The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011: Live Action

A collection of all five Academy-Award nominated short films, each one pretty interesting & fun to watch.

I wonder if the Academy members actually watch all of these things they're voting on (I actually don't wonder, I highly doubt it).

I Am Number Four

Takes place at a high school full of weird white kids, and the baddies die in a poof of ash when they are staked.

I guess there's no need now to make that new "Buffy" film they've been talking about.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011: Animated

All five nominated 'toons in one place--plus severable honorable mentions--and of course, the only one most of us have seen is the one from Pixar.

Each one is interesting in its own way; I found the mod-retro style of "Let's Pollute" to be very funny.

Gnomeo and Juliet

The first minute or so shows a lot of promise, and I'm really impressed with the textures & even much of the human animation.

In the end, though, the movie is merely "cute" rather than "awesome" or even "good," and the crappy forty-year-old Elton John music totally ruins it for me.

Biutiful

Well, the acting was very good.

Other than that, I can hardly say I loved this start-to-finish tragi-tragedy and its lack of any point, subtle, allegoric or otherwise.

The Illusionist

A totally-transportive feast for the eyes, the visuals alone had me smiling the whole film through.

Even if I didn't love the ending.