Why Watch? In 1988, Pixar’s Tin Toy won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. The studio’s history after that is well known, but one of the shorts that it beat out for gold was just about as symbolic as you could ask for. Technological Threat, from Brian Jennings and Bill Kroyer, was a blend of rudimentary computer animation and hand-drawn traditional that told the story of computers taking over all the artist jobs. It predicted the future the very year that it started coming to pass. The movie itself is an homage to Tex Avery-style cartoons, with dogs in suits trying desperately to draw while burdened by exhaustion, sneezing fits, and a need to stay hydrated. The robots, of course, don’t face the same problems, and as the room fills up with them, one dog fights back. Of course, unlike the story, there was no beating the tide of computer animation, making this a bizarre historical object and a hand-drawn crystal ball. Plus, it was nice of them to thank Brad Bird in the credits. What will it cost? Only 4 minutes. Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

Why Watch? Short films weren’t honored at the first Academy Awards in 1929, but it didn’t take long for them to be added to the docket. After all, the film industry owes its origins to short work (which may be part of why Hugo is damned popular this year). In 1932, the award for Best Live-Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film celebrated work from Laurel and Hardy and Disney respectively. Disney’s contribution was Flowers and Trees – a movie that was supposed to be in black and white, but ended up being the first cartoon made with the three-strip Technicolor process. It bridged technologies, was loved by fans, and got the gold. Plus, it teaches the lesson that grumpy trees shouldn’t play with fire. What will it cost? Only 7 minutes. Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

With the 84th Academy Award nominations announced last week (and me finally coming up for air post-Sundance), I wanted to give the five Original Score (and two Original Song) nominees a closer look. Each nominated score is full-bodied and as varied as the films they are featured in ranging from fun (John Williams for The Adventures of Tin Tin) to lush (Ludovic Bource for The Artist) to dramatic (Howard Shore for Hugo) to tense (Alberto Iglesias for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) to emotional (John Williams for War Horse) while each of the nominated songs are quirky and catchy (Bret McKenzie’s “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets and Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett’s “Real In Rio” from Rio.) While I am not going to propose to understand why the Academy makes their choices the way they do (the lack of Drive and Shame nominations alone had me scratching my head last week) and I do not think that the scores and songs that were selected are unworthy of their nominations, I was still left with some questions when looking into who may come out on top on February 26th.

UPDATED: The shorts programs will be available in over 200 theaters across the United States and Canada. Check out theater information HERE! Earlier today, two things happened – I sat down with an iced coffee to peruse the latest offerings from Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque (which shows films and special programs at both the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica) and my inbox was hit with a press release concerning the all of the Oscar-nominated shorts and their release later this month. You can guess the connection! Every Oscar night, even hardcore cinephiles find themselves scratching their heads when the three shorts categories come up – documentary, live-action, and animation. What are these films? And how could I have seen them? Well, as of today, the full program of Oscar Nominated Short Films will be released (thanks to ShortsHD) in New York City on February 10, with Los Angeles openings for the animation and live-action programs coming on February 10 (Landmark’s Nuart Theatre and West LA locations, and Regency Theatres’ South Coast Plaza in Santa Ana), with the documentary program hitting Laemmle’s Music Hall 3 on February 17. Or, if you’re an obsessive art house calendar-reader like me, you’ll also realize that you can check out all three programs at the Egyptian on various dates: documentaries on February 17 and both live-action and animation on February 24. For those of you in New York or Los Angeles, I encourage you to take the opportunity afforded [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

With the Oscar nominations out terrorizing the community, we turn to IMDB Managing Editor Keith Simanton to discuss why the Academy Awards still matter, how the voting environment works, and why Harvey Weinstein always seems to control the conversation. Plus, Landon Palmer explores the death of the movie star and the rise of franchises. Could it help the revival in independent filmmaking? As if that weren’t enough, Cinema Blend‘s Editor-in-Chief Katey Rich squares off with Hollywood.com Movies Editor Matt Patches in a Movie News Pop Quiz that will change everything. Download This Episode

Why Watch? With the celebration of classic movies currently going down at the Oscars, it was the perfect year for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore to share its love of silent films, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a familiar cartoon tune. No wonder it was nominated for Best Animated Short. What former Pixar employee William Joyce and co-director Brandon Oldenburg have done here is nothing short of amazing. They’ve used the newest technologies to create a wondrous, incredible, transportational fantasy story that reaches back to the roots of motion picture history. It’s a movie that’s imagination is only trumped by its beauty. What will it cost? Only 14 minutes. Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

Why Watch? This Oscar nominated short film features a crazed, angry old woman telling a terrifying twist of a favorite bedtime story to a granddaughter that is frozen with fear. Black comedy at its best, mixed animation styles that look great together, and insight into how pissed off the Metamucil Crowd can get. Watch it before bedtime! (Or right now. Or both.) What will it cost? Only 6 minutes. Skip Work. You’ve Got Time For More Short Films.

