Oscar Rights and Wrongs

Best Picture
Who won: The Shape of Water. A decent film and visually stunning but narratively pedestrian and the "message" of acceptance(?) is kind of muddled. A good movie but not best-of-the-year. Absolutely one of the many Best Picture winners that will quickly fade into obscurity(anyone still talking about The Artist?).
Who should have won: Get Out. Innovative cinema with a hard-hitting and timely social message. Every aspect of the film is near perfect and it is not only a product of the times we live in but will absolutely be watched in years to come.

Best Director
Who won: Guillermo del Toro. He's innovative with a stunning ability to bring his imagination to the screen. Was this his best film? Not by a mile but this smacks of classic Oscar its-time type win.
Who should have won: Guillermo del Toro. He does deserve it. The film itself may not equal the sum of its parts but the work and the collaboration behind the production design alone is stunning.

Best Actor
Who won: Gary Oldman. Again, an it's-time type win. Does Oldman deserve an Oscar? Yes. For Darkest Hour? probably not.
Who should have won: Daniel Kaluuya. This category was a little thin this year and Kaluuya was the only one who, as a relative new comer, did something different, gave us something new moved us in a compelling and complex way.

Best Actress
Who won: Frances McDormand. Hands down best performance of the year.
Who should have won: Frances McDormand. After the turn in the interrogation scene with Woody Harrelson she was a shoe in as far as I'm concerned.

Best Supporting Actor
Who won: Sam Rockwell. A great performance which has been, reasonably, criticized for being problematic. I love Rockwell and he deserves recognition for this as well as most of his roles however I understand this caused some contention.
Who should have won: Willem Dafoe. The avant-garde actor puts in one of his most normal and compassionate performances in The Florida Project and from a career standpoint at 62 he may not have a lot more opportunities to go to the big show. Would have been nice for Dafoe and for the film to get the win.

Best Supporting Actress
Who won: Allison Janney. No question a great performance in I, Tonya however for much of her limited screen time she is sitting directly addressing the camera, literally reenacting an existing interview.
Who should have won: Laurie Metcalf. Lady Bird gives Metcalf a platform to sore. She is stunning in her complexity and emotionally devastating. The dimension she's able to achieve, the heights she's able to reach far exceed any of the other nominees.

Best Original Screenplay
Who won: Get Out – Jordan Peele. Totally earned.
Who should have won: The Big Sick – Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. However if Get Out had won best picture it would have been nice to give this a little love.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Who won: Call Me by Your Name – James Ivory. This movie was mediocre at best, disturbing at worst.
Who should have won: Logan –  James Mangold. A fitting conclusion to Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Gritty, brutal, thrilling.

Best Live Action Short
Who won: The Silent Child. This was overwrought and cringe-worthy. From this we can presume the UK offers no assistance to deaf children and they are thrown into school to just figure it out? It's as if people in the UK don't understand what deafness is? As an American the film and it's message come across as stunningly dated.
Who should have won: Watu Wote/All of Us. Although all but one of the nominees were heavy-handed political pieces this at least was interesting and emotionally resonant.

Best Animated Short
Who won: Dear Basketball. Aside from the politics involved it is stunning this won as it is feels like a child wrote the script with animation from a mid-90's Nike ad. It's boring and borderline incoherent.
Who should have won: Garden Party. Not a great year for either shorts category but this one at least had rich animation and a fun reveal.