Max Murta beat me to it...but yes...1995 Oscars is easily the answer to this question....PULP FICITON...THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION....FORREST GUMP...FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and QUIZ SHOW....Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption are universally considered in the top ten of films from the last 25 years and in some folks estimation of all time...Gump is still great and loved although I don't think anyone really believes it was the Best Picture from that year anymore...but either way...3 top 25 to top 50 films of all time? Hard to beat...
Lest we not forget that LA LA LAND like every Best Picture Winner before it (if indeed it does win) and every one after it has this in common....its based in choice...time will decide whether or not it really is the best picture from this year...just like no one believes ORDINARY PEOPLE was the real best picture of 1981 or FORREST GUMP was best picture in 1994 ( I would assume most of us are in agreement that RAGING BULL is the best picture from 81 and either PULP FICTION or THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION should have won over GUMP although there is no doubting GUMP is a great film)....there have been dozens of times the best picture from a certain year wasn't even nominated for best picture (HEAT, SLING BLADE, THE USUAL SUSPECTS and MEMENTO come to mind)...and if LA LA LAND is truly a great movie it will be remembered long after the Oscars for this year are forgotten....
I think you are also seeing the inverse of this phenomena with certain modern films, if not filmmakers....it has become very fashionable in some circles to reverse criticize certain films that were once near universally acclaimed....AMERICAN BEAUTY first comes to mind...I've heard and taken part in discussions where that film is basically tossed from it's BEST PICTURE pedestal and cast down to the ranks of common film drama....CRASH is another....perhaps because it was a good film hailed as greatby far to many....SELMA is another...a good film hailed as great but not nearly as amazing as some critics would have you believe....I think MANCHESTER BY THE SEA will be another of these types of films....a critical darling now but in 5 to 10 years people will be wondering what all the fuss was about...
The video states that Sight and Sound's first published list of top ten films of all time came out in 1952....but the list highlighted in the video has L'Avventura at # 2....it came out in 1960....wrong list or was the date of 1952 inaccurate?
FROM THE THE FIRST PARAGRAPH:
Though it's not the positive, inspirational message we all want to hear, it's true: nobody really cares about your work. It's not because it's bad or because people are mean and out to get you—it's because we live in a time where the over-saturation of media causes audience to have exceptionally discriminating tastes.
I have to disagree....if audiences truly had exceptionally discriminating tastes we wouldn't have stuff like KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS or ZOOLANDER 2...its the exact opposite of taste...now I am not some film snob who believes only art house projects of merit should be produced...but when 75% of all tv and film content is nothing more than disposable fast food storytelling (or worse) is produced for people who honestly don't care about what they are watching its hard to make me believe that your claim of "exceptionally discriminating tastes" is really at the heart of the matter here.
Bottom line....great content and story telling always finds a way to get noticed....people do care about that...don't ever forget it.
I think the biggest problem with the author's assessment is the concept of "brilliant"....a brilliant film to one person is trash to another....take Todd Solondz's films (hope I spelled that correctly off the top of my head)....many people find Welcome to the Dollhouse brilliant....I felt it was over hyped trash loved by critics and fans who simply want to appear more artsy and academic than your average "simpleton" movie goer.....now don't get me wrong....there are many of these types of art-house films I enjoy and love thoroughly....I just used an example of one I did not like to drive home a point about the concept of brilliant...I think you need look no further than MOONLIGHT to find an art-house flick that has now generated a huge amount of box office as well....the other side of the coin is the tent pole franchise is marketed to the biggest audience possible.....when you have a million movie goers going to something...good or otherwise...its hard not to make a little money....and thats the goal with these big films.....some are bad....some are good....but the market is what it is....