The Brattle is running this collection of notable animated shorts all weekend; the program includes work from Aardman Animations (the makers of Wallace and Gromit) and “Beavis and Butt-head”’s Mike Judge. But the film that makes this program a must-see is Don Hertzfeldt’s brilliant satire Rejected, a nominee for the Best Animated Short Oscar in 2001. Rejected purports to track its animator’s unraveling as his absurdist shorts go unappreciated in the commercial world; it’s black, bizarre and riotous. It may also be the only Oscar nominee ever to feature an anthropomorphic puffball screaming “My anus is bleeding!” over and over. Friday at 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 12:45, 3:00, 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

sat, nov 15

MUSIC | Krokodiloes

Harvard’s oldest a cappella group takes the stage for their fall concert. This will be the gentlemen’s first public performance of the year. 8 p.m. Tickets $10; $7 students and seniors. Sanders Theatre. (SLS)

MUSIC | THUD

The Harvard Undergraduate Drummers, otherwise known as THUD, will perform a wide variety of percussion pieces, employing as instruments everything from cardboard boxes and plastic cups to vibraphones and bongos. Most of the music is original composition by the group members, and by director Julian O. S. Carlo ‘04. This year they will perform a version of their famous Cups piece with an unprecedented 12 performers. 8 p.m. Tickets $3. Lowell Lecture Hall.

MUSIC | Moonraker

Boston-based Moonraker mixes electronic elements into their rock. Touring on their recent self-titled album, the band share TT’s stage with Making It Right and Redletter. 9:30 p.m. Tickets $10. T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St. (SLS)

mon, nov 17

FILM | Rebel Without A Cause

Nicholas Ray’s 1955 social statement is badly written, badly acted and badly dated. Some of its scenes are put together wonderfully—particularly the nighttime car race—and there’s also the treat of a very early turn from Dennis Hopper. But, at its core, this is a movie where James Dean screws up his wax sculpture of a face and screams, “You’re tearing me apart!”—a movie that mistakes cheap melodrama for genuine humanity and whose worldview is as clumsy as can be. This is the way that American Beauty is going to look in 50 years. Monday at 5:00, 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

wed, nov 19

FILM | Tom Jones

There are two great scenes in Tom Jones—a droll prologue styled after a silent film and an equally soundless dinner scene in which the titular Jones (Albert Finney) and his latest squeeze stare at each other as they devour oysters and chicken with lascivious panache. When the film turns to its sprawling episodic plot (taken from the Henry Fielding novel), things grow slow and confusing. Finney proves an immensely charismatic hero, though, and he makes even the tedious spells entertaining. Wednesday at 4:30 and 9:30 p.m. Brattle Theatre. (BJS)

films