These came in the mail yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to post them. Here are Oscar short-listed documentaries.

WASTE LAND

Genre: Documentary
Director: Lucy Walker
Premise: An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom.
Oscar Chances: Potential: Until the nominations are announced, we won’t know what kind of potential, but any film on the short list has a chance.
Rotten Tomatoes:
100% (34 critics; as of 12/5/10)
Metacritic:
79 out of 100 (6 critics; as of 12/5/10)

WILLIAM KUNSTLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE

Genre: Documentary
Director: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
Premise: William Kunstler was one of the most famous lawyers of the 20th century. The New York Times called him “the most hated and most loved lawyer in America.” His clients included Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Phillip and Daniel Berrigan, Abbie Hoffman, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Leonard Peltier. In Disturbing the Universe: Radical Lawyer William Kunstler, filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler explore their father’s life, from middle-class family man, to movement lawyer, to “the most hated lawyer in America.”
Oscar Chances: Potential: Until the nominations are announced, we won’t know what kind of potential, but any film on the short list has a chance.
Rotten Tomatoes:
76% (25 critics; as of 12/5/10)
Metacritic:
62 out of 100 (14 critics; as of 12/5/10)