CinemaDope

“The Ghost Writer” (Roman Polanski sees conspiracies in his sleep — lucky for us)

“Harry Brown” (a wonderfully stolid Michael Caine as a vigilante pensioner patrolling a gang-infested neighborhood — brutal, cathartic)

“Red Riding Trilogy” (northern England, at its kitchen-sink grungiest, is the setting for this challenging whodunit/expose — imported in three parts from Brit telly)

“The Disappearance of Alice Creed” (a mind-twister about a kidnapping gone wrong)

“Catfish” (a sly comment on that double-edged sword we call social media)

“True Grit” (Joel and Ethan Coen on living with hard choices, this time in the Old West)

“The American” (Jean-Pierre Melville would have loved this flinty thriller, starring George Clooney as a paid assassin who has lost his taste for it)

“The Fighter” (co-star Christian Bale, as the black sheep brother, battles his way to center ring)

“Winter’s Bone” (Jennifer Lawrence as a backwoods Nancy Drew — a scary look at heartland misogyny)

“How I Ended This Summer” (an escalating game of tit-for-tat at an Arctic weather station — yes, it’s a Cold War allegory from Russia)

“Mother” (South Korea’s Hye-ya Kim is brilliant as a mother who will stop at nothing, including murder, to prove her son’s innocence)

“Alamar” (a father imparts the greatest gift to his son — an abiding love of nature)

“Kick-Ass” (solely for Hit-Girl/Mindy Macready)

“Carlos” (an intricate espionage thriller-biopic — not up to “Day of the Jackal,” but it’ll do)

and …

Kevin Bacon in “Kevin Bacon’s Biggest Fan”