Arts - Leisure Special Section: The Year in Culture

In the Big Picture, Big-Screen Hopes By MANOHLA DARGIS

Abbot Gensler/Sony Pictures Classics

Philip Seymour Hoffman with Michelle Williams and Tom Noonan in “Synecdoche, New York.”

At the risk of sounding stoned on hope, I offer the following heresy: The movies are fine. Sometimes they’re great; occasionally they’re magnificent.

The Year in Movies: A.O Scott / Stephen Holden

Theater

Import ’Em, Revive ’Em, Dress ’Em Nice By BEN BRANTLEY

This was the year of trans-Atlantic theater in New York, when Anglo-American cooperation produced a hearty crop of expertly mounted productions.

Art

Out With the Fat, in With the Hungry By HOLLAND COTTER

Here are some notable events from 2008, a year that may go into the history books as the first catastrophic fall, but also the first vital correction, for art in the new century.

Television

Politics Gets the Entertainment Vote By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

The campaign provided the most compelling television moments of the year, sweeping all categories — comedy, drama and reality — though there were other top contenders.

The Year In Television : Bill Carter / Ginia Bellafante

Music

A Mix of Vocals, Lyrics and Styles By JON PARELES

The Times’s chief pop music critic chooses releases by TV on the Radio, Portishead, Toumani Diabaté and Erykah Badu as some of his favorite albums and singles for the year.

The Year in Rock and Pop Music: Ben Ratliff / Nate Chinen / Jon Caramanica

Dance

A Romantic Artist and Dead Choreographers By ALASTAIR MACAULAY

New York is still waiting to see some of the year’s best choreography, not to mention last year’s.