I hosted an Oscar party last weekend. What's that, you say? The Oscars aren't until this coming weekend? Well, that is true. But my Oscar party wasn't watching the Oscars, cool as that may be. My Oscar party consisted of ten of this year's Academy Award nominees and an assortment of movie decorations. Plus popcorn and ten free movie rentals to redeem. If you think that sounds pretty good, then read on, because not only will I tell and show you more, but I will gladly give you the chance to host this very experience yourself with what may be our all-time sweetest giveaway opportunity.

We owe it all to Redbox, the automated rental giant who recently gave one DVDizzy.com reader a free Blu-ray player and a year's worth of rentals. Now, we're teaming up with them to give one reader one heck of an Oscar season bash, consisting of ten nominated movies that are yours to own, ten one-night Redbox rental codes, a box of Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter microwave popcorn, a ten-foot Hollywood sign to hang indoors or out, a clapperboard, a movie camera piñata, and your very own red carpet!

As seen above, the nominated films are as follows:
- the Best Picture nominees The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, and Winter's Bone
- the Best Animated Feature nominee How to Train Your Dragon
- multiple technical category nominee Alice in Wonderland
- The Town featuring Best Supporting Actor nominee Jeremy Renner
- the Australian drama Animal Kingdom with Supporting Actress nominee Jacki Weaver
- Best Documentary nominee Restrepo

With the exception of Winter's Bone (supplied on Blu-ray), all of the others are provided on DVD, with Dragon being the Dragon Double DVD Pack edition.

These recognized movies not only rank among those competing for statues at Sunday night's ceremony, they also stand as some of the general public's favorite releases of last year, with six of these grossing over $100 million worldwide. If you're a regular reader (and I hope you are), then you know that I've already reviewed four of the aforementioned films in detail here: Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right, Winter's Bone, and Animal Kingdom. For once, the Academy and I appear to be in alignment, as these four films rank among my favorites of 2010. I'm also quite fond of most of the other movies we're excited to give away here.

Out of all ten of these and out of the six Best Picture nominees I've seen thus far, my favorite would have to be Toy Story 3. That isn't too surprising, because a Pixar film has now stood as my favorite for each of the last three years. Toy Story 3 is the best of the studio's recent output and one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. It may be animated and humorous, but this endearing adventure provides more humanity and emotion than all but the rarest of live-action cinema. Though I would love to see Toy Story 3 and, by extension, the amazing trilogy it satisfyingly concludes get recognized with a Best Picture win, I know that the Academy isn't yet ready to give its top prize to a "cartoon", especially not with its own minor league category to win. The nomination itself is a high honor; before TS3, only Beauty and the Beast and Up secured Best Picture nods, and only the former before the field was expanded to ten.

Of the films believed to have a legitimate shot at winning Best Picture, my support lies with The Social Network, David Fincher's riveting dramatization of the invention of Facebook. Fincher has long been one of the most skillful directors in Hollywood and it's great to see him recognized as such for a second time. Beginning with Jesse Eisenberg's nuanced turn as Mark Zuckerberg, the cast is exceptional. While Aaron Sorkin's script may play with the facts, it offers rich, compelling human drama. Winning most of the critics' awards, The Social Network emerged as the early favorite, but has since had its thunder stolen by The King's Speech, a film I've heard wonderful things about but can't muster enough interest to see before its April DVD debut.

I'm quite pleased with the Best Picture category's expansion to ten nominees, which has seen a variety of meritous films, not just the usual Oscar fare, getting recognized. As proof of that, consider the other three Best Picture contenders we're giving away here.

The quirky indie The Kids Are All Right is funny, intelligent, and rightfully distinguished for its thoughtful performances. Winter's Bone is a tiny heartfelt production that deserved not to get overlooked. I talked about its Oscar prospects back in October and am happy to see this drama set among meth dealers of the Missouri Ozarks remembered by voters in a big way. While I still have to see most of the nominated performances, Jennifer Lawrence presently has my support for Best Actress, though as the second youngest nominee in the category's history, she is no doubt a longshot.

