No Oscar surprises this time, but look these classics that did miss out

Oscars night 2015 passed with very few surprises. As expected, Birdman - a film about a faded actor’s comeback - reigned supreme in the best picture category, with its director, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, also picking up an award.

Also predicted was Julianne Moore’s triumph in the best actress category for her role in Still Alice, with Eddie Redmayne taking the award for best actor for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. There were four awards for The Grand Budapest Hotel, and just one - best adapted screenplay - for The Imitation Game, which had been nominated in eight categories. Whiplash picked up three awards, including best supporting actor.

If the award winners were somewhat predictable this time around, this hasn’t always been the case. There have been some unbelievable oversights down the years. Including… drumroll please… these:

Ghostbusters made $300m, had an amazing cast (Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver and Harold Ramis), was funny, had great effects and a catchy song. But no Oscar. Boooo.

Seven nominations, but no Oscar for The Godfather Part III. The third instalment in the trilogy once again looked good and felt great, but got mixed reviews.

The Shawshank Redemption was another film that received seven nominations but went home with nothing, and we’ll never be able to understand why. The movie – which tells the story of two men who become unlikely best friends while serving life sentences – is one of the greatest ever made. Period.

We’re turning the clock back for the next one – all the way back to 1961. Psycho is one of the all-time classic slasher movies and gave us the famous shower scene, one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. It was scary, it was psychological, it broke the mould and would go on to influence countless films in the genre. A real snub.

Goodfellas, ah yes, now that was a great movie. Not that everybody thought so at the beginning; it was on the end of some decidedly dodgy reviews, amid copious amounts of violence and every-other-word-a-profanity swearing. That may be why it didn’t get many Oscar nominations in 1990, and even fewer – none – awards. Later, Goodfellas would be regarded as one of the best of its kind, and now, if you put it up against Dances with Wolves – the winner of the 1990 best picture award – there’s only one winner, and it’s not Dances with Wolves.

When it came out in 1998, Saving Private Ryan had audiences flocking to the cinema – not least because it was an incredibly moving tale and one of the great war films, but also because it was a bright spot in an otherwise patchy year for movies in general. Obviously, Saving Private Ryan would win best picture? You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But for some strange reason, Shakespeare in Love won it. Work that one out.

Honourable mentions also to:

• Pulp Fiction, which missed out on a best director award for Quentin Tarantino

• Citizen Kane, which inexplicably failed to win best picture in 1941

• Singing In The Rain, which lost out in the best picture category to The Greatest Show On Earth

• Groundhog Day – great movie, didn’t even get nominated for an Oscar

• The Terminator – cheesy but fun. No nominations! Scandal.

Have I missed any? What other films have been cruelly overlooked by the Academy?