He's right about that cheat of a morphing shot of Matt Damon at the end ruining the narrative of the film though.

Well yeah, it's set in it's era, but at least the characters are well rounded.
I can't see how that is aged and Easy Rider isn't.
I put it in the same kind of 'of it's time and place' as The Graduate.

American Graffiti never really did much for me. The pacing is a little off, the characters a little flat.
I do like THX.

The only good things about B.S Dracula (apart from the set design) is Winona Ryder bouncing in a Victorian nightdress and Keanu Reeves trying an upper class English accent.

I'm sorry you'll have to call him by his new name 'M. Night Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong'.

Oh I'm not slamming Lucas really, just I think that he had a hell of a lot of help making the first three, and that without that his creative impulses were 'meh'.
It's hardly his fault that every corner of the press set him up as the one guy responsible for the whole shebang around the time of Episode I.

He has a hell of a lot more to do though.
The Lector role in Silence was really just a series of conversations and one set piece where he escapes.

I'd say that's a decent argument, but Lion King would be the choice to me.
Problem is that year was even more crammed.
Personally I don't think it's legacy is that much  except for when people talk about how Disney made decent films without the Pixar banner.

Million Dollar Baby was not better than Sideways, The Aviator or 
Finding Neverland.

Plus we have Benicio Del Toro at his most incomprehensible!

And the prequel 'wallop'.

The English Patient was the biggest shoo-in I've ever seen.
I didn't really like it per se, but it ticked every 'Oscar Winner' box.

There's nothing really wrong with American Beauty.
Personally I felt Magnolia (un-nominated), The Talented Mr. Ripley (un-nominated), Election (un-nominated) should have been up and The Insider was far and away the best film that year.
To hell with the tepid Irving adaption and Green Mile.

You just reach in here and grab some popcorn…

Did this take place Under The Boardwalk?

Do not engage the contrarion. He'll start into a 8000 word defense of Sucker Punch.

Yeah I think part of him looked at things and said 'holy shit this is really an insane way to make a movie.
It's not that he didn't make some good stuff after; Tucker, the way he shot Rumble Fish,Hammett a lot of Cotton Club…but I think he lost that mad streak and was safer.

Midnight Cowboy would be number 2 on the list for me. That's still a fantastic movie.

I did too. And with full justification.

Star Wars should have won best editing, seeing as the rumors suggest the whole thing was awful before they took it away from Lucas and reshaped it.