Video Rentals: Checking Out the Oscar Nominees?

If you're off to the video store tonight or tomorrow to check out the films that are up for a Best Picture Oscar, you're mostly out of luck. Of the nine nominees, only two, "The Help" and "Moneyball," are out on DVD.

Of the rest, you'll be able to see  "Hugo" on Feb. 28, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" on March 27, and "War Horse" on April 3. The remainder have not yet issued DVD release dates.

Scott Livingston of Lake Saint Louis' told Patch today that the two nominees that they have available are definitely in the store's top five rentals for the week. Also popular, he said, are "J. Edgar," "Tower Heist," and "Breaking Dawn."

The top ten Redbox rentals list for the 63367 zip code ranks "Moneyball" as Number Four, but "The Help" is nowhere to be seen in that top ten list. Here's how Redbox ranks:

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (PG-13)
2. The Rum Diary (R)
3. Drive (R)
4. Moneyball (PG-13)
5. Real Steel (PG-13)
6. What's Your Number? (R)
7. Contagion (PG-13)
8. 50/50 (R)
9. A Dolphin Tale (PG)
10. A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (R)

If Harold and Kumar aren't your cup of tea, you can still get your Academy Award fix without having to wait for the red carpet to be rolled out Sunday evening.

The Huffington Post lists the nominees, as does the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and IMDb has links to the films' listings on their website, with lots of additional information including complete cast lists, trivia and reviews.

Oscar.Go.Com lets you create an Oscars ballot and share it with your Facebook friends. Your picks will update during the show, and your friends will be ranked in the order of the most accurate predictions. Or, if you prefer, you can make a printable ballot on the same site.

And don't forget, you can stop by Family Video right here in town and submit your picks in their Oscar contest. If you guess them all correctly, you could win half-price rentals for 30 days.