Oscar Rights And Wrong

Best Picture
Who won: Green Book.
Who should have won: Black Panther. In a time culturally where there has been such a push for inclusion and diversity there came a magnificent merger of this ideal and entertainment in this film which with record breaking box office as well as universal critical acclaim defined the cinematic year and should have received the top prize.

Best Director
Who won: Alfonso Cuarón for Roma. Justly earned especially for this meditative, personal film.
Runner up: As Cuarón has already won a Directing Oscar for Gravity it could have been nice to give Spike Lee the win for BlacKkKlansman another one of the years best.

Best Actress
Who won: Olivia Coleman for her layered performance as the frumpy, funny and pathetic queen in The Favourite. Justly earned.
Runner up: Yalitza Aparicio put in an incredibly empathetic and compassionate performance in Roma and was equally deserving of the win. The most egregious oversight is that Regina Hall didn't get nominated for Support The Girls.

Best Actor
Who won: Rami Malik for Bohemian Rhapsody. His Freddy Mercury is decent and the movie is entertaining but this popcorn movie displays little in terms of originality as to the biopic form or in its acting.
Who should have won: The list of nominees is particularly pedestrian this year but Christian Bale's performance was certainly more impressive as Dick Cheney in Vice. But one of the best lead performances of the year wasn't even nominated- John David Washington for BlacKkKlansman.

Best Supporting Actress
Who won: Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk. Despite the films limitations King soars in her limited role. Justly earned.
Runner up: As an alternative Amy Adams once again proves her talent and is overlooked. She is now 0 for 6. Hopefully Adams will get the win she so rightly deserves in the years to come.

Best Supporting Actor
Who won: Mahershala Ali for Green Book. Unquestionably an outstanding actor, one of the greatest of his generation, look no further than the currently airing True Detective season 3, but he just won the same award two years ago.
Who should have won: Sam Elliot for A Star Is Born. A cinematic legend, never honored, gave the most compelling of the films entire cast. This would have been a great opportunity to justly honor a career actor.

Best Original Screenplay
Who won: Green Book. One of the Farrely brothers shouldn't win an Oscar. Full stop.
Who should have won: First Reformed was a singular, engaging, if frustrating film from legendary screenwriter Paul Schrader. It was time for him to win the gold.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Who won: BlacKkKlansman. After changing the cinematic landscape and countless films that will live on in the cinematic lexicon Spike Lee finally gets the gold. Justly earned.

Best Documentary
Who won: Free Solo a visually striking film with a flat, borderline unlikable subject at its center. Substantially undeserving of the accolade.
Who should have won: Minding The Gap a unique, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful investigation of domestic violence and that mostly unexplored but oft repeated phrase "toxic masculinity".

Best Animated Feature
Who won: Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse. Diverse in cast, conception, and animation style this late year release gets the recognition it deserves. Justly earned.

Best Live Action Short
Who won: Skin. A particularly heavy handed and clumsy psuedo allegory on race. The nominees, almost categorically, were dismal using trauma as plot device with little to no discernible intention or purpose.
Who should have won: Marguerite. As the only nominee with actual real life emotions this simple story of an aging woman finally coming out is poignant if a bit on the nose.

Best Animated Short
Who won: Bao. Cute but serious Pixar continues to dominate the animated shorts category.
Who should have won: Weekends. With a different animation style and darker subject matter this short goes beyond

Best Editing
Who won: Bohemian Rhapsody. The editing in this movie is sufficient but there is no style, no real artifice about it.
Who should have won: BlacKkKlansman. As always with a Spike Lee film, it has flair and uses the cinematic language to propel the plot along with his production design and performances. The crosscutting section near the end of the film is one of the best scenes of the year.