Distraxion

By: sternio

REVIEW

Concept

This short is about a guy who lets his imagination run a little too wild and which eventually gets him into trouble.

Direction

Its good to see so many animated shorts coming out, but after watching Pixar and Dreamworks at work, it’s sometimes difficult to properly gauge them. The animation here was not of the standard I wanted it to be. It was a bit bland. The detail that separates good animation from great was missing. Having said that, it was way better than many other shorts that I have seen. And it was pretty fast paced, so you will definitely enjoy it.

Conclusion

I am probably being a mean old meany above – animation isn’t entirely that bad (considering I have seen a lot worse). And even the music featured in this short is done nicely. Though the absence of dialogues is a let down.

Distraxion might give you a laugh or two, but that’s just about it. It is hardly 2 minutes so you can’t expect much more. I would have liked it to be a bit longer so the director could be a bit more expressive in his illustration. Even for a short movie it was too darn short.

Distraxion might not be enough to make a crappy day good, but it will just be able to distract you from your problems for a couple of minutes.

By the way, an “x” in the title doesn’t make it look cooler!

Score: 6.5/10

Give Up Yer Aul Sins

By: monsterdistributes

REVIEW

Concept

This short tells a famous story that is found not only in Christian scriptures, but also in Islamic book, The Quran (although with variations). I don’t wanna mention even an itsy bitsy bit about the story to maintain a bit of suspense :). But, its not a straightforward history lesson, as the story is told by a child and is animated.

Direction

It’s an animated movie, but it’s done very nicely. As this is based upon a 1960’s series of recordings in which children tell Bible stories, the animation is done so that it looks to belong to that decade. That’s probably the best thing about this short – its animation. With all the CGI now, we do miss the old cartoons and this certainly gives the feeling of one.

However, the child who tells the story – I am sorry but his accent is very difficult to understand. This movie is for international audience and a person with such a strong accent is not suitable for reading in such a short. It might look cute for a little while, but it becomes irksome when you can’t understand what he is saying.

Conclusion

“Give up Yer Aul Sins” is nice, but nice doesn’t cut it in this bloodthirsty industry of shorts! (No seriously it doesn’t). The short has to be something more. And this is where it fails. It makes no impact on the viewer and it might make you feel nostalgic, but that feeling will be replaced by irritation when you won’t be able to understand what the child is saying.

It’s a Bible story so people who have read the Bible already know it, but those who haven’t, they will barely be able to make head or tail of the short because of the very strong accent of the kid.

Give up Yer Aul Sins is a short that you won’t remember for long.

Score: 4.5/10

I shot your ex-girlfriend

By:PatrickBoivin

REVIEW

Concept

The title pretty much blurts out the story. But, it’s still a very interesting and funny short to watch. Who hasn’t thought of shooting your boyfriend/girlfriend’s ex – this short shows the lady actually doing it, and thus fulfills many people’s wish.

Direction & Acting

Nothing to complain about here. It’s pretty standard though there is hardly any soundtrack.

The acting wasn’t all that nice. Although the plot didn’t give much depth to their characters, but it didn’t seem like they were in a war situation apart from all the swearing. And they swear a lot. They probably concentrated on it a bit too much and forgot to act! They seemed a bit too relaxed to be in a war.

Conclusion

The surprising thing about this short was its length. It could have been longer. The idea was nice and they could have made a lot of jokes and maybe even created a lot more tension then they did. They just didn’t try hard enough.

I shot your ex-girlfriend might not amaze you with its acting or direction, but the idea is presented in a very different scenario. And that makes it a very good effort and quite an enjoyable short. Though the swearing does make this a short not for kids, the elders are going to enjoy it I am sure.

Score: 5.5/10