Kathryn Bigelow

Jeremy Renner's gutsy performance in 'The Hurt Locker' has landed him in the thick of this year's Oscar race for Best Actor.

Courtesy Summit Entertainment

He’s touted as a dark horse in Oscar’s Best Actor race, a relative unknown in a field of nominees highlighted by presumed frontrunner Jeff Bridges and George Clooney. Yet Modesto native Jeremy Renner, the fair-haired star of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, is no stranger to the screen, or to awards consideration.

Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg battle the summertime blues in 'Adventureland.'

Courtesy Miramax

This has been heralded as the year of the animated movie, and with good reason: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline and Up, among others, proved as engaging for adults as for children, validating a genre unfairly dismissed as kiddie fare by some critics and too many Oscar voters.

Woman on the Verge: Catalina Saavedra plays a prickly maid in Sebastián Silva's winning drama.

Courtesy Elephant Eye Films

The San Francisco International Animation Festival continues through Sunday at the Embarcadero Center Cinema, featuring some of Walt Disney's earliest shorts and Tarik Saleh's futuristic thriller Metropia, in which a call-center drone (voiced by Vincent Gallo) breaks from his drab rout

From left, the Spinal Tap brain trust: David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel.

Courtesy MGM

With the Mill Valley and Cinema by the Bay film festivals fast approaching, October promises to be one of the year's most exciting months for Bay Area moviegoers. Until then, there's no shortage of vital, engaging films awaiting you at the local indie theaters. Among them:

From left: Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson explore America's open roads in Easy Rider.

Courtesy Columbia Pictures

Only a week left until G.I. Joe and Meryl Streep’s Julia Child bull their way onto the big screen. Can you contain your excitement? Until then, here are some of the most intriguing selections now playing at an indie theater near you.

The long-defunct Talking Heads remind us what we're missing in Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense.

Courtesy Warner Brothers

The Jewish Film Festival is entering its first weekend, the Red Vic is celebrating its 29th birthday, and David Byrne's Talking Heads are taking the stage (in a manner of speaking) for two nights only. It's looking like a promising week for moviegoers seeking an alternative to the mindless savagery of Orphan and the magical incantations of Harry Potter. Here's a list of some of the finest films arriving at an indie theater near you.

Undead Nazis make a less-than-welcome comeback in the blood-soaked Dead Snow.

Courtesy IFC Films

If Muggles and the fresh-faced wizards and witches of Hogwarts aren't magical enough to pique your interest, here's a list of the most satisfying alternatives currently in rotation at an indie theater near you.

1. Dead Snow
Where: Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., 415-863-1087
When: All Week

The short stories of Israeli author Etgar Keret inform director Tatia Rosenthal’s animated $9.99.

Courtesy Regent Releasing

Yes, it’s finally here. By now, you’ve probably seen the commercials billing The Hurt Locker as the year’s most acclaimed film to date – no exaggeration, given its enviable score on the all-important Tomatometer – and after two weeks in limited release, it opens in the Bay Area today.

Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) takes aim in The Hurt Locker.

Courtesy Summit Entertainment

Americans have made their will known at the polls and the box office, and the message is clear: Our military presence in the Middle East is only slightly less popular than the movies inspired by it. The Hurt Locker may not change that sentiment, which felled recent offerings like Ridley Scott’s underrated Body of Lies and the equally overlooked Rendition, but that takes nothing away from Kathryn Bigelow’s most gripping thriller to date.