One of the nicest things about living in a major metropolitan area are the cultural opportunities that one can just not get in the hinterlands, or even smaller cities: museums, concerts, theater and movies. It is a real pleasure to be able to eschew the lowest common denominator, intelligence insulting, would-be blockbusters soulless mall multiplex to catch interesting flicks at the art house.

        So, Sunday night I went to the 'The Coolidge Corner Theater' to see a presentation of several of the Oscar nominated shorts subjects.

        The Academy has three categories for short subjects; animated, live action and documentaries. The program included all the animated shorts, and three of the five live action nominees. The last item was the sole documentary, 'Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks'

        These features are given short shrift by the Academy and ABC. It seems as though they do everything to distract the viewers from seeing the millisecond of clips they show. I know the camera dollies are cool, but do we really need to zoom around as these artists' hard work is playing for a brief moment on the screen. I know the audience is not paying attention. Or maybe they're only interested in the odd choices of announcers for these segments. But, still, these guys deserve respect.

        Frankly, the pre-Oscar hour would be better dedicated to these flicks, rather than Babwa Wawwa's inane celebrity suck-ups.

        Anyhow, here are my reviews:

Animated Shorts.

        Some years I have been known to care more about this field than Best Picture. Past winners in this category have included giants like Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Nick Park and Walt Disney. The past few years CGI has taken over the field. Three of the five entries are computer generated. Interestingly two of the entries are from major studios and are available on DVD.

• Katedra (The Cathedral): Directed by Tomek Baginski. Poland. A wanderer in a wasteland on an alien planet enters a bizarre cathedral like structure, reminiscent of the Mines of Moria designed by H.R. Giger. Based on a story by Jacek Dukaj. The computer animation was gorgeous, but, the story was predictable. I am not sure what statement they were trying to make, but the flick did not, ultimately, have much of an impact.
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