+1
I can understand the case against Parasite, but not the one for Jojo Rabbit. That came across as saccharine nonsense from start to finish and even its attempts to actually engage with the serious side of its subject matter were extremely underwhelming, making it my least favourite of that set of nominees. Parasite struck me as an acceptable win and the only real alternatives I'd take are The Irishman or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
With this kind of question, I think there should be a caveat that you have to have seen at the very least the vast majority of the nominees (if not all of them) of a given year - a malleable figure would be 75% (that rounds up to 80% or 4/5 nominees for most years and at least 6-8 on the rest). So using that as my baseline for which years I can even halfway-accurately comment upon, here are my answers (just sticking to the 21st century for now)
BlacKkKlansman over Green Book (not really any true greats from this year's lineup - it could've been Roma but that has some questionable takes on class and womanhood that manage to undermine its monochromatic epic, so I settled for the Spike Lee joint, its own issues with depicting the intersection of police and racial inequality notwithstanding)
Phantom Thread over The Shape of Water (it's either this or Get Out depending on how I feel - classy but twisted romance or radical genre fare win out over a film that aims to blend the two to intriguing but ultimately inferior effect, but I'll still take all three over Dunkirk)
Mad Max: Fury Road over Spotlight (arguably the first truly transcendent blockbuster since Lord of the Rings and they give it to the quietly intense journalist movie, which I'd still take over the likes of The Revenant anyway)
Whiplash over Birdman (I guess they're both stories about angry male artists being pushed to the brink and so it's easy to regard them both at a remove, but as far as I'm concerned the sharp editing and hellish glows of Chazelle's film have held up better than the overly technical theatricality of Inarritu's film)
The Wolf of Wall Street over 12 Years A Slave (took me a while to really come around on what seemed like Scorsese's most obnoxious film, but it's risen in my estimation while McQueen's film, while still being solid, hasn't weathered repeat viewings quite as well)
Amour over Argo (not really a standout here - Django is certainly one I've seen a bunch, but it's arguably QT's worst even with its outlandish performances and action - but it would be funny to see it go to Haneke)
The Tree of Life over The Artist (if we ranked BP winners by how easy it was to dunk on them, The Artist is almost too easy - far from the worst nominee that year and not without a certain charm, but you stack it next to Malick doing a worthy contender for his true masterpiece in a lengthy and eclectic career and see who comes out on top)
The Social Network over The King's Speech (this will forever be one of the big "should have won" clichés next to Raging Bull or Goodfellas, but at least you can sort of respect the Academy's decisions to go with Ordinary People or Dances With Wolves - this one is just stupefying)
Inglourious Basterds over The Hurt Locker (both ostensibly films about men who are warped by their experiences with war, but Basterds at least expands the scope beyond the soldiers and actually holds up underneath QT's classically irreverent surface)
There Will Be Blood over No Country for Old Men (easily the slightest difference in quality between two nominees but this is about my preference and I think I'd give the edge to PTA on this one)
Brokeback Mountain over Crash (do I even need to explain this one)
Sideways over Million Dollar Baby (liked the former well enough but didn't get into the latter - feel like revisiting The Aviator to see if it's better than either of them, though)
LOTR: The Two Towers over Chicago (or The Pianist or maybe even Gangs of New York - what can I say, I do not much care for Chicago)
Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon over Gladiator (because if we have to give Best Picture to a sword-swinging epic, let's at least give it to Ang Lee doing another one of his artfully depicted and fluidly choreographed tragic romances instead of Roman Braveheart)