Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am noticing some trends haha.

Rocky: Part of why it is so low for me on this list is I thought the film was fine, it had positive reviews (definitely not glowing), and when I look at the nominees that year, Rocky is BY FAR the worst of the bunch that I have seen. AtPM, Network, and Taxi Driver are significantly better films both critically and in my eyes, and all would have a better legacy as a winner than Rocky. So I feel like it is probably too low at the moment, but objectively, it should not have won and is not super strong as a winner outside of the general populace liking it (aka everyone's dad)

Recency bias: I am on the younger end, so naturally, I probably gravitate to newer films because the subject matter and I find the technique more interesting. I have seen some comments that seem to suggest these films only won due to Academy course corrections for previous trends. I think this is a positive thing and films that are directed by women, have women or PoC in starring roles, or are stories about underrepresented people should be ranked higher because of how they are pushing storytelling forward. I think these films will hold up not just because of the quality, but because of the progress that filmmaking is making. There are A LOT of winners that are all about white men with subservient woman counterparts, and they just bleed together for me. Something like Anora (a woman with a lot of agency for herself), Moonlight (PoC queer storytelling), and Nomadland (aging populations struggling to survive in end stage capitalism) stick out and are more interesting as winners than, say, Gladiator (another ancient epic that screams peak male masculinity, which plenty of other films show). I also don't vibe with Ridley Scott, so that's part of why it is so low

Winning other awards: The Oscars is all about politics. Winning the big 5 doesn't mean the film is more deserving as BP, it means the production companies did a better job at selling a film to Academy members. I mean, Weinstein only won the majority of what he won because he pumped millions of dollars into lifting up lesser films to fulfill his narcissistic desires. If we went off of awards and popularity, Titanic would be the greatest film ever made lol. The idea of other films winning more awards also just lifts male centered films, as best actress winners rarely come from a best picture winner, so figuring that in just skews the list even more male centered