The Oscars have, as a few other judges have mentioned, now come and gone. This is supposed to be the highlight of a North American film critic's year, but I found myself completely apathetic this time around. I watched a total of 30 seconds of the broadcast this year, before yawning and moving on to something else. Last year, I didn't watch much of them either, but I checked on the website on regular intervals to see who had won in various categories. This year, I checked the website the morning after.

I think there are two reasons for this apathy. For one thing, this has hardly been a vintage year. I've seen some of the nominated films, and do want to see some others, but this is a long way from the excitement I felt with the brilliant stream of films that came out in the late '90s. The other reason is that I simply don't care as much about the Hollywood system anymore. The most exciting films I have seen in the past year have all been from other parts of the world, with the possible exception of The Incredibles and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Since the Oscars are a Hollywood product, I can't really complain that Shark Tale got nominated but Ghost in the Shell 2 didn't. It still makes them seem pretty irrelevant, though.

Maybe I'll watch them next year.