With awards season over, it’s time to focus on something besides Avatar and The Hurt Locker. This month’s inadvertent theme: addiction and the corruption it causes.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009, dir. Werner Herzog, First Look): Nicholas Cage adds a dose of credibility to his flagging career, starring in what could be the most surprising franchise reboot of recent years. Like the Abel Ferrera-directed original, the plot focuses on a drug-addled cop, but Cage gives the character his own critically lauded spin.

Bigger Than Life (1956, dir. Nicholas Ray, Criterion): A favourite of Martin Scorsese, this vintage melodrama features Lolita’s James Mason as a family man with an addiction problem. Brutally dark for the time, this film is a harrowing exploration of the unseen side of suburbia.

The Blind Side (2009, dir. John Lee Hancock, Warner): Based on a true story. Sandra Bullock won an Oscar. ’Nuff said.

Breaking Bad: Second Season (2009, Sony): Proving once again that some of today’s most innovative storytelling is coming from the cable TV arena, AMC’s Emmy-winning drama stars Bryan Cranston as New Mexico’s least likely meth dealer.

Broken Embraces (2009, dir. Pedro Almodovar, Sony): This festival favourite re-teams Almodovar with his favourite leading lady, Penelope Cruz, for a neo-noir about a blind writer trying to heal wounds from the past. This one also features an addiction to pharmaceuticals.

An Education (2009, dir. Lone Sherfig, Sony): Carey Mulligan earned an Oscar nomination for her turn in this period romance about a teenage girl who falls for an older man, played by Peter Sarsgaard.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, dir. Wes Anderson, 20th Century Fox): Anderson uses stop-motion animation and the voices of George Clooney and Meryl Streep to bring Roald Dahl’s classic kid’s tale to the screen. On the surface it’s all about a fox being a fox, but underneath it's everything you’ve come to expect from a Wes Anderson film, complete with outrageous patriarchs and kids with daddy issues. It’s one of his best and a delight to watch. (It should be noted that Mr. Fox is addicted to danger.)

The Killer: Blu-ray (1989, dir. John Woo, Weinstein): For many, this was the film that introduced Hong Kong action to North America. Woo directs his main man Chow Yun-Fat in a modern crime thriller about a guilt-ridden hitman out to repay the woman he blinded and the cop who is trying to put him away. It’s a modern action classic.

Party Down: Season One (2009, dir. Rob Thomas, Anchor Bay): Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas cranks up the funny in this ensemble series about struggling actors who spend their downtime working catering functions. Look for great turns by Jane Lynch, Ken Marino and Martin Starr.

A Serious Man (2009, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, Alliance): The Coen Brothers deliver one of their more confounding comedies with this story of a stressed-out professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) whose life starts to fall apart around him. Great performances and beautiful photography help this ultimately unsatisfying effort.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009, dir. Chris Weitz, E1): In this hyper-successful sequel and literary adaptation, a whiny teen (Kristen Stewart) is forced to choose between a dreamy vampire (Robert Pattison) and a beefy werewolf (Taylor Lautner).

The Yes Men Fix the World (2009, dir. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, New Video Group): The agitprop pranksters who made their names by making fun of modern politics and corporate culture return to take on Dow and Exxon by taking the piss out of them.

The White Stripes: Under Great Northern Lights (2009, dir. Emmett Malloy, WEA/Reprise): Go along for the ride as Jack and Meg tour Canada and make some intriguing guerilla-concert stops along the way.