Then there is Inception, another cunning caper from the visionary mind of Christopher Nolan. Like Fincher, Nolan is a director I've been following with interest for some time. Enough people have heaped enough praise on Inception for me to not feel as obligated to do so. I liked the movie very much, but feel it could have been better with less complexity; the whole snowy mountain sequence, for instance, could have been cut with almost no effect on the film. With tighter storytelling, this could have been an excellent film (and Nolan an overdue Best Director nominee), but as is, it is still a supreme achievement full of imagination and technical proficiency. (Among 2010's well-performing Leonardo DiCaprio widower mystery thrillers, I preferred Martin Scorsese's classy, shut-out Shutter Island.)

The Town and Animal Kingdom may only be competing for supporting actor/actress awards and not expected to win, but as far as I'm concerned, either film would have made for a worthy Best Picture nominee. The Town is much in the vein of Ben Affleck's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone and this slick, suspenseful bank robbers tale may even improve on that Dennis Lehane adaptation. Animal Kingdom, meanwhile, stands as one of 2010's most powerful dramas, earning its place among the year's best-reviewed films.

With its unfamiliar title, Restrepo may not grab your attention and telling you that it's a documentary made by journalists embedded with a platoon of American soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal valley may turn you off outright. But if you've gotten rushes off dramas like Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker, then you'll probably be captivated by this revealing "experiental" piece of real, deadly, seemingly typical modern warfare.

The one film we're giving away I must confess to not being all that crazy about is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I had my reservations from the start and they seem to be justified. Burton has remarkable talent visually (and that is the source of this $1 billion worldwide blockbuster's nominations in Art Direction, Costume Design, and Visual Effects), but even that doesn't shine in this dull, CGI-heavy reimagining of Lewis Carroll's landmark fantasy. When Burton has a strong screenplay, as he did on Big Fish, Sweeney Todd, and Ed Wood, he can soar. When he doesn't, the results are soulless, and that's an extreme but fitting way to describe this and its hit antecedent, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

With nine films ranging from very good to outstanding and just one I'd label mediocre, I'd say this giveaway (with a prize retail value of over $300) is certainly worth your while and that's before you factor in all of the other goodies like Redbox rentals, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, and cheerful cinematic decor, which will really liven up your place, as these pictures have hopefully shown.

NOTE: This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. All entries must be received by Friday, February 25, 2011 at 11:59 AM Eastern. If you enter, please be sure to check back or have an easy contact method to claim your prize.

We're making this as easy for you to enter as possible....

1. Like UltimateDisney.com/DVDizzy.com on Facebook and make a comment on this message with the title of your favorite 2010 movie. Do that just once in the right place and remain a Facebook fan, you're entered!

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet any "I hope the Oscar viewing party prize pack goes to me @UltimateDisney. #Oscars" Do it once and remain a follower, you're entered!

3. Make a reply to this post on our forum with your favorite 2010 movie. Do that once and you're entered!

NOTE: This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. All entries must be received by Friday, February 25, 2011 at 11:59 AM Eastern. From all valid entries, one winner will be chosen at random. If you enter, please be sure to check back or have an easy contact method to claim your prize. If we don't hear back from you within 24 hours, a new winner will be picked.

Redbox Movie Awards

Critics are already making their predictions... and now average movie lovers can too, simply by visiting the movie awards game on Facebook.com/redbox. The Redbox Movie Awards Game empowers fans to make predictions and the chance at cinematic glory, which includes the fun "I Beat Richard Roeper" badge. Thousands of redbox at-home film critics already weighed in on the nominees for the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes earlier this month, with hundreds correctly predicting more winners than famed Chicago Sun-Times movie critic, Richard Roeper. And for the Oscars, consumers can also pit their picks against Entertainment Weekly Critic David Karger. Before casting their vote, those who do not win a redbox Oscar viewing party can visit one of redbox's 26,000+ locations to rent titles featuring nominated actors, actresses, directors and films including: The Social Network, The Kids Are All Right, The Town, How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3 and Inception. All for only $1 per night!