Short...but Deep.

Being an avid iTunes shopper, I am constantly looking for interesting things to buy, be it new music or the latest addition of video.

It's this addiction that led me to some new favorites, like the hysterical Showtime series "Weeds."

I recently stumbled upon their latest addition to the vast music store. Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International teamed up to release the five Oscar nominated short films for $1.99 each.

The prospect was immediately appealing because of:
a) my fascination with film
b) the shorts are generally not available to the public--making the awards at the ceremony completely uninteresting to me.

So, I downloaded them before I went to bed and awoke the next morning with over an hour of shorts to watch.

The first one I viewed was a short film by Sean Ellis entitled "Cashback." The film focuses on the latenight employees of a British grocery store. The humor is dry and drags a bit, but it was by far my favorite of the five nominated films.

Sean Biggerstaff ("Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets") plays Ben, an English art student. He narrates the work, telling the secrets each employee uses in order to make time pass quicker. The mood remains light until the audience discovers Ben's way of offsetting the banality. He imagines that time stops and then wanders the store looking for beautiful women. He unclothes the women and draws stunning depictions of them. Sure. It sounds weird. It is. But, the British wit and charm are obviously appealing. And the arthouse twist at the end makes the film totally enjoyable. If you're interested in watching the shorts, but working on a limited budget, download "Cashback."

"Our Time is Up," directed by Rob Pearlstein, stars Kevin Pollak ("The Usual Suspects") as a thearapist who finds out he only has 6 weeks to live. Rather than wasting those weeks stuck in his same old routine, he decides to help his patients by telling them exactly what he thinks.

His patients include a man with an obnoxious fear of turtles, an extreme germaphobe, a guy who is absolutely terrified by the dark, a playboy who can't committ and a man unaware of his painfully obvious homosexuality.

It's a cute little story, but it lacks the depth of the other nominated films. It's worth checking out if you have 2 bucks and fifteen minutes to kill.

The Irish short, "Six Shooter" is a tale of irony and depressing circumstances.

Starring Brendan Gleeson ("28 Days Later," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") and directed by Martin McDonagh, "Six Shooter" begins with a doctor informing a middle aged man that his wife has passed away. The doctor is busy with another case, however, and must leave Gleeson alone with his wife.

What starts as a bad day only gets worse for the main character. He boards a train to Dublin and meets a brash young man and a depressingly depressed couple.

By the end of the trip, two people are dead and it seems fate brought them together.

"The Last Farm" is a bleak drama about a man coping with his wife's death. The film is short and simple. If you aren't in the mood for agonizing sadness, take a pass on this one.


Fans of the semi-hit Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo vehicle "Just Like Heaven" will enjoy "The Runaway" (Ausreißer)." What starts out as a cute story about a father and son turns strangely mysterious. Definitely worth watching.

Odds are The Runaway will walk away with the Oscar, however my pick is "Cashback." We'll see this Sunday night at 7 p.m.