81st annual Academy Awards

* When and where: 6:30 p.m. Sunday, KMGH-Channel 7

In recent years, some of the biggest Oscar contenders were already on DVD by the time the ceremony rolled around.

Not so this year. True, the year's top-grossing movie - The Dark Knight - has been on video shelves for months, and two of the three best-animated-feature nominees are available.

But the year's Oscar heavyweights - Doubt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk - won't hit store shelves for weeks if not months.

That said, you can catch up on your Academy Award viewing with 10 nominees in stores now. Here's a quick guide:

* Changeling: Angelina Jolie has a best-actress nod for this Clint Eastwood-directed film about a woman in 1928 Los Angeles whose son is kidnapped. When the cops return him to her she insists it's the wrong kid. Literally.

* Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Penelope Cruz has a best-supporting-actress nomination for this Woody Allen tale of a love triangle (or quadrangle?) in Spain.

* The Dark Knight: Heath Ledger's nod for best supporting actor is among several for the year's biggest box-office hit.

* Man on Wire: What kind of man walks on a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers? French aerialist Philippe Petit's 1974 feat is recounted in this best-documentary nominee.

* Frozen River: Melissa Leo earned a best-actress nomination for playing a woman trying to smuggle people from Canada into the United States.

* Kung Fu Panda: One of several nominees for best animated feature already in stores. Jack Black voices the portly panda who could.

* WALL-E: The odds-on favorite to win best animated feature. It's also up for a best-original-screenplay Oscar.

* Tropic Thunder: Robert Downey Jr. is a best-supporting-actor nominee for a dude playing the dude playing another dude.

* The Visitor: Perennial character actor Richard Jenkins got a best-actor nod for this acclaimed tale of a widowed college professor who lets an immigrant couple stay in his New York apartment.

* The Duchess: This period flick is up for a number of secondary awards, including art direction and costume design. Keira Knightley plays 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire.

* In the wings: Australia (costume design), March 3; Milk (best actor, supporting actor, director, costume design, music score and picture), Rachel Getting Married (best actress), March 10; Bolt (animated feature), March 24.

pearsonm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2592