“There becomes this idea, this narrative that says, ‘Well, it’s going to be 13-30-year-old white men which is the target. Because we want to open.’ Because everyone makes their money opening weekend. Well that’s actually not the audience. There is an audience for all of this. We’ve just forgotten it.” That’s George Clooney discussing the condescension inherent in the mindset of some executives in the studio system. His comment comes after a question to newly minted double Oscar nominee Viola Davis (The Help) is asked in the Newsweek Oscar roundtable why this is her first starring role. The answer? “I’m a 46-year-old black woman who really doesn’t look like Halle Berry, and Halle Berry is having a hard time,” said Davis. A clever turn of phrase underlining the reality that there are few roles for women of a certain color and a certain age. It’s certainly a complex issue with any number of historical, social and artistic causes, but the numbers are certainly there.

People were up in arms Tuesday after the announcement of nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. So many seem to forget that every year they are disappointed with the nominees and every year there is some film or performer who was left off or included on the prestigious list. I may have spent the final weeks of 2011 lamenting my utter ennui with last year’s films, but I never in a million years expected some of the Oscar outcomes. No Supporting Actor nomination for Albert Brooks, whose performance in Drive unnerved audiences to the core? Or the blatant disregard for solid documentary filmmaking in The Interrupters, Buck, or Project Nim, three entries into filmmaking that will forever impact the way we view the world around us? No, the Academy seemed to forget the impressive and daring offerings in favor of an adorable dog in a silent film. What is this, 1920? Last I checked The Jazz Singer pushed us into the land of the talkies. I could spend all day gnawing my tongue over which films shouldn’t have been included in this year’s awards recognition, but just like arguing the virtues and evils of the MPAA, our time is better used talking about some of the sexy pieces of work that the Academy felt were too provocative to include (for reasons I have completely made up in my mind. Hey, they have their prerogative, I have mine.). Going along with the Academy’s new voodoo math rules of deciding the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

It’s been a year filled with silent screen stars seeking redemption, the 1920s coming alive in Paris, a young boy searching for the first great director, sex addicts in New York City, horses going to war, maids of dishonor, and skulls getting crushed in elevators. Now it’s time to celebrate all of those things and more with the 84th annual Academy Awards. They’ve come a long way since the Hotel Roosevelt in 1929 (although sex addicts have almost always been a fixture). Get to ready to smile, ball your fists with snubbed rage, or be generally unsurprised. Here they are. The 2012 Oscar nominees:

A little over a year after jailing and banning their most famous filmmaker from making movies, Iran might win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It would be a first for the nation whose government seems to strongly dislike creativity and freedom of speech, but its entry this year, A Separation, almost seems like a sure thing. Come February, writer/director Asghar Farhadi and Iran might be standing on the winner’s podium. But it’s not a done deal yet. A Separation and 8 other films were announced last week as part of the Oscar shortlist – just one step away from becoming an official nominee. They include a Danish comedy set in Argentina, a masculine drama about the underground world of illegal bovine growth hormones in Belgium, and something marvelous from Wim Wenders. It’s, to say the least, a varied group. Except that almost all of them are dramas from writer/directors.  So, yeah. Subject matter-wise though, it’s a full spectrum. The final 5 will be announced tomorrow morning, but here first are the trailers from each of the 9 shortlisted movies from far off lands (like Canada):

Not-so-fun fact: The Oscars have never nominated a film from Korea for their award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite a significant film heritage and movies like The Old Jar Craftsman and Mother being put forward by the country, no Korean flick has ever made the short list. This year, the Korean Film Council is seeking to change that with Jang Hun‘s The Front Line. The action film takes place during The Korean War, specifically during the 1953 ceasefire, but even during negotiations for peace, the fighting confusingly continues with a small outcropping of hills changing hands back and forth between North and South. The movie stars Shin Ha-kyun, who has done significant work with Chan Wook-park since JSA as well as dozens of other films. It’s unclear whether this film will succeed where others have failed, but there’s definitely a keener interest in Korean currently, propelled not least of all by the death of North Korean dictator/mass murderer Kim Jong Il. Plus, this trailer looks like it was delivered inside a powder keg. Check it out for yourself:

