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There are ways.
For one, different theaters charge different prices depending on location. For instance, in the Chicago area, an evening show is $11.89 at AMC Streets of Woodfield, $13.43 at AMC River East 21…and $5.99 at AMC Galewood 14. Same projectors and screens, same sound systems, same seats.
Another is MoviePass. NOT a good deal if you don’t see a lot of films, but a great deal if you do. My wife joined at their “unlimited” level which gets her into one film every 24 hours for $49.99 a month. She tries to see a film every single night, and usually manages. You need to have a smart phone, and download their app. You “check in” at the venue, select the ticket from the app and they put the cost of the ticket on a debit card they supply. You purchase the ticket from the box office or kiosk then photograph it with the phone to confirm that it was used for that purpose.
She has bought more than $200 worth of tickets with this.
I’ve only seen Lion so far, give a a B/B+. Liked it, but in hindsight, it struck me as a little by-the-numbers in the more crowd-pleasing parts but nothing really memorable or noteworthy in the more unique aspects of the movie. But a worthy tearjerker, overall.
It has zero chance of winning.
We have a projector/big screen at home, but, to my disappointment, it’s still not the same as going to the movies (although it’s freaking awesome for televised sports). Best analogy is that it’s like the difference between going to church and staying home and reading the Bible. YMMV.
So far:
Arrival – first-class SF film. Loved the ending. 9/10
La La Land – I absolutely love this film. Great in every aspect. 10/10
Hidden Figures – Also excellent. 8/10
Moana – OK, but far too mechanical and routine (though the end redeems it a bit) 7/10
Zootopia – also OK. 7/10
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – nicely done overall, but disposable 7/10
Piper (animated short) – technically nice, but rather slight 6/10
Rogue One A Star Wars Story – overlong and showed absolutely nothing new. Long, boring fight scenes and poor characters. 5/10
Thanks for playing, but only 3 of these are Best Picture nominees. 
mmm
You’ve got me beat. I saw 220 movies (features, no shorts) in the theater in 2016, and so far this year I’ve seen 23, with a few more scheduled before Feb. 1. Like you I prefer seeing movies in the theater and will have to force myself to watch some of the screeners I received to vote on the Independent Spirit awards.
Thanks for your contribution.
mmm
Relevant to who and what and how? And who cares? They’re not going away anytime soon. Your snark does nothing to help the process, so why even bother? You’re not much into movies. That’s cool, no problem, but why go into a thread about the Oscars to let us all know about how not-interested you are? I don’t watch TV but I don’t go into Emmy threads and say that I’ve seen “None” of the nominated shows, then spout off about how not-relevant TV awards are.
Saw Lion yesterday and was blindsided by how much it moved me. The first half, featuring the young Saroo, was a bit more of a ride than the second, but I found myself caught up in the quest despite its predictability. And Sunny Pawar may be the cutest little boy on earth. Four stars out of four.
Seen:
La La Land ***
Manchester by the Sea ****
Lion ****
Not seen:
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
Moonlight
We just started this weekend with “Arrival” and “Moonlight.”
“Arrival” was okay, but really not terrific. There were a few times it was so disjointedly edited that I thought something was wrong.
“Moonlight” was wonderful. Absolutely a five star perfect movie. What I found baffling was Mahershala Ali gets an Oscar nomination and he wasn’t in the top three acting performances in this movie. Either Trevante Rhodes or Ashton Sanders would have been better choices.
I’ll have to see Arrival again. Not every film yields up everything it has in the first viewing, and I feel I’ve only caught the surface of this film. Like Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons - it wasn’t until the third viewing that the full emotional payload of that film hit me, and it went from good to great. The “disjointed” editing was to foreshadow/echo later and earlier plot developments.
Just got back from Moonlight. A powerful movie that touches on universal struggles and emotions.
The perfectly executed final diner scene cemented my four-star rating.
Seen:
La La Land ***
Manchester by the Sea ****
Lion ****
Moonlight ****
Not seen:
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
mmm
No, I got the plot; I just felt it was herky jerky. Cuts that were too abrupt, transitions that were jarring, a minute spent there when it should have been spent there. Movies can move back and forth in a nonlinear way and do it well, but I am literally saying it was badly edited.
Interestingly, I came away from Villeneuve’s last effort, “Sicario,” with exactly the same feelings as I did this one; “This is a movie I should have liked. I’m convinced there’s a great story there. But I just didn’t enjoy that. Why was such cool subject matter so dull?” “Sicario” was also very well received so there’s something he’s doing that I just don’t like, I guess.
In all fairness, I’d be willing to bet you did see at least 2 shorts in the theater: the Oscar-nominated Piper and the shortlisted Inner Workings, which preceded Finding Dory and Moana respectively in most cinemas.
In the order I would rank them:
Arrival
Fences
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
It’s just coincidental that it’s alphabetical so far. 
Plan to see:
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Will be skipping:
Hacksaw Ridge. I can’t handle too much violence and gore.
That’s what you said last year about Mad Max and The Revenant
Just curious if you ever did see those two?
mmm
Nope. I recognize my own limitations.
I saw La La Land and Hidden Figures over the weekend.
I feel like La La Land should win the technical awards, but the acting in Hidden Figures was incredible. I’d be fine with either winning Best Picture. But I haven’t seen Moonlight yet.
If La La Land does win Best Picture, which looks pretty likely, I’m predicting that within 15 years or so people will look back and say “Geez, really?”
I say that because that’s how people generally regard musical Best Picture winners. There are some exceptions; “West Side Story” has held up, and “The Sound Of Music” is beloved (I personally think it’s a preposterous choice, but I’ll bow to the mob on that one.) But if you asked people to make a list of the greatest movies ever, I don’t think Gigi, Chicago, or Oliver! are going to make a lot of people’s lists. Hell, I’m not convinced the BEST musicals are going to compete with the likes of The Godfather.
There have been plenty of non-musical Best Picture winners where people are saying “Geez, really” (if they are saying anything at all).
But I agree with everything you wrote.
mmm