How do the 2018 Best Picture noms compare to the past twenty years of Oscar history?

Clint Eastwood has directed two "Best Pictures" in his career. The first was for 1992's "Unforgiven," the best western not directed by Howard Hawks, John Huston or John Ford. The second one was for "Million Dollar Baby," which won it because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had to name a winner for the 77th Academy Awards. The other contenders were "The Aviator" (a rare miss by Martin Scorsese), "Finding Neverland" (a biopic about Peter Pan's author), "Sideways" (an indie movie about midlife crises and wine), and "Ray" (a decent biopic about the legendary Ray Charles). 

Movie should have won: "Ray"

2000's nominees were all okay movies that for one reason or another did not age well. "The Sixth Sense" was ruined by the fact that it became a cultural phenomenon and its twist ending became common knowledge. "The Cider House Rules" and "The Green Mile" feel very '90s, and "American Beauty," a movie about Kevin Spacey lusting over a high schooler just seems wrong. "The Insider" is underrated and good, though.

Movie should have won: "The Insider"

Robert Altman, one of America's greatest filmmakers died in 2006 without ever winning an Oscar. His best chance came in 2002 with "Gosford Park," a period piece with an ensemble cast. Instead, the winner that year was the very Ron Howard movie (not a compliment) "A Beautiful Mind," about mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. and his struggle with being a paranoid schizophrenic. The other also rans were Baz Luhrman's "Moulin Rouge!," "In the Bedroom," and the first "Lord of the Rings" movie. 

Movie should have won: "Gosford Park"

1999 was one of several times where the Oscar for "Best Picture" went to the wrong movie. That year's winner was the Harvey Weinstein-financed "Shakespeare in Love," which is so uninspiring of a movie, coming up with a proper putdown for it is proving to be difficult. 1999's contenders included the war movies "Saving Private Ryan" (the epitome of a Steven Spielberg movie) and "The Thin Red Line" (Terrance Malick's arthouse meditation on the brutality of war), the royal biopic "Elizabeth," and Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful."

Movie should have won: "Saving Private Ryan"

Not even the rare appearance of a Terrance Malick movie ("The Tree Of Life") could salvage 2012 from being worse than mediocre. 2012's winner was "The Artist," the ultra-gimmicky silent film about Hollywood that was adored by Oscar voters because it was about their industry. The rest of the field included a forgettable adaptation of a Jonathan Safran Foer ("Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"), Martin Scorsese taking a break to make a children's movie ("Hugo"), and the forgettable "The Descendants," which at least put the talented Shailene Woodley out front and center.

Movie should have won: "The Tree of Life"

"Slumdog Millionaire," is a fine movie if you're able to look past the poverty porn aspect of it. Did it deserve to win the Oscar for "Best Picture? Nope. It should've gone to "Frost/Nixon," the historic and political biopic about the infamous Richard Nixon interview that cemented his legacy. The other nominees – "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Milk," and "The Reader" – were Oscar-bait that missed the mark.

Movie should have won: "Frost/Nixon"

Another year where the nominees didn't age well (with the exceptions of "Django Unchained" and "Argo," that year's winner). "Zero Dark Thirty," for example, ended up being a historically inaccurate movie and was heavily influenced by the CIA's press department. Everyone forgets that "Beasts of the Southern Wild" even exists, along with the also rarely mentioned "Life of Pi" and "Amour." "Lincoln" was a rare miss by Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis, and the less said about the film adaptation of "Les Misérables," the better. "Silver Linings Playbook" was solid, though.

Movie should have won: "Silver Linings Playbook"

2003 was neither good nor bad. On the one hand, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" had no business being nominated and "Chicago" is just a glorified theater-to-film adaptation that doesn't improve upon the source material that didn't deserve the Oscar. "The Pianist" was fine, but it was still made by Roman Polanski. Even in 2003, as it is now, no one is going to actively advocate for the film. On the other hand, "The Hours" was outstanding thanks to its' ensemble cast and "Gangs of New York" has only gotten better with age.

Movie should have won: "Gangs of New York"

It's tempting to want to call this the worst year of Oscar Best Picture nominees solely on that year's winner, "Crash." Make no mistake, the Paul Haggis picture about how everything is connected and how that fixes racism (or something) is easily one of the biggest atrocities in Oscar history. The only reason the 78th Academy Awards isn't lower on this list is because the other nominees are actually quite solid. "Brokeback Mountain" was a milestone for the LGBTQ community and contained wonderful performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal; Philip Seymour Hoffman became the writer and intellectual in "Capote," George Clooney demonstrated his creative chops in the Edward R. Murrow biopic "Good Night, and Good Luck," and "Munich "was Steven Spielberg at his best, directing an action-heavy period piece. 

