“Why does Hollywood put out virtually all of its best adult-oriented movies in the last 12 weeks of the year? The simple answer: Oscar fever. The industry’s obsession with the Academy Awards, which began as a symbol of achievement and are now a high-powered marketing tool, has transformed the end of the year into the Oscar Follies, offering a legitimate batch of award contenders surrounded by a scrum of hapless pretenders being released at year’s end only because of studio delusions, blind adherence to conventional wisdom and arm-twisting by narcissistic stars and filmmakers. The result is often a bloodbath.”