Alternatives to the Oscar Vortex

This Sunday in Los Angeles is an event that is Christmas, New Years and senior Prom all combined.  I am talking of course about the 82nd annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as "Oscar night."  Twenty-four awards (not including almost half a dozen "special" awards...) will be parceled out over a mind (and buttocks) numbing three to four hour time period.  Or even longer if you tune into the pre-Oscar Red Carpet coverage...

Given that the Oscars are the finale to a long drawn-out awards season that starts with the Golden Globes and includes the Director's Guild awards, Writer's Guild awards and Screen Actor Guild awards, much of the anticipation and mystery surrounding "Who will win?" has been eliminated.  Unless of course, you're dying to know who's gonna win for "Best Sound Mixing."

If you're planning a get-together to watch the annual marathon, Walletpop had a great post on how to host a cheap Oscar party.  I personally plan on skipping the televised festivities--opting to utilize those four hours in a much more entertaining fashion...

In the 3-4 hours of time consumed by an Oscar broadcast, you could watch an Oscar-winning movie--maybe even a double feature!  Interestingly, many of this year's Best Picture nominees have money-related themes:

• A Serious Man - The lead character in this latest film from the Coen Brothers deals with money issues in a number of ways, including being bribed and then blackmailed by a student and his father.
• Up in the Air - George Clooney starred as a guy who (WORST. JOB. EVER!) fires people for a living.  
• Up - The subtext of this film may encourage better retirement planning--as tying balloons to your house and floating to South America is only possible in Pixar movies...
• The Blind Side - A poor, underprivileged kid gets adopted by a wealthy family.
• Precious - A poor, underprivileged kid remains poor and underprivileged.
• Avatar - In which James Cameron manages to break box office records of his last box office record breaking film, Titanic.  Oh, and there are evil Earthling trying to co-opt the resources of an alien planet for--you guessed it--money.

As an alternative to watching the Academy Awards, you could spend the time watching one of these money-themed Best Picture winners from Oscars past:

• You Can't Take it With You - Frank Capra directed this 1939 Best Picture winner about the meeting of an eccentric group of oddballs and a stuffy, upper-class family who come together when their children become engaged.  Cast features Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore who starred together nine years later in another money-themed movie, It's a Wonderful Life.
• Around the World in 80 Days - The entire plot of this 1957 Best Picture Oscar winner is set in motion when Phineas Fogg (David Niven) bets he can transverse the globe in...well, you know.
• The Sting - Speaking of bets, there's more than a bit of gambling and grifting going on in this 1974 Oscar winner starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
• Oliver! - I'm a sucker for Charles Dickens, musicals and pint-sized pickpockets.  This 1968 Best Picture winner also features money-themed musical numbers including "Boy for Sale," "Who Will Buy?" and "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two."
• Rain Man - A journey of self-discovery and connection between Tom Cruise's character and the institutionalized autistic savant brother he never knew (Dustin Hoffman) begins with his disinheritance and culminates with Raymond counting cards in Vegas with this 1989 Best Picture winner.
• No Country for Old Men - Should have been titled, "There's no such thing as a free suitcase filled with stolen drug money..."  If nothing else, we learned to make sure to remove all tracking transponders from ill-gotten gains so as not to be relentlessly tracked by the likes of the creepy Javier Bardem in this 2008 Oscar winning film.
• Slumdog Millionaire - Life lessons from last year's Best Picture winner:  dreams do come true, hiding in a bathtub filled with money is not particularly effective and there IS a game show host even more annoying than Regis Philbin.  Oh, and that "millionaire" winners in India (approximately $400k) couldn't even afford a decent condo in L.A.

Are you watching the Oscars this Sunday?  Who are you rooting for?