The Oscar nominees for Live Action Shorts come down to five conventional narratives. Best is Tuba: Atlantic from Norway, as its old-man-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist at least has an impolitic spiteful side. Second prize? The Shore from Northern Ireland's Terry George, in which a man tries to find the woman he ditched. The American nominee: Andrew Bowler's clever Time Freak, in which a geek builds a time machine.