When Luke Mullen said that Bullhead was “damn near a masterpiece,” he wasn’t exaggerating. It’s a stirring, heart-vicing film that explores the rotten depths of manhood in the no-frills world of the Belgium mafia that controls illegal bovine growth hormones. His full review is absolutely worth the read, but the short of it is that the movie is pure, grisly and fantastic. In fact, it’s already been chosen as Belgium’s entry for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, which is even more stunning because it’s the first film from Michael Roskam, and the country’s favorite go-to Awards contenders (the Dardenne Brothers) have a new film out this year (that won’t be going to the big dance). A newcomer has overthrown titans, and according to Badass Digest, Drafthouse Films has picked up the film for distribution. On top of that, they picked up fellow Fantastic Fest film Clown – the sex comedy from Denmark that sees men taking a young child on their “Tour de Pussy.” Adam Charles said that it displayed the awfulness of (some) male specimens with “one of the most pointed, extreme, and filthy senses of humor imaginable.” From Oscar nominees to raunchy foreign sex comedies, Drafthouse has picked up some great movies here, and hopefully they’ll be in theaters near you fairly soon. And no one will be texting or talking when you go.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news column that refuses to wear a fat suit. Unless it’s Halloween, because then it will be dressing up as Patton Oswalt. Because no one else is doing it, even though they should be. For those who have not heard yet, Eddie Murphy will host the upcoming 84th edition of the Academy Awards. According to show producer and Murphy fanclub vice president Brett Ratner, Eddie Murphy was meant to be Oscar host. Because the golden guy’s special night needs nothing more than a little fatsuit comedy — that’s why!

Why Watch? With impressionistic backgrounds and a difficult choice for its main character, this stunning animated short finds beauty on several levels. Urs has etched out a hard life while taking care for his aged mother, but he longs for the light on the other side of the mountain. His mother doesn’t want to leave home, but they’ll both go on a journey of faith, danger, and kitchen chairs. Every element of this tale comes together to make a wondrous, emotional experience. What does it cost? Just 10 minutes of your time. Check out Urs for yourself:

Why Watch? Because inspiration comes to those who…hold on, someone’s at the door. As the title might suggest, this short film is an absurd boundary-pusher that smashes together two pieces of culture in the messiest way possible. Richard E. Grant (who most will remember from Withnail and I) stars here as Kafka as he stands (or sits) at the precipice of writing his masterpiece. Fate doesn’t seem to be a fan. If some humor can be called dry, the deliver here is downright arid. It’s both maddeningly calm and humorously inviting, and the visual work is meant to confound at almost all times. It’s no wonder it won the BAFTA and tied for the Oscar. Questioning what the hell you just saw is perfectly fine both during the short and after it’s finished. What does it cost? Just 23 minutes of your time. Check out Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life for yourself:

Why Watch? Because you won’t find yourself closer to joining the Marines than this. Unless you’re a Marine. This documentary is a fly-on-the-wall embed with Marines as they face a grueling battle against the Japanese in the Pacific theater. The fight on Tarawa is a furious and severe act, and this film shares a gut-curdling unease leading up to the flying bullets and bombers. It’s raw in its glory and ugliness, and stands as a reminder of a particular cost of the living in this nation (and those who pay that cost). What does it cost? Just 20 minutes of your time. Check out With the Marines at Tarawa for yourself:

Why Watch? Because the capacity of one man is larger than we think. Christopher Plummer narrates this award-winning short that’s a bit longer than the films we normally feature here. Clocking in at 30 minutes, it’s definitely one of the longest, but it’s a compelling tale about one man attempting to re-forest a barren area. You may even recognize it as a childhood bedtime story. The animation is impressionistic in browns, blacks and creams. Beautifully fluid work, it’s clear that it took care and time to create. What does it cost? Just 2 minutes of your time. Check out The Man Who Planted Trees for yourself:

Why Watch? Because we’ve all love a shady spot in the pasture. Disney brought this children’s story to life in animation and won an Oscar for it. It’s a sweet film that seems far sillier than it could have been because the narrator, Don Wilson, delivers the voices as well. Don’t worry, Ferdinand. We don’t want to fight in the bullrings in Madrid either. What does it cost? Just 8 minutes of your time. Check out Ferdinand the Bull for yourself:

Why Watch? Because it is a sad celebration. This highly effecting short has an uncanny ability to create smiles and watery eyes in equal measure. Director Michaël Dudok de Wit earned an Oscar for this story of a young girl on a bicycle who waves goodbye to her father as he rows out to sea in a small boat. Through flowing watercolors and minimalist ink work, the story of her life and her longing for her father unfolds until it reaches a beautiful yet difficult climax. Some have the ability to tell stories without words, and de Wit is most certainly one of them. Father and Daughter is a moving poem, an ode to one of the most important relationships we can ever have, appreciated even more in the light of losing it. Happy Father’s Day, everyone. Watch this, then call your pop and tell him you love him. What does it cost? Just 9 minutes of your time. Check out Father and Daughter for yourself: