Are you looking forward to seeing the soon-to-be-released Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I and watching the story of Bella and Edward’s marriage unfold?

Well, you don’t have to wait until November 18 to get discounts to see your favorite Twlight characters on the big screen.

Plastic Jungle is offering discount Fandango electronic gift cards at 18% off now.  Order your Fandango gift cards today and be ready to buy your Twlight tickets tomorrow, or within 1-2 business days, for less than face value.

Be sure to increase your savings by stocking up on enough Fandango gift cards to buy tickets to all 4 upcoming Twilight movies.  In early November, the first three Twlight Saga films (Twlight, The Twlight Saga: New Moon, and The Twlight Saga: Eclipse) are being re-released on each of the Tuesdays leading up to the debut of The Twlight Sage: Breaking Dawn, Part I.

Find details on this special Twlight month-long event and buy your tickets with your Plastic Jungle discount Fandango electronic gift cards at Fandango.com.

Father’s Day is just a few weeks away and with all the new movies out in theaters, what better way to let dad know you care than to give him the gift of entertainment?   And with movie ticket prices so high, who wouldn’t love to get a discount?

Movie fans can save some serious cash with discounted movie theater gift cards on Plastic Jungle. Check our stock of discounted Fandango Gift Cards, discounted AMC Theatres Gift Cards, discounted Loew’s Cineplex Gift Cards, and discounted Regal Cinema Gift Cards (which also cover United Artists Theatres and Edwards Cinemas), discounted Cinema De Lux Gift Cards and discounted Landmark Theatres Gift Cards.

Save even more on those summer blockbuster movies by checking out the movie chain theaters’ rewards programs. For example, AMC operates a MovieWatcher Rewards program (separate from gift cards) that offers incentives and discounts for going to the movies. To get movie times and tickets at an AMC Theatre near you, use the AMC Theatres zip code locator.

Check the Balance on Your AMC Theatres Gift Card

Right now, AMC Theatres doesn’t offer an electronic gift card option (no eCODEs from AMC Theatres). For more on the terms and conditions for AMC Theatres Gift Cards visit the AMC Theatres Gift Card page. You can check your gift card balance via:

Online: Here’s a link to check the balance on your AMC Theatres Gift Card,

Mobile Phone: Just text “AMC” and the 19-digit number on your AMC Theatres Gift Card to VALUE (82583) to have your balance information sent to your cell phone.

At the AMC Theatre: Find one near you using the AMC Theatres zip code locator

Sell or Trade Your Gift Card

Once you know your balance, you can safely sell or trade your gift card securely on Plastic Jungle. At Plastic Jungle, you can trade any unused gift card for cash, or trade it for an Amazon.com Gift Card, or use it to donate the funds to charity (Gift Cards for Good—look for the green ribbon at checkout), or even fund a PayPal account.

To know how much your gift card is worth in exchange on Plastic Jungle, on the main page, click “Sell Gift Cards” at the top of the page. Look up the store and enter the gift card balance you’ve just acquired. You’ll see instantly what your gift card balance is worth in cash or trade.

Check other Plastic Jungle blog posts for the same “Check Your Gift Card Balance” information for other stores, including Sears, Land’s End, Macy’s, Best Buy, Lowe’s, and more.

The Academy Awards are this weekend! The Official Red Carpet coverage starts on ABC channels at 7 pm on the East Coast/4 pm on the West Coast, then the Academy Awards show starts at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. For more information go to Oscar.com.

Here’s info to tune into the myriad pre-shows that dish on designers, celebrities, and movie stars:

• E! Online has red carpet coverage beginning at 6 pm EST/3 pm PST.
• The MTV Movies blog will have live online streaming from 6 pm to 8 pm EST.
• CNN’s Showbiz Tonight will have “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Camille Grammer as a fashion and celebrity commentator; their live coverage is at 7 pm EST, then wrap-up coverage is at 11 pm EST on HLN.
• For the real down-low and what they were wearing, E!’s Fashion Police, with Red Carpet veteran quick-wit Joan Rivers will likely air on Monday… can’t find a specific airdate, but look for it on E!

Here’s a quick link to the complete list of Academy Awards Nominees for your Oscar Pool. If you could cast your vote for the Oscars – how would you go? I pick The Social Network for the Best Picture win. Why? Because it’s the only Oscar-nominated movie to pass my litmus test: my brother saw it!