Movie should have won: Literally anything other than "Crash"

After decades of snubbing the American master, Oscar voters finally gave Martin Scorsese the statue he long deserved for "The Departed." It's not his best, but it's  better than the other contenders that year – Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu's tried to make a global version of "Crash" for some reason (Babel), Clint Eastwood tried to tell the Japanese side of the story in his World War II film "Letters From Iwo Jima," Helen Mirren went all regal on us in "The Queen," and "Little Miss Sunshine" was the little indie darling that could. 

Movie should have won: "The Departed"

2010 was the first time the Academy Awards extended the number of nominees for Best Picture to as many as 10. It was also the year of a big upset: Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker," the tense and very psychological story of an Iraq War bomb detector, beat out the heavily computerized and big budgeted "Avatar." The rest of the field was quite diverse. It included the white savior narrative "The Blind Side," the sci-fi action movie "District 9," Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," and "Up," one of only three animated films to be get a Best Picture nod. 

Movie should have won: "The Hurt Locker"

After years of trying, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu finally  made a movie Academy members thought was worthy of an Oscar for Best Picture – "Birdman," a clever meditation on art and creating that borrowed the movie-in-one-take gimmick from Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope." Other notable works that year included "Boyhood," whose own gimmick of shooting over the course of 12 years should have clinched the Oscar for Richard Linklater, the Civil Rights-era historical film "Selma," and the twee "The Grand Budapest Hotel." Lowlights included the interchangeable "The Theory of Everything" and "The Imitation Game."

Movie should have won: "Boyhood"

In 2001 the Best Picture Oscar went to "Gladiator," which has gone on to become the best movie on cable since "The Shawshawnk Redemption" (this is a compliment) for repeat viewings. The other nominees have also held up. 2001 was also Steven Soderbergh at his best, who had two movies nominated ("Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich"), and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" still has some of the best martial arts choreography ever captured on celluloid. (Also,"Chocolat" happened for some reason.) 

Movie should have won: "Gladiator"

It was a good year for movies, though the Best Picture award didn't go to the best picture that season. (The paint-by-numbers period piece "The King's Speech" won, for some reason). The psychological thriller "Black Swan," for example, was arguably Darren Aronofsky's best work. Ditto on "The Fighter" for David O. Russell. "Inception" was also the rare blockbuster that had enough prestige in its DNA to garner a nod. But the best movie that year was "The Social Network," the David Fincher movie written by Aaron Sorkin about the founding of Facebook.

Movie should have won: "The Social Network"

Despite the debacle, the Academy made the right choice last year by awarding "Moonlight," the tender and breathtaking film by Barry Jenkins, Best Picture. Last year's group of nominees included the standout sci-fi film "Arrival," "Hidden Figures," the underrated "Hell or High Water," and "La La Land," which a lot of people seem to like.

Movie should have won: "Moonlight"

We kick off the top five in 2004, which despite the fact that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won Best Picture, featured one of the strongest list of nominees in a good long while. With the exception of "Seabiscuit" and the aforementioned fantasy movie, you can make the case for the other films for deserving the award. Clint Eastwood once again reminded folks that he can direct the hell out of a movie from time to time ("Mystic River"), Peter Weir's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" has only gotten better with age, and "Lost In Translation" remains Sofia Coppola's best film and a cult classic. 

Movie should have won: "Lost In Translation"

We've been quite lucky lately, haven't we? 2016 was an embarrassment of riches that if any other movie other than "Spotlight" would have won, people would still feel good about it. Notable standouts include the brilliantly dystopian "Mad Max: Fury Road," "The Revenant," "Bridge of Spies," and even "The Martian" are all solid contenders. 

Movie should have won: "Mad Max: Fury Road"

2014 was a vintage year for "Best Picture" nominees. The winner, "12 Years a Slave" was a brutal but important movie. The same can be said about "Dallas Buyers Club," a 'based on a true story' movie about AIDs patients fighting the system in order to buy drugs that helped them manage their disease. Also of note were "The Wolf of Wall Street," which saw Scorsese return to fine "Goodfellas" form, and "Gravity," the literal out of this world suspense thriller by Alfonso Cuaron. But the best of the lot was "Her," Spike Jonze philosophical work of art about artificial intelligence and love. 

Movie should have won: "Her"

Believe it or not, this year's group of nominees is one of the best in a good, long while. It's a wonderful showcase of the best Hollywood has to offer. There's the war epic ("Dunkirk"), the darling indies ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "Lady Bird"), the social commentary in the form of horror ("Get Out"), the quirky ("The Shape of Water"), and the sublime ("Phantom Thread"). 

Movie that should win: "Phantom Thread"

It's not even close. 2008 featured two instant classics: "No Country For Men," the modern neo-Western by contemporary cinematic masters Joel and Ethan Coen, and "There Will Be Blood," arguably the best film of the last 25 years. The rest of the nominees weren't bad either. "Juno" was easily director Jason Reitman's and writer Diablo Cody's best work, "Atonement" was a solid period piece adaptation of a good novel, and even "Michael Clayton" gave us yet another fantastic performance from both George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson. 

Movie should have won: "There Will Be Blood"