documentary, but then it didn’t even make the Oscar short list. Variety film critic Peter Debruge called the documentary “thrilling” in his review, writing, “The ‘Ask Dr. Ruth’ director turns his attention to space, anthropomorphizing the two robots NASA sent to Mars in a way that recalls ‘Wall-E.’ In a real coup, the filmmakers partnered with Industrial Light & Magic to show what even the NASA scientists themselves couldn’t see until now: Spirit and Oppy rattling about on the six-month rocket journey. For large segments of its running time, ‘Good Night Oppy’ is more than just a documentary; it’s an animated film as well — and a hugely entertaining one at that.”
The Northman
Robert Eggers’ Viking epic “The Northman” floundered in theaters with just $33.9 million in the U.S., but it remained one of the best action dramas of 2022. Alexander Skarsgard plays a Viking prince who sets out to avenge the murder of his father. It’s a shame Robert Eggers once again found himself without Oscar buzz for best director. Here, he maintained his love for long takes to create an immersive and visceral action movie with some of the most exciting action set pieces in recent memory. Even Oscar favorite Nicole Kidman (who managed a nod for “Being the Ricardos,” of all things) couldn’t garner buzz for her sinister turn as the Viking queen.
Catherine Called Birdy
“Catherine Called Birdy,” Lena Dunham’s 13th-century coming-of-age comedy about a 14-year-old girl (Bella Ramsey) who rebels against her father’s plan to marry her off, was named a Variety’s critic pick out of the Toronto International Film Festival and should’ve been in the running for a Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. “The comedic genius behind ‘Girls’ has found a fresh application for her voice: making a delightful film for girls,” the review reads. “Leave it to Dunham to deliver what’s been missing from the field of princess movies all these years: namely, permission for young women to be themselves, regardless of what their parents or the patriarchy might think.”
Prey
“10 Cloverfield Lane” director Dan Trachtenberg revitalized the “Predator” franchise with “Prey,” which is set in the Comanche Nation in 1719. The genre film deserved Oscar buzz in craft categories such as best production design, costume design and sound. From Variety’s review: “A Northern Great Plains setting and a young tribal hunter out to prove herself almost make the latest ‘Predator’ sequel look less schlocky than the others…The rippings and slashings, first of animals and then of humans, arrive right on cue, and they’re brutal enough to have earned the film an R rating. As an alien-attack thriller, “Prey” is competent and well-paced, though with little in the way of surprise.”
Ambulance
Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review of Michael Bay’s “Ambulance” that “it takes you back to an age when action thrillers were big, loud, decadent, rebellious and ripped off from ‘Die Hard.’” Based on the 2005 Danish film of the same name, “Ambulance” stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an army veteran down on his luck who turns to “brother” Gyllenhaal for help when he needs $231,000 to pay for his wife’s surgery. Gyllenhaal’s solution? A $32 million bank robbery. Set in Los Angeles over the course of one day, the movie — written by Chris Fedak — has an unrelenting tension that should’ve at least made Bay’s thriller a contender in sound and editing categories.
Where the Crawdads Sing
Not even Taylor Swift earned an Oscar nomination for best original song with “Carolina,” her track off from “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Sony’s adaptation of Delia Owens’ novel that was a box office success with $140 million worldwide. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kya, who raises herself to adulthood in a North Carolina marshland and becomes a prime suspect in the murder of the town’s local hotshot. Variety’s review called the film a “compelling wild-child tale” and added, “Sometimes a movie will turn softer than you thought it would — more sunny and upbeat and romantic, with a happier ending. Then there’s the kind of movie that turns darker than you expect, with an ominous undertow and an ending that kicks you in the shins. ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is the rare movie that conforms to both those dynamics at once.”
Vengeance
B.J. Novak’s feature directorial debut “Vengeance” was named the eighth best movie of 2022 by Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman, who called the film a “one-of-a-kind oddball” in his review. It wasn’t the kind of under-the-radar indie that gets Oscar nominations, but its original screenplay deserved more buzz. Gleiberman added, “In this dark but word-happy blue-state-meets-red-state tall tale, Novak plays a whip-smart obnoxious writer for The New Yorker who heads to small-town Texas to attend the funeral of an ex-hookup. Once there, he’s embroiled in a murder mystery that is really a culture clash that is really a meditation on why America has turned its once-vibrant differences into hate-fueled divisions. It takes a born filmmaker to keep a caprice this heady spinning in the air.”
On the Count of Three
Jarrod Carmichael dominated headlines earlier this year as the host of the Golden Globe Awards, but many might not know he delivered an indie film knockout last year with his feature directorial debut “On the Count of Three,” an existential buddy comedy of despair. It opens with Val (Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) standing outside a strip club in the middle of the day, pointing handguns at each other in what looks like a tense Mexican standoff. But the two aren’t enemies; they’re on each other’s side. They’re trying to do each other a favor by killing each other. The movie then flashes back to earlier that day, when it will explain why these two lifelong bros, now in their early 30s, have colluded in a plan to do themselves in.

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Update: 2024-03-31