Get Discounts on Movie Tickets, Concessions, and DVD & Blu-Ray Discs

Getting to see the Oscar-nominated movies might get expensive. Discounted gift cards to theaters, media retailers, and restaurants take the sting out of what could be a pricey proposition. Here are some gift card ideas from Plastic Jungle based on what’s on sale right now (at time of writing) on the site.

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• Straight-up, purchase discounted gift cards to theaters or movie chains. Right now, cinema gift cards and theater gift cards on sale include:
• AMC Theatres Gift Cards |  Cinema De Lux Gift Cards |  Landmark Theatres Gift Cards |  Loew’s Theaters Gift Cards |  Regal Cinema Gift Cards (also good at United Artists Theatres and Edwards Cinemas )
• Choose Fandango Gift Cards for flexibility as to which theater or movie chain you can use them at, and Fandango Gift Cards are sold as eCODEs too so you can potentially use them the same day you buy them. Recipients must have Internet access to redeem Fandango Bucks; to see if you can use them locally, enter your zip code on the Fandango home page.
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• For movies that have left the theaters (or those foreign ones that may have never played near you but critics tell you not to miss), go for a media store gift card. Right now, Plastic Jungle has FYE Gift Cards (and eCODES) |  Hollywood Video Gift Cards |  Barnes & Noble Gift Cards |  Best Buy Gift Cards | Border’s Gift Cards (at a 14% discount, but use it fast!) | iTunes Gift Cards. Consider even Walmart Gift Cards and Target Gift Cards, where you can buy an inexpensive DVD player and watch movies on your lunch breaks!
• Get an Amazon.com Gift Card when you trade in one of your unused gift cards in exchange, here on Plastic Jungle!
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• Post-Movie Discussion: In “The King’s Speech”, didn’t Geoffery Rush just break your heart when the King berated him for having no credentials? How bizarre, on a scale of 1-10, did Natalie Portman seem to you in “The Black Swan”? Was Jesse Eisenberg’s character in “The Social Network” a mean guy, or just another motivated capitalist winning at any cost? The cup of coffee after the movie might be just as important as the movie itself. Get discounts on Starbuck’s Gift Cards | Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Gift Cards | Applebee’s Gift Cards | Cold Stone Creamery Gift Cards | The Cheesecake Factory Gift Cards.
  

  Mark Zuckerberg meets Jesse Eisenberg on Saturday Night Live

View the Video: Samberg, Zuckerberg and Eisenberg on SNL 2/19/11

Enjoy the movie fun this weekend! Let us know how your Oscar Picks came out, and who you thought didn’t win, but deserved it.

Hopefully you weren’t planning on traveling today, 2/2/2011, because according to this graphic, a good section of the country is in for it!

If you’re up early, you can find out what Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous groundhog, has to say at the Gobbler’s Knob over there in Western Pennsylvania – he shows up (or not) at 7 am EST. Somehow I’m sure your morning news will have full coverage between wicked storm reports.

Phil

Why not take the extra time you might have from staying home from work, school, or travel and browse Best Buy online for the new LED-LCD HDTV, or 3D TV you’re dying to get for Super Bowl XLV. Right now Plastic Jungle has discounted Best Buy eGift Cards (eCODEs) ready for you to snap up (you receive them within hours of purchase, via email).

Another idea is to head to the theater for a few entertaining Oscar-nominated movies, like The King’s Speech or The Social Network. Other eCODEs in stock at Plastic Jungle include Fandango, which allows you to buy tickets at just about any theater chain.

Or start fantasizing about Spring Break by shopping for a bathing suit using eCODEs from Gap, Old Navy or Banana Republic, offering up to a 12% discount off the eGift Cards’ face value. (The gift cards from Gap-brand stores are interchangeable!) The stores currently have their “Spring Lookbook”s online. You can now toggle between the Sale Pages on each of the sites with a handy “QuickLink” button located at the lower right of each sale page.

Best Non-Spending (Actually Fund-Raising) Snow Day Idea of All Time: Take a minute to think about where your unused gift cards are and log on to PlasticJungle.com. Sell those unused gift cards and find the extra money hanging around your house. Are your cards possibly years old? They are likely still good! You can look up the value of many gift cards here on the Plastic Jungle Blog (search blog for “Check the Balance of your Gift Card” Posts) or search the blog for your retailer’s name. Getting a payment can always brighten your day.

I’m writing to you from sunny California. According to the National Weather Service, while there are great swaths of pink and purple and blue out in the rest of the country, they have marked us “beige” for the time being.

Let us know what you’re going to do on your snow day, or what you would do if given a free day off. I’d probably take my dog to the beach! Enjoy Groundhog Day, 2011.