There's plenty to do to prep for the Oscars
By ROBERT SAUCEDO
It's almost here. For movie buffs, there are few days that illicit as much anticipation and excitement as Oscar night.
Whether you enjoy gawking at the latest trends in fashion as Hollywood's top celebrities walk the red carpet or you compete in annual betting pools with your friends and co-workers over who can get the most Oscar predictions right, for fans of film Sunday night promises to be to the Super Bowl, Puppy Bowl and hyperbole all rolled into one.
And, like the amount of effort it takes to prepare for a Super Bowl viewing party, there is a lot of stuff left to do before the big night this Sunday.
* Catch up on the Best Picture nominations: Out of all the categories, the Best Picture race is probably the easiest category in which you can see all of the movies nominated. By watching the ten films in the category, you will set yourself up to have a pretty wide knowledge of most of the other categories -- allowing you to make intelligent guesses when choosing your Oscar picks.
Most of the Best Picture nominated films are either available on DVD and Blu-ray or are still in theaters. For those who still have quite a few movies left to see or just want to rewatch the nominated films in the most grueling way possible, AMC theaters is offering a Best Picture Showcase.
As part of their 24-hour Best Picture Showcase marathon, AMC theaters is showing all 10 films back to back. For $50, you get admission to all 10 films and a $20 AMC gift card that you can use to fill your body with overly-buttered popcorn and soda -- all the nourishment you'll need as your muscles atrophy and your brain turns to mush from watching a full day's worth of prestige pictures. The showcase is happening in neighboring cities Dallas and Houston. For more information, including a full listing of theaters, visit amctheaters.com/bps/.
* Plan your Oscar party: For those having friends or family over to watch this year's Oscar celebration, you'll need to start planning which refreshments to serve and what games to play during commercial breaks. To maximize the fun, why not make it a themed party? Have all the guests come in costumes from this year's list of nominees.
As you mingle with friends dressed as Mark Zuckerberg or the rock that James Franco was pinned to during 127 Hours, you'll need to have some games planned to keep everybody entertained during the night's many commercial breaks and overlong, self-indulgent acceptance speeches.
You can play a scavenger hunt based on Winter's Bone. Instead of searching for your missing crystal meth addicted father, guests can search for clues that will lead them to a hidden cache of theater gift cards -- perfect for "bailing" them out of boredom over the next year.
Print out a giant, life size cut out of Christian Bale from The Fighter and take turns playing "Pin the Hypodermic Needle on the Junkie."
With a little extra work, you can rig up your television's sound system so that there's a small glitch that causes the sound to stutter -- that way everybody sounds like Colin Firth from The King's Speech.
As for refreshments, you should go with the classics: Winter's Boneless Buffalo Wings, True Grits, Black Swan Burgers and a CamelBak full of apple juice (tell your friends you found it at the bottom of a blood-stained canyon in the Utah desert).
Oscar night is a time to celebrate your love of movies but -- most importantly -- it's to remember who really runs the world: Celebrities.
As you go out of your way to plan a winning night of food, games and fun, just remember that you're doing all of this because without movies to entertain us, we might actually do something productive with our time and Tom Cruise, Will Smith and the rest of the Tinseltown illuminati would never want that to happen.
