Proving once again that "We Live in a Society," Joker earned 11 Oscar nominations, the most of any film this year. However, that's at least five more nominations than it probably deserves. Joaquin Phoenix absolutely warrants a Best Actor nomination, and you can argue the movie is worthy for Score, Make-Up, maybe Cinematography and some of the other technical nominations. But Best Picture? Best Director? Best Adapted Screenplay? Best Editing? Joker is not even the best comic book movie of the year, and it's all the more absurd when you consider the great films with which it's in competition.
Here are five movies that are more deserving of a Best Picture nomination, as well as two directors whose films did well in total nominations but somehow were robbed of Best Director nods. For the sake of being realistic, we're limiting this assessment to films that have actually been considered serious awards contenders, so films like Booksmart and Avengers: Endgame, and lower-profile indies such as The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Honey Boy, aren't included.
THE FAREWELL
If A24 had gotten its Oscar campaign together this year, The Farewell surely would have been recognized for something. The autobiographical dramedy about lies told within a family warmed the hearts of practically everyone who saw it, which includes an awful lot of Americans for a film that's mostly in Mandarin with English subtitles. Awkwafina won a Golden Globe for her lead performance, and nominations for Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture seemed within the realm of possibility. But The Farewell has zero Oscar nominations.
KNIVES OUT
Knives Out was initially positioned as more of a commercial project than an Oscar player, but it was so clever and beloved by both audiences and critics that Rian Johnson's murder mystery had a surprisingly impressive run up until Academy Awards nominations. But ultimately the Oscars only gave it a nod for Best Original Screenplay, which is nevertheless an accomplishment. Still, Knives Out is both more entertaining and more pointed in its social commentary than Joker.
ROCKETMAN
If Bohemian Rhapsody, a rock biopic with a hellish production, heavy controversy and mixed reviews, did so well at last year's Oscars, you'd have hoped Rocketman, a more cohesive and acclaimed film, could manage some degree of similar success. It only has one nomination, Best Original Song for "I'm Gonna Love Me Again." Even if it was an uphill climb getting it into Best Picture without Rhapsody's blockbuster status, surely Taron Egerton's spot-on acting and the brilliant costumes and editing should have earned some Oscar love.
THE LIGHTHOUSE
As a truly bizarre and super-arty horror-thriller-dark comedy mash-up, The Lighthouse was always an extreme outside shot at Best Picture, but it stayed in the awards season conversation on account of its two amazing performances. Willem Dafoe's snub for Best Supporting Actor truly stings, and while the competition for Best Actor was more intense, Robert Pattinson honestly gives a more exciting portrayal of a man falling to the depths of madness than Joaquin Phoenix did in Joker. (How great would a "Batman vs. Joker" Oscars match-up have been?) The film earned only a Best Cinematography nomination.
US
Worst Oscar snub this year? Lupita Nyong'o did more challenging and mind-blowing acting than anyone else. If Phoenix's method acting is going to win him an Oscar, surely Nyong'o going to similar extremes for two separate characters in the same movie warrants some Oscar recognition. Bias against the horror genre meant Us' campaign had an uphill battle, but after Get Out made Jordan Peele an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, there was optimism Us could have gotten a Best Actress nomination. It didn't, but it should have, and it should have been nominated for Best Picture too.
LITTLE WOMEN (GRETA GERWIG)
It's yet another year where not a single woman was nominated for Best Director, which might not be that bad if one of the nominated male directors wasn't Todd Phillips, up for a shallow cover of Taxi Driver. Greta Gerwig, in contrast, took material that easily could have been dry and brings it to vibrant, emotional life, expertly constructing a non-linear structure that gives everything more impact and adding a brilliantly meta ending. Little Women has six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but none for Director. Did this film just direct itself?
JOJO RABBIT (TAIKA WAITITI)
Jojo Rabbit is up there with Joker as the most controversial of this year's Best Picture nominees. Both have surprisingly low Metacritic scores for such major awards contenders due to their divisive nature. So why do we feel Taika Waititi deserved a Best Director nomination more than Phillips did? Mainly, we're impressed with the way Waititi navigates tone. Joker pretty much stays in one grim depressed mood for its entire runtime; it's initially effective but gets repetitive and tiring fast. Jojo Rabbit, in contrast, is always changing its tone to fit the needs of its story: moments of broad cartoonish comedy appear right next to scenes of unimaginable horror. Even if it doesn't work for everyone, it's thoughtful and ambitious and ultimately creates a richer, more rewarding experience than Joker did.
Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais and Shea Whigham. The film is available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD and DVD.