( CNN ) -- I am a movie critic . But because I am not employed by a newspaper , or a television station , Web magazine , ad agency or any institution that contributes to or profits from the media carnival that has become the Academy Awards , I can admit without fear of repercussion that the Oscars leave me colder than an arctic vortex . If there were some remote planet or sun-kissed island where I could flee the din , I would go there . But I bet even remote outposts , windswept Siberian tundra or ships lost at sea , places without water or central heating , have a pipeline to the Oscar countdown . Like Christmas and the presidential campaign , the Oscar race -- a misnomer , suggesting speed -- goes on too damn long . This is true even in a year when the nominees are more exciting than usual , perhaps even justifying the oft-made claim that the Academy has become younger and less stodgy . `` American Hustle '' is a comedy ; `` Her '' a delicate love story between a man and a computer program ; `` The Wolf of Wall Street '' raucous and controversial , `` Nebraska '' bleak . ( Of course , we have been shocked before . Remember `` Midnight Cowboy . '' ) The Academy has never been a barometer of quality , in fact it has a fairly dismal record when it comes to truly great or slightly difficult films . It 's tended to favor the inspirational over the fatalistic ; high-minded drama over comedy and noir ; British over American ( `` The King 's Speech '' vs. `` The Social Network '' ) . When TCM , the channel to which I am devoted above all others , programs a whole month of Oscar winners I lose interest . Other media outlets are not so restrained . The New York Times , like other organs of record no doubt , begins early -- sometime in summer -- with possibilities and probabilities , profiles and features leading up to and exploiting the fall 's releases , until it 's virtually blanket coverage . Brains that should be doing better things are busy handicapping and making lists . Like the presidential primaries ( remember when Hillary was a sure winner ? ) , the forecasts are wrong as often as not , but nobody 's ever held accountable . Now that the Golden Globes have become the rehearsal dinner to the Oscar ceremony and fashion gets more coverage than international and domestic news combined , we watch as an armada of reporters is deployed to relay the buzz , and stories spill over into every section except sports . But more important is what this carefully staged mass hysteria and nonstop coverage does to the movies and the stars . Films that open early in the year are virtually shut out by the bottom-heavy pattern of release and ruckus surrounding the end-of-year `` prestige '' films . Gems like `` Before Midnight , '' `` Mud , '' and `` Frances Ha '' might as well have opened seven years ago rather than a mere seven months . Actors who 've given outstanding , complex performances are suddenly pleading for love like orphan puppies , parading from one show to another , forever on display . Where are the handlers that used to manage the careers of stars , keeping them at a discreet distance from the fans and allowing them some semblance of mystery ? The irony is that as fewer people are going to movies , the annual spectacle that is the Oscars is taking up greater and greater space in the public arena . The upside is supposed to be a rare communal pleasure -- the way such occasions ( as the clichÃ© has it ) bring the country together . Like Christmas . Or the political campaign . Or a natural disaster . For once in our fragmented era , old and young , blue and red , presumably join hands in a virtual auditorium to admire some dresses and laugh at some jokes . But wait ! If I remember correctly ( and the evenings do blur into one another ) , our host last year was someone who had almost nothing to do with movies , who conducted a sort of insider colloquy with the designated demographic , young males who watch television . So much for cross-generational rapprochement . Television grasping for viewers to lure advertisers , newspapers bumping up movie ads , the actors withering from overexposure and the films themselves all but anti-climactic in the final hour : How can even the best keep the sparkle of surprise ? `` American Hustle '' with its exquisite choreography and sly tease -- I 'm still trying to figure out who knew what when . Spike Jonze 's ingenious `` Her , '' a man-machine romance that proves that science fiction and sex are not mutually exclusive . When the night comes , I 'll watch of course . And vow to go to bed before midnight . And stay up anyway . After all , the Golden Globes was worth watching just for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler , and maybe Ellen de Generes can make the long hours of Sunday night , March 2 , tolerable this year . But in the meantime , I 'll fight my uphill battle to ignore Oscar stories . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Molly Haskell .
Film critic Molly Haskell does n't work for an outlet and can admit the Oscars leave her cold . Haskell : Academy rarely honors truly great or difficult films ; makes obvious choices . She says Oscars and fashion coverage blots out all other news and goes on for months . Haskell : I think it's because of this that people are so obsessed with celebrities, they're not really interested in what movies were made by real artists who had to make a living doing something else ( like writing