Oscar do-overs of the 2000s

The Academy Awards each year can only represent the industry preferences of that given year.

People voted with their hearts, or for the last thing they watched because of recency bias, or they even voted for whatever Harvey Weinstein wanted at the time.

It takes time to see what movies become the real classics anyway. All the more reason to look back on the last quarter decade to see if we can bolster their credibility a bit.

2000 Winner: “Gladiator.” Do-over? Despite “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” being right there as a nominee, “Gladiator” has held up dutifully over the years, even garnering a modestly successful sequel just last year.

2001 Winner: “A Beautiful Mind.” Do-over? Yes! Pick any of the four other nominees. Personal pick: “Moulin Rouge!”

2002 Winner: “Chicago.” Do-over? Nah. Musicals so rarely get the love of the Academy these days.

2003 Winner: “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.” Do-over? No way. Peter Jackson nailed this trilogy. If only he didn’t go back and do those “Hobbit” movies …

2004 Winner: “Million Dollar Baby.” Do-over? This is the heart of Clint Eastwood’s incredible 2000s run of directorial efforts. A worthy winner.

2005 Winner: “Crash.” Do-over? We all know the answer to this. “Brokeback Mountain” losing to “Crash” remains the most egregious blight by the Academy in my lifetime. The other four movies nominated are significantly better than “Crash.”

2006 Winner: “The Departed.” Do-over? Maybe “The Departed” isn’t top tier Martin Scorsese, but the Academy love was long overdue.

2007 Winner: “No Country for Old Men.” Do-over? One of the best movie years ever, and it’s still hard to argue against the Coen Brothers’ bleak film. I do wish Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” earned a few more trophies, including one for the writer/director (still not an Oscar winner).

2008 Winner: “Slumdog Millionaire.” Do-over? The year that prompted the expanded Best Picture lineup. This trophy should have been for one of three not-nominated films: “The Dark Knight,” “WALL-E,” or “Synecdoche, New York.”

2009 Winner: “The Hurt Locker.” Do-over? I like the directing win for Kathryn Bigelow, but Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” might be the director’s most cohesive effort post “Jackie Brown.”

2010 Winner: “The King’s Speech.” Do-over? Most definitely. Time and circumstances have only made “The Social Network” more iconic. How did they let this lose?

2011 Winner: “The Artist.” Do-over? For (expletive-deleted) sake! How did this even make it into a field of 10? “Moneyball,” “Hugo,” and “The Tree of Life” have all endured, and even “Midnight in Paris” would be a better choice (minus the Woody Allen of it all).

2012 Winner: “Argo.” Do-over? It’s not the best movie in the lineup, but the Academy did my boy Ben Affleck dirty when they snubbed him for a Best Director nomination. I’m fine leaving this here, but “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi” and “Django Unchained” were all right there (as was “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Master,” both inexplicably absent).

2013 Winner: “12 Years a Slave.” Do-over? Good film, even though I would have voted for “Her” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” over it.

2014 Winner: “Birdman.” Do-over? Swap it out immediately with either “Boyhood” or “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” For me, “Birdman” never rose above its “one-shot” gimmick.

2015 Winner: “Spotlight.” Leave it here! One of best surprises of the decade.

2016 Winner: “Moonlight.” Another wonderful surprise, but that whole on-stage mix-up with “La La Land” was unfortunate.

2017 Winner: “The Shape of Water.” Do-over? Look, I’m happy that a Guillermo del Toro movie won Best Picture, even if it’s not my favorite of his. I had “Get Out,” “Lady Bird” and “Phantom Thread” higher on my personal list.

2018 Winner: “Green Book.” Do-over? This was a disaster, second only to “Crash” in 2004. Well, actually, it could have been worse … the Academy could have picked “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The standouts of this lineup were “Roma,” “The Favourite” and “BlacKkKlansman,” but let’s be honest: “Black Panther” is the movie from this year that gets remembered.

2019 Winner: “Parasite.” Fantastic winner.

2020 Winner: “Nomadland.” Probably the best movie from the weird COVID year, so good job making the best of a bad situation, Academy.

2021 Winner: “CODA.” Do-over? It’s a good movie that will see its legacy tarnished somewhat by winning over the likes of “The Power of the Dog,” “Dune,” “Licorice Pizza,” and “West Side Story.”

2022 Winner: “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Do-over? I loved the movie upon release, but it’s not something I’ve revisited yet.

2023 Winner: “Oppenheimer.” Do-over? As someone who liked but didn’t love “Oppenheimer” on first viewing, I can already admit that this one will have considerable staying power. It’s just masterful filmmaking top to bottom.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.

    This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cillian Murphy in a scene from "Oppenheimer."
  

  

 This image released by Neon shows Sun-kyun Lee, left, and Yeo-jeong Jo in a scene from "Parasite."