The Golden Globes and the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards are history, so for people who like awards shows and/or movies, the Academy Awards loom. The ceremony is still a few weeks away and will be televised on February 24th, but many film fans are still catching up on the nominated pictures. Even if you’re not a cinephile, you can still make a run at the office pool or Oscar party where everyone fills out ballots with their choice of nominees in all the categories. If you really want to talk a good game, though, it might help to see the films. But where?
As the big Oscar-bait movies tend to get released on or around Christmas, you can still catch many of them in theaters — so fire up Yahbingle and search your local listings. Sticking the formula [Name of film] + [your ZIP code] + movie into the search box and hitting the Enter key should bring you quick results in Yahoo, Bing and Google; it works best in Google. But there are a few Best Picture nominees that have made the leap to home video already (or will be there by Oscar night). Flight and The Sessions have nominations for acting, while Skyfall and Ted both have Best Original Song nods:
- Beasts of the Southern Wild (out on home video)
- Argo (Amazon Instant Video and iTunes purchase; DVD/Blu-Ray on February 19th)
- Flight (out on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download)
- The Sessions (out on Blu-ray, DVD and streaming video on February 12)
- Skyfall (Amazon Instant Video, and iTunes purchase; DVD/Blu-Ray on February 12th)
- Ted (out on several forms of home video)
If you’re a fan of the Best Animated Film category, you have better luck for home viewing. Pixar’s Brave is on Blu-ray/DVD, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iTunes. Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie awaits you on Blu-ray/DVD, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iTunes. ParaNorman is out on Blu-ray/DVD, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iTunes. The Pirates! Band of Misfits is also available on Blu-ray/DVD, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iTunes. Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph” is not out on disc until March 5th, but you can snag a digital download from Amazon Instant Video or iTunes now.
As for the rest of the categories, if the film came out before early November, it’s probably on home video in some form, so fire up your favorite search engine and have at it. The Big Hollywood releases are one thing, however, but just finding some of the smaller films can be a challenge. If you live in a city with a good movie-house scene, check it out to see if they’re having any showings. You can also find links to find screens for the Best Short Films site.
For the truly obsessed, there’s also an official Academy Awards app where you can create your own interactive Oscar ballot and hook into Facebook and Twitter during the show. The app is available to download for iOS and Android, including the version that runs on Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The Oscars app can add a whole new element to the party if everyone is packing a portable touchscreen. But unlike the paper ballots of yore, you may want to be a little more careful where you fling the artichoke party dip this year.
