I’m taking a little break this week from the chronological history of Oscars on DVD to talk about the availability of current Oscar nominees.

It used to be that the year’s best films were distributed throughout the year, with the most prestigious films sometimes being given Oscar qualifying runs in Los Angeles and perhaps New York in December, with their national releases timed to the Oscar nominations in February. Those films that were no longer in theatres were given re-releases after the nominations were announced.

While there are still occasional films that are given Oscar qualifying runs in December, by the time the Oscar nominations are announced in January, those films have expanded nationwide, some of them having already come and gone. Films released earlier in the year are rarely given theatrical re-runs as they have already been made available to the general public on DVD and Blu-ray.

Of the ten films nominated for this year’s Best Picture award, five have already been released on DVD and Blu-ray, and the other five should be released within the next three months.

Already released:

The winner of forty-nine awards and counting, David Fincher’s The Social Network actually seems a more comfortable fit on home video than it did in theatres where you can listen to commentary, pause the film, replay dialogue that goes by so fast you may not have gotten it all, and other things you couldn’t do in the theatre. That’s true of any film on DVD, of course, but it’s especially true of this film which is itself obsessed with another home phenomenon – the personal computer.

You can also more effectively study the nuances of the performances of Best Actor nominee Jesse Eisenberg and cohorts Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer and the rest of the mostly young and largely unfamiliar cast.

A family friendly comedy about a lesbian couple that get off watching gay male porn may seem like a contradiction in terms, but it all works in The Kids Are All Right, which has the look and feel of a cable TV special. As such it would probably be the odds-on favorite to win the Emmy. As it stands, its best hope is Best Actress nominee Annette Bening whose tart delivery is a pleasure to watch and listen to. Julianne Moore and Best Supporting Actor nominee Mark Ruffalo aren’t exactly chopped liver, either.

The year’s most unusual nominee, Winter’s Bone, is highly reminiscent of the 1972 Best Picture nominee, Deliverance, in which rural folk were portrayed as Neanderthals. The film’s saving grace is its heroine, played by Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence in a genuinely moving star making performance as a bright, shining light among the dim bulbs.

A sure bet to win the Best Animated Feature trophy, Pixar’s Toy Story 3 follows the formula of the previous two editions, which many found quite wonderful. I found it one story too many, and wouldn’t have wept if the toys really did get thrown in the incinerator. But, that wasn’t going to happen in a Pixar film, was it?

The year’s most innovative film, Inception, is the one nominee better seen on a large screen than a small one, but there are compensations to viewing it at home, notably the many special features including in-depth analyses of dreams and how they work. Joseph Gordon-Levitt explains it all.

Soon to be released:

Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours with Best Ac tor nominee James Franco as the real life climber Aron Ralston is a matter of taste. It’s a story that goes exactly where you expect it to, but Boyle and his star infuse it with panache. As Franco’s grandmother has said, all those people who are afraid to see it are “a bunch of pussies.” It releases on DVD and Blu-ray March 1st.

Even more of a matter of taste, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan provides Best Actress nominee Natalie Portman with the role of her still evolving career as a ballerina going mad. As she has said, she had no idea what Aronfsky was doing, she just acted what he gave her. It’s rumored to be released on March 8th.

Oscar’s most nominated film this year, Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, is very suitable to viewing on a small screen where its director has won numerous awards for his previous TV work. The actors, specifically Oscar nominees Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are splendid in this story which places more of an emphasis on George VI’s stutter than may be historically accurate. It’s rumored to be released in early April.

No strangers to Oscar glory, the Coen Brothers have given us a remake of True Grit that is even more faithful to the 1968 novel than the 1969 film version was, but less exciting. Jeff Bridges is no John Wayne, which can be a good thing, but not here. Hailee Steinfeld gets an A for earnestness, but the more experienced Kim Darby found more humor in Mattie’s character. Good but not great, it’s rumored to be released in either April or May.

No release date rumors yet, but Amazon is accepting pre-orders for David O. Russell’s The Fighter, which may be the best boxing film ever. The film’s four stars, Mark Wahlberg, Oscar nominees Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo are all terrific. While the Oscar race is considered by the pundits to be between The King’s Speech and The Social Network, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if The Fighter pulls a major upset.

Other films that attracted Oscar’s attention beyond the Best Picture nominees, which are already out on DVD and Blu-ray, include Ben Affleck’s terrific sophomore effort, The Town; Tim Burton’s sophomoric reimagining of Alice in Wonderland; the Australian gangster film, Amimal Kingdom; the beautiful to look at I Am Love; the documentaries, Restrepo and Exit Through the Gift Shop; the action films, Iron Man 2 and Salt; the animated How to Train Your Dragon and the horror flick remake, The Wolfman.

This week’s new DVD releases include three films that Oscar overlooked but other awards granters didn’t: the haunting and lovely Never Let Me Go with British Independent Film winner Carey Mulligan and nominees Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley; Gotham Award nominee, Let Me In, the best horror film in thirty-seven years, with Phoenix Film Critics Society winners Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz and the true life Conviction with Screen Actors Guild nominee Hilary Swank and Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association winner Sam Rockwell.

Also new this week, the Blu-ray debuts of two of the best loved films of all time, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s multi-Oscared All About Eve and Leo McCarey’s unforgettable An Affair to Remember.