Although diverse in style and scale, several of 2010's most successful films tackled similar themes.
The notion of control, for example, was dramatized in everything from artsy indie flicks to big budget blockbusters. Mainstream mega-hits, like Christopher Nolan's visually brilliant "Inception" and David Fincher's timely "The Social Network," offered stunning portrayals of characters consumed by their desires whether for expiation or mere social capital. Similarly, low-budget films "Winter's Bone" and "Black Swan" chronicled the exploits of characters on the brink of losing control. Thematic similarities aside, these films all featured strong performances by leading actors, including both industry veterans such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Natalie Portman as well as relative unknowns Jesse Eisenberg and Jennifer Lawrence.
Powered by similarly engaging performances, several indie and low-budget films about complex family relationships saw unparalleled success in 2010. In "Animal Kingdom," for example, Jacki Weaver portrayed the seemingly sweet matriarch of an Australian crime family with nuance, gradually revealing her character as a power-hungry individual willing to sacrifice family members to achieve her own ends. "The Kids Are All Right," starring the talented Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple raising two teenagers, offered a heartfelt portrait of unconventional American family life. Conflict between Bening and Moore's characters suggested the universal difficulty of marriage, a topic also presented in Derek Cianfrance's critically lauded "Blue Valentine." Similarly, Sophia Coppola's "Somewhere" traced the unique relationship between a celebrity and his young daughter while "The Fighter" focused more on the relationship between half brothers than on boxing, to much acclaim.
The year's least successful films, by contrast, substituted star power for compelling storytelling and failed to entertain. Despite star-studded casts, films like "Sex and the City Two" and "Grown Ups" were panned by critics.
The unique premises of several soon-to-be-released films including the highly anticipated "Hanna," which tells the story of a 14-year-old assassin, and "The Company Men," which depicts three men struggling with the effects of corporate downsizing suggest that filmmakers have learned their lessons from 2010.- Katie Kilkenny
The Year in Television
Jumping the shark, an idiom coined to describe significant changeover in a well-established series, accurately describes the progress of many popular television programs in 2010. "Weeds," which is notorious for its over-the-top season finales, may have jumped the shark a while ago when suburban housewife Celia Hodes filled a swimming pool with bud. However, lead character Nancy Botwin turning herself over to the FBI at the end of the sixth season topped all previous cliffhangers.
Despite this epic finale, "Weeds" was snubbed at the 2010 Emmys. "Mad Men," on the other hand, finished its tremendous fourth season with nominations for January Jones, portraying the reticent Betty Draper, and John Hamm, playing the show's enigmatic front man.
"True Blood" also had a promising third season, complete with the requisite sex and gore, including a couple of fan fiction-inspired romantic pairings. Meanwhile, Showtime found success in "United States of Tara." With producer Steven Spielberg, writer Diablo Cody (of "Juno" fame) and an all-star cast, this dramedy about a dysfunctional family headed by a mother with multiple personality disorder found strength in its second season by focusing on Tara's quiet son, Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), who reached his boiling point moments before Social Services arrived.
Predictably, "90210" remained as vapid and shallow as ever, while "Gossip Girl" somehow managed to become even more so, failing to convincingly transition its characters from Constance Billard School to Columbia University. (After all, who wants go there?) The first two seasons were at least entertaining, but the show lost credibility this year with a threesome that made watching "Lizzie McGuire" reruns decidedly more uncomfortable.
Several beloved series also came to a close in 2010. "Lost" went out with a bang, foreshadowed by one of the greatest season premieres the show has produced in a while, while "24" concluded an impressive eight-season run with classic Jack Bauer twists.
Next year promises an exciting new round of television premieres, with William H. Macy starring in Showtime's "Shameless" and MTV producing a U.S. version of the outstanding U.K. series "Skins."- Rena Sapon-White
The Year in Books
From explosive literary successes to eagerly anticipated sequels, critical consensus to impassioned literary debate, 2010 has been quite a year for the publishing industry.
Many successful fictional releases have come from relatively unknown authors. Irish author Emma Donoghue, for example, wowed critics with her innovative choice of narrator in "The Room," a chilling tale narrated by a five-year-old boy in captivity with his mother. "The Imperfectionists," Tom Rachman's finely crafted debut novel, which deftly chronicled the struggles of an English newspaper staff in Rome, also received positive reviews. A seasoned journalist, Rachman used his experience working for the Associated Press to effectively explore the precarious state of print journalism in his novel.
More familiar authors also garnered acclaim in 2010. Stieg Larsson's posthumously released "The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," the final installment of his Millennium trilogy, topped the bestseller charts. "Seabiscuit" (2001) author Laura Hillenbrand garnered critical and popular praise for "Unbroken," her newest work of nonfiction.
Other books by well-known authors, however, received less acclaim. Critics argued that Elizabeth Gilbert's "Committed," an account of her struggles with the institution of marriage, paled in comparison to her 2006 memoir, "Eat, Pray, Love." Phillip Roth's short novel "Nemesis" telling the story of the 1944 polio outbreak in Newark, N.J. falls short of the quality of his award-winning "American Pastoral" (1997) and "The Human Stain" (2001).
Some controversial writers also returned to the scene in 2010. James Frey, infamous author of the semi-fabricated 2003 memoir "A Million Little Pieces," came out with a young-adult science-fiction book, "I am Number Four." Frey reportedly co-wrote "Number Four" with Jobie Hughes, but the authors chose to publish the book under the pseudonym Pittacus Lore.
Perhaps the biggest literary controversy of 2010 surrounded Jonathan Franzen's novel "Freedom." Although widely praised for its elegant prose and realistic depiction of an American middle-class family, "Freedom" also spurred a wide online debate about society's attitude toward female authors. Popular authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner blogged that books written by women about family are immediately labelled chick lit, whereas books by men about the same topics (such as Franzen's novel) are showered with awards and positive reviews. Shannon Draucker
