TUESDAY FILM SERIES ALERT >>>

I often think the Academy Awards have about as much to do with honoring cinematic excellence as a high school cheerleading contest has to do with which girl does the best backflips. I wish the television broadcast could include a screening of the winning live action shorts to celebrate this wonderful cinematic art form. Instead, this year's broadcast included a hilarious euphemistic bit with the cast of Bridesmaids arguing that length doesn't matter - when it comes to films, that is. "I'd rather have a short film that is nice to me than a long one that lies there and makes me do all the work." Wise words from Kristen Wiig.

The Shore grabbed this year's live action short Oscar with its surprise twist of an O. Henry tale.

The Academy Awards 2012 nominees for Live Action Shorts are hitting movie screens across the nation, including The Grand Cinema tomorrow. You may view the following five nominated shorts at 2:05 and 7:10 p.m.

Pentecost (11 min): When Damian is forced to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish, he faces a difficult choice: conform to the status quo, or serve an extended ban from his life's passion - football.  

Raju (24 min; in German and English with English subtitles): The filmmakers of RAJU succeed at making the moral dilemma faced by couples wishing to adopt emotionally palpable. 

The Shore (31 min; contains some Gaelic with English subtitles): After 25 years in exile, Jim Mahon (Ciaran Hinds) returns to Ireland to show his American daughter Patty (Kerry Condon) his Belfast roots. But things don't go as planned when she learns of a secret love triangle and a long-lost best friend.

Time Freak (11 min): A neurotic inventory creates a time machine, only to get caught up traveling around yesterday.

Tuba Atlantic (25 min; In Norwegian with English subtitles): Everybody is going to die one day. Oskar, 70, is going to die in six days. He is now ready to forgive his brother for a disagreement years ago. Will he reach his brother, who lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, before it's too late?

[The Grand Cinema, Tuesday, March 6, 2:05 and 7:10 p.m., $5.50-$9, 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma, 253.593.4474]

LINK: South Sound movie times