"Six Shooter" (2004)

I always got of a snide kick out of the how, during "In Bruges" warm-up and release, press notes occasionally referred to its writer/director Martin McDonagh as "Oscar winning."

Yeah, sure, he did win an Academy award for his first directorial effort, "Six Shooter," but that was a short film.

And, sure, short films count, too, but it ain't exactly like he pooped out "Boogie Nights," "Pulp Fiction" or "The Royal Tenenbaums" (the three of which -- combined -- have exactly the same number of Oscars as "Six Shooter").

Still, I haven't read or seen McDonagh's well-regarded plays, but I liked his feature debut "In Bruges" well enough. It didn't reinvent anything, and it seemed a lot like an "already ran," but I enjoyed the characters, central and side, and their dialogue amused me and I really dug the story's willingness to behave any way it wanted to, particularly in such polite surroundings.

And basically "Six Shooter" is like "Bruges'" shorter, simpler sibling.

Give it 27 minutes and it'll give you most of the same elements: Sad-faced but endlessly amiable Brendan Gleeson; a chatty wild boy who causes problems; skewed-but-eventually-rational perspectives on everyday topics; startling moments of violence and equally startling moments of tenderness.

Certainly worth the dollar-ninety-nine you'd pay to buy it on iTunes or the time it would take to mojo it up if you have bit torrent or something like that.