As any Oscar-pool veteran knows, the short-film categories are usually the toughest to predict. Thankfully, Shorts International has started distributing the nominated live-action and animated short films to theaters, and the two programs will be playing locally at the Brenden Theatres at the Palms, starting February 19.

The live-action program is plagued with one dour socially conscious film (Kavi) that plays like a charity ad—and will probably win the Oscar—but the rest of the slate is pretty strong, including austere drama The Door, which takes on a social issue (the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster) with grace and dignity rather than manipulation; eerie Australian thriller Miracle Fish, which has a unique take on the urban shooting rampage; and dark comedy The New Tenants, which builds to a farcical conclusion piled high with dead bodies. The cutesy comedy Instead of Abracadabra is probably a little too lightweight to win an Oscar, but does have its charms.

The highlight of the animated program is A Matter of Loaf and Death, starring beloved British stop-motion characters Wallace and Gromit. It has all of the quaint charms of the duo's past films, including a ton of sight gags and dog Gromit's endearingly quizzical facial expressions. Wallace and Gromit have won three past Oscars, and definitely deserve another one.

They may end up losing, though, to the visually impressive Logorama, which envisions a world made up entirely of corporate logos; it's flashy and glibly anti-corporate, but wholly empty and exhausting by the end. The rest of the animated shorts are cute but insubstantial, and feel like padding, but it's worth buying a ticket for Wallace and Gromit alone.