With the Academy seemingly having tunnel vision in the movie industry, only being able to see what’s right in front of it - Oscar-bait dramas and anything starring Meryl Streep – there are many performances over the decades that have gone overlooked.

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With so many movies out every year, it’s understandable that not everybody can be nominated even if the performance was incredible. And though everyone has their personal favorite performances, there are some roles that were clearly unfairly overlooked. But at the same time, there are many that unfortunately didn’t deserve a statue.

Should Have Won: Lupita Nyong’o In Us (2019)

Lupita Nyong'o as Adelaide and Red in Us

Time after time, the Academy fails to recognize horror and doesn’t seem to think the genre is worthy of any awards. Not only are horror movies most deserving of awards in make-up and costume design, but they’re deserving of awards for performances too.

There might still be a lot of unanswered questions about her character, but Lupita Nyong’o’s role in Us is tremendous, as she is able to deliver her lines in the most terrifying way but also able to be physically scary as well.

Didn’t Deserve It: Leonardo DiCaprio In The Revenant (2015)

the revenant leonardo dicaprio

Though it deserves every award it got for effects, as it has some of the best practical special effects of the past decade, and Leonardo DiCaprio has deserved the statue for many other roles in his career, his performance in The Revenant is the least deserving of the lot.

Yes, he climbed inside a horse, and sure, he was crawling around in real snow, but DiCaprio’s performance just came off as if he was trying to win an Oscar. Many believe the win was to make up for not getting it a few years prior for The Wolf of Wall Street.

Should Have Won: Phillip Baker Hall In Magnolia (1999)

Jimmy hosts a game show In Magnolia

Phillip Baker Hall is one of the most underrated actors of all time. He has worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on several occasions, first in Sydney, his directorial debut, in which Hall played the titular character, and then in the '70s epic Boogie Nights.

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However, his best performance of them all is in the melodrama Magnolia. Tom Cruise was deservedly nominated for his role in the movie, but Hall’s performance as Jimmy, the host of a children’s game show, is totally overlooked.

Didn’t Deserve It: Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei sit in court in My Cousin Vinny

Marisa Tomei is a tremendous actress and she has tons of memorable performances under her belt, but this one rumor will, unfortunately, follow her around forever.

Tomei’s win came as such a shock that when she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in My Cousin Vinny, rumors abounded that the presenter of the award read Tomei’s name off the teleprompter instead of the name that was on the card, causing an improper result.

Should Have Won: Robert Downey Jr. In Avengers Endgame (2019)

Tony Stark in Avengers Endgame

It would have been a classy move to award Robert Downey Jr. with a statue for his role as Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame. There are a lot of sad things about Iron Man, but the finale of Endgame is absolutely heartbreaking, especially having spent so much time with this character throughout so many movies.

The Academy might look down on superhero movies, but there’s no denying how much Robert Downey brought to the character over the past dozen years.

Didn’t Deserve It: Sandra Bullock In The Blind Side (2009)

Leigh Ann Tuohy talking to Michael on the football field in The Blind Side

It might be one of the best athlete movies ever, but that may be a statement on the genre more than anything, as The Blind Side is a movie that strives to have as much of an uplifting energy as it possibly can. To some, it can almost come off as a Hallmark feature.

The movie received a mixed reception from critics, and though Sandra Bullock is a great actress and she gives the best performance possible with the one-dimensional role, it doesn't feel award-winning caliber.

Should Have Won: Kate Winslet In Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Eternal-Sunshine Jim Carrey Kate Winslet

She eventually went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Reader, and she has been nominated several times, but Kate Winslet was shamelessly overlooked for her role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

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Though it’s one of the most underrated sci-fi movies of the 2000s, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is so much more than that. It follows two former partners who erase their memories of each other, only to re-meet each other afterward.

Didn’t Deserve It: Paul Newman In Color Of Money (1986)

Tom Cruise and Paul Newman playing pool play snooker in The Color Of Money (1986)

Color Of Money is a great movie and one of Martin Scorsese’s most underrated pictures. However, the reason why people don’t rate it as high as many of his other movies is that it’s a sequel of the much better movie, The Hustler, in which Newman gives a better performance too.

Newman's performance in Color of Money is fine, but looking cool holding a pool cue is as far as the performance goes, and if Newman was nominated for an Oscar, then his co-star Tom Cruise should have been too.

Should Have Won: Adam Sandler In Uncut Gems (2019)

Adam Sandler upselling jewelry in Uncut Gems

Not many have been snubbed from the Academy Awards as many times as Sandler. The comedian should have been nominated for his role of Barry in Punch Drunk Love, and there’s an argument to be made that he should have been nominated for his performance in the comedy-drama Funny People too.

But his greatest performance ever came just last year in Uncut Gems, one of the best crime movies of the 2010s. Sandler plays a gambling addict who makes one mistake after another, leading to one of the most emotionally exhausting finales of the past decade.

Didn’t Deserve It: Jean Dujardin In The Artist (2011)

Valentine and Peppy wed in The Artist

The Artist is a fun movie that imitates the elements of silent Hollywood films of the 1930s. That includes the aspect ratio, being in black and white, and, of course, being silent. None of the actors speak and instead use facial expressions to put across their emotions.

However, because it’s silent, the actors have to emote with expressions much more than actors do in movies today, leading Jean Dujardin to pull some extraordinarily goofy and cartoonish faces, and it comes off more pantomime-like than anything else.

NEXT: 10 Underrated Films From Oscar-Nominated Directors