Purpose: Provide a (highly) subjective list of which years were the "best" for movies—which I generally conceptualize as the years which gave us the most and "greatest" films in terms of artistic quality and timelessness. "The classics never die" as I often say. Because art needs a bit of time and distance to truly judge, I excluded the last 15 years from consideration (sorry, 2017; a lot of love for you out there).
Methodology: I picked several articles from film sites and magazines, then averaged the ratings. I ignored any that used box office or similar as a criterion. Many hits of the past have not held up and many flops are now recognized as genius.
Films: I mostly used the latest TSPDT list to pick the "best" films of each year, omitting some of the more obscure ones (mostly foreign, though I hated to do it). I upped the number of films to 25 as we get closer to #1. Films are presented more or less in order of highest regard; your mileage/opinion may/will vary.
And now: 1994!
