The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards have been announced, and expected contenders such as “A Star Is Born,” “Roma,” “Green Book,” and “BlacKkKlansman” all landed numerous mentions in top categories. While the Oscars remain a prestigious honor in Hollywood, it’s hardly the sole indicator of a truly great movie. The following 21 films from 2018 all earned 0 nominations among them, and yet they’re all major accomplishments nonetheless.

Jeremiah Zagar’s impressive feature directorial debut was hailed by IndieWire at the Sundance Film Festival as the “Moonlight” of 2018. It unfortunately never had a shot in the Oscar race, but it is the most nominated title at the Indie Spirit Awards with five nominations.

Tamara Jenkins broke into the Oscar race for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 with “The Savages,” and she should have been a major contender a decade later with “Private Life.” Bolstered by the work of Paul Giamatti and especially Kathryn Hahn, who give two of the year’s most toweringly humane performances, “Private Life” is a major Oscar oversight in 2019.

Newcomer Brady Jandreau gave a shattering breakthrough performance in “The Rider,” one that many wish could have earned the same level of buzz as Best Actor frontrunners Christian Bale and Rami Malek. Same goes for Chloé Zhao’s direction and the lyrical cinematography of Joshua James Richards.

Joaquin Pheonix’s internal firecracker of a performance ranks as one of his best, and it’s one that took top honors at Cannes in 2017 — but failed to draw up any real Oscar buzz this season. As for Lynne Ramsay, whose incredibly lean direction and blunt script give the film its viseral power, many will never understand how she wasn’t a shoo-in for a Best Director nom.

Bo Burnham’s incredibly honest script for his directorial debut “Eighth Grade” earned him a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Original Screenplay, which made numerous Oscar pundits believe he had a fighting chance at earning an Oscar nomination in the same category. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Josephine Decker’s ferocious character study “Madeline’s Madeline” was always going to be too bold for Oscar voters, and yet Ashley Connor’s handheld camerawork and Caroline Shaw’s abrasive score deserved at least a mention in the race.

While it’s comforting to know Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow’s “Annihilation” score made the Oscar shortlist, the lack of a nomination is a glaring oversight considering the climactic track alone (“The Alien”) should’ve won the duo the Oscar. 

One day the Academy will finally start honoring stunt teams and stunt coordinators, and then the “Mission: Impossible” franchise will get an overdue Oscar. On a more serious note, if “Mad Max: Fury Road” broke George Miller into the Best Director race, then there’s no reason “Fallout” and its breakneck filmmaking couldn’t have done the same for Christopher McQuarrie.

Toni Collette. Toni Collette. Toni Collette. What else is there to say? Oscar buzz skyrocketed for the beloved actress as soon as “Hereditary” premiered at Sundance, and yet Oscar voters are still hesitant when it comes to nominating performances from genre movies, especially horror films. It’s a damn crime, as Collette’s work was her biggest accomplishment to date.

“Sorry to Bother You” combines the surrealist eccentricities of Michel Gondry with the polemics of a Spike Lee joint, and yet it never feels like anything but Boots Riley. The writer-director deserved a spot in this year’s Best Original Screenplay race for drafting a truly original work that will stand the test of time.

Backed with some of the best reviews of 2018 (that 97% Rotten Tomatoes score is no small feat), “The Hate U Give” somehow got lost in this year’s awards race. The film is a rare YA studio movie that has the urgency and passion of a more serious-minded indie, and it features standout work from supporting actor Russell Hornsby.

Steve McQueen was the big Oscar winner with “12 Years a Slave,” and yet follow-up “Widows” got entirely rejected from this year’s awards race. The movie’s lack of Oscar buzz and quick fade at the box office has left many puzzled, as McQueen’s direction brought a level of sophistication that is mostly unseen in adult genre movies. As for Viola Davis and Elizabeth Debicki, their performances will be great discoveries for moviegoers in years to come. 

Many critics agree that Carey Mulligan delivered her finest acting work yet in Paul Dano’s directorial debut “Wildlife,” and yet the crowded Best Actress race never let her to garner much-deserved recognition.

The New York Critics Circle named Regina Hall the year’s best actress at the start of awards season, and yet that’s as far as the sublime comedian got in terms of the Oscar race. The way Hall manages to undercut her character’s frustration with a quiet optimism made for the some of last year’s best acting choices.

Carlos López Estrada’s “Blindspotting” couldn’t translate its big Sundance buzz into sizeable box office or Oscar buzz, which makes it one of the more overlooked titles this season given the impassioned script and performances by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs.

Count “Leave No Trace” as yet another major work from a woman director that unjustly got left out of the Best Director race. Even more frustrating, director Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini’s beautiful adaptation of Peter Rock’s novel “My Abandonment” failed to break into the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

“Mandy” is another stunning dose of psychedelia and derangement from director Panos Cosmatos. The movie was disqualified from the Oscar race for not meeting the required theatrical release window, but it was never going to be a contender. Anyone who has seen “Mandy” can tell you that Jóhann Jóhannsson’s original score is worthy of a nomination.

Armando Iannucci’s Soviet satire takes the “In the Loop” and “Veep” creator’s scathing tone into “Dr. Strangelove” terrain with a madcap look at scheming despots jockeying to take over the Soviet Union. The Academy not even giving Iannucci a shot for Best Original Screenplay is a huge oversight.

Director Paul King’s rich visual palette transforms “Paddington 2” into an unexpected and delightful synthesis of Wes Anderson and Tim Burton, which is quite welcoming in a family movie. If anything, Hugh Grant’s marvelous supporting performance (a critics’ favorite during year-end voting) should’ve been an Oscar nom no-brainer.

Fox Searchlight scored big with multiple Oscar nominations for “The Favourite” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” but the relatively small scale “The Old Man and the Gun” got left in the dust. A perfect sendoff to acting legend Robert Redford, “Old Man” deserved a lot more buzz for its slyly meta screenplay.

How “Suspiria” did not make one of the three nominations for Best Makeup and Hairstyling is a tragedy (perhaps the Academy didn’t realize that was Tilda Swinton as both an elderly man and an ancient, saggy witch). Then again, the film not even getting buzz for Best Editing proves the industry just never knew what to do with Luca Guadagnino’s horror movie.