Every year there are films that we would like to see get some Oscar love that somehow manage to get overlooked. This week I’d like to focus on ten of this year’s films, already released on Blu-ray and DVD, some of which have fallen off the radar, that I’d like to see get some of that love this year:

Kristen Stewart is an actress whose performances I’ve found lacking in the past. Last year she surprised me with her moving portrayal of Julianne Moore’s daughter in Still Alice. This year she was even better in Clouds of Sils Maria, filmed earlier but released later, in the U.S.

Stewart won a César, the French equivalent of the Oscar, for her portrayal of a fading star’s (Juliette Binoche) assistant in the film. On December 2nd she won the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Supporting Actress for her marvelous work. I’d love for Oscar to follow suit for a performance that you can’t take your eyes off of, that of a character you miss when she’s not on screen despite the fine acting of Juliette Binoche and other cast members.

Carey Mulligan has been in the conversation for a possible Best Actress nomination for the not-yet-on-DVD Suffragette. Prognosticators became less convinced of her chances when the film opened to lackluster reviews and tepid box office. Earlier in the year, however, Mulligan gave an Oscar-worthy performance in Thomas Vinterberg’s film of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. Better paced than John Schlesinger’s more celebrated 1967 version, and with better performances from Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge and Michael Sheen than screen legends Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp and Peter Finch managed to give in the earlier version, this richly appointed film should get Oscar consideration in Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score and Editing as well as Best Actress and Supporting Actor (Schoenaerts).

Bill Condon directed Ian McKellen to his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of director James Whale in his final days in 1998’s Gods and Monsters, for which Condon won an Oscar for his screenplay. This year Condon directed McKellen in an equally fascinating and moving portrayal of a fictional character in his final days. McKellen’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in Mr. Holmes is a total delight from beginning to end and should be in far more conversations at awards time.

Alicia Vikander is the hot new star of the year. Her performance in Tom Hooper’s not-yet-on-DVD The Danish Girl has the blogosphere in a dither wondering whether she’ll be nominated for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress for that. In the meantime, two of her other amazing performances this year are readily available for home viewing.

In Testament of Youth, based on British feminist and pacifist Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir, Vikander plays Brittain from her carefree days just before World War I through her Oxford days and work as a nurse during the war in which the tragedies of war are brought to her doorstep too many times. Kit Harrington as her fiancé, Colin Morgan as a close friend and Taron Egerton as her younger brother all provide unforgettable performances, but it’s Vikander who most commands the screen as she goes from one heartbreaking loss to another with her head held high.

Vikander is a far from ordinary robot in Alex Garland’s superb sci-fi thriller Ex Machina in which she is the object of affection for both inventor Oscar Isaac and computer nerd Dohmnall Gleeson. We’ve been down this road before with Blade Runner and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, but as good as they were, Ex Machina goes them one better with the film’s three stars all at the top of their game. Nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing and Sound would be most welcome.

Russell Crowe’s first directorial effort, The Water Diviner, also provides him with his best acting opportunity in years as the middle-aged Australian father who goes searching for the burial spots of his three sons, presumed killed in the battle of Gallipoli. He not only finds the spots but the very real feeling that one of his sons may still be alive. An eight-time nominee and three-time winner at last year’s Australian Film Institute Awards, the film is not likely to repeat in all those categories at this year’s Oscars, but nominations in Editing, Production Design and Costume Design would not be completely beyond the realm of possibility.

Nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Film last year, Yann Demange’s ’71 was released early this year in the U.S. to less than sterling business. Nevertheless the film about the 1971 unrest in Belfast provides Unbroken star Jack O’Connell with one of his best roles to date. He would make a most welcome surprise nominee for Best Actor.

Studio Ghibli’s presumed final release, an animated version of Joan G. Robinson’s 1967 novel, When Marnie Was There seems destined to send the studio out with a whimper instead of a roar as far as awards go. Why, I can’t fathom. This beautifully realized bittersweet tale, directed by Hayao Miyazaki’s protégé, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, was one of the studio’s best. It should be a leading contender for this year’s Best Animated Film, not an also-ran.

Nominated for three Independent Spirit awards for Best Director, Cinematography and Editing, David Robert Mitchell’s instant horror classic It Follows will have to compete with a lot of higher profile films to score in any of those categories at the Oscars, but here’s hoping it scores a surprise nod for something.

Paul Dano as the young Brian Wilson and Elizabeth Banks as the older Brian’s (John Cusack) later wife in Bill Pohland’s Love & Mercy are on most people’s lists of the ten best performances in their respective categories, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The question is will they break into the top five and score actual Oscar nominations?

This week’s new releases include the Blu-ray upgrades of Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You and F.W. Murnau’s Tabu.