Hollywood hits and misses in 2010

Someone was too quick to embrace the whole “new year, new you” adage. In January, the “Hills” star showed the world that she’d had a little bit of work done. (Actually it was 10 procedures, but who’s counting?) Consider this further proof that nothing on reality TV is actually real.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (David Becker / Getty Images)

It’s hard to imagine a world with too much of Snooki and the Situation, but there were times when it seemed the “Jersey Shore’s” publicity campaign was as excessive as the cast’s spray tans. Sending them to the Grammys was bad enough, but the Country Music Awards too? Talk about out of place.

-- Emily Christianson  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Skeptics questioning Scarlett Johansson’s Broadway abilities were left eating their words when the star garnered rave reviews for her performance in the revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge.” The actress even took home the Tony for best featured actress, for her turn as Catherine, in the story about an uncle (Liev Schrieber) with inappropriate feelings for his niece (Johansson).

-- Emily Christianson  (Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times)

It’s been a great year for our Golden Girl. First, she charmed the pants off of us at the SAG Awards, and more 100,000 people on Facebook called for her to host “Saturday Night Live” -- and she did! And it was hilarious. The heat didn’t stop there, as she got herself a calendar and a new TV show, “Hot in Cleveland.” Keep those zingers coming.

-- Jevon Phillips  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

And the award for first female director Oscar winner goes to ...

Not only did Bigelow beat out ex-husband James Cameron for the best director win, she did it not with a stereotypical chick flick but with “The Hurt Locker” -- a hard, powerful look at war with a predominantly male cast.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Finally, moviegoers have a way to fight back against the rapid plasticization of middle-aged Hollywood stars. We can just go see some new faces. Think your favorite actor or actress is starting to look a little funny? Go check out a boffo performance by newcomers Hailee Steinfeld ( “True Grit”), pictured, Jennifer Lawrence ( “Winter’s Bone”) or Elle Fanning ( “Somewhere”) and see some talented acting while they still look naturally youthful.

-- Patrick Kevin Day  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Is it just us, or has 2010 been especially harsh on celebrity love lives? Despite winning an Oscar for her role in “The Blind Side” and adopting a baby, Sandra Bullock went through a very public, detailed divorce with husband Jesse James, as multiple women claimed to have had some pretty interesting affairs with him.

A few other divorces and separations for the year: Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Tony Parker and Eva Longoria, George Lopez and his one-kidney-down wife, Ann, and Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. We think. Maybe. We’re not sure.

-- Whitney Friedlander

Photo: Sandra Bullock receives an apparently loving touch from her husband, Jesse James, as she is announced as the lead actress winner at the Academy Awards in March  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Many tears were shed for the grand farewell of three major TV series this year: “Lost,” “24” and “Law & Order,” which had a combined total of 34 seasons on the air. So why call it a hit? Because each show was able to go off to the big DVD collection in the sky without completely deteriorating into a parody of its greatest self. “Law & Order” may have been canceled, but it was still solving cases with the best of ‘em. “Lost” may have disappointed some in its refusal to spell out the solution to every mystery, but it moved many to tears; and though torturing terrorists wasn’t quite the same fun escapism at the end of the series, Jack Bauer never lost his dignity on “24.” For all that, we can be thankful.

--Patrick Kevin Day

Above: Matthew Fox in the “Lost” finale.  (Mario Perez / Associated Press)

Sadly, this hasn’t been the easiest year for the pop diva. Her album “Bionic” tanked. She canceled her summer concert tour. She’s going through a divorce from husband, music marketer Jordan Bratman. And she was in “Burlesque.”

Here’s hoping that a Golden Globe nomination for original song will give her something to look forward to for 2011.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Juanjo Martin / EPA)

After a five-year absence, Eminem returned with two albums in less than 12 months and instantly reclaimed his superstar crown. In just eight weeks, his “Recovery” sold more than 2 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s a feat unheard of in this download era and reminiscent of the mid-’90s. Meanwhile, his late-2009 effort, “Relapse,” has sold more than 2 million itself. “Relapse” is more of a shock-and-awe album, but Eminem showed a bit more soul on “Recovery,” and audiences have responded in a more than positive manner.

-- Todd Martens  (Andrew Milligan / Associated Press)

Paula Abdul stirred the pot last year when she left her “Idol” post over a contract dispute, but that was nothing compared to the drama this summer. After Simon Cowell‘s heartfelt exit at the end of Season 9, two more judges left the show. First, Ellen DeGeneres announced she was quitting because it “didn’t feel like the right fit for me.” Days later, news spread that Kara DioGuardi would not be returning either. After weeks of speculation over their replacements, news broke that Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez would join Randy Jackson on the panel. We’ll have to wait for January to see how all this plays out, dawg.

-- Emily Christianson and Whitney Friedlander  (Michael Becker / Associated Press)

Director Lisa Cholodenko‘s tale of an everyday family of four (headed by a lesbian couple) whose lives get twisted around when the teenage children track down their biological father was a hit with fans and critics. Although a wide release wasn’t as kind to ticket sales, the film (which Cholodenko co-wrote with Stuart Blumberg) has a 94% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com, and Times film critic Betsy Sharkey wrote, “Whatever your politics, between peerless performances, lyrical direction and an adventurous script, this is the sort of pleasingly grown-up fare all too rare in the mainstream daze of this very dry summer.”

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Suzanne Tenner / Associated Press)

It seemed like a good idea on paper, right? Neil Patrick Harris, himself a veteran of the Ahmanson Theatre’s cast of “Rent” way back in 1997 and not to mention other musical-theater roles, took to the director’s chair to stage the late Jonathan Larson‘s Pulitzer-winning play at the Bowl. The “Rent” cast even included “names” like Vanessa Hudgens and Wayne Brady. But the venue’s space and rehearsal-time constrictions might have been too much, says Times theater critic Charles McNulty: “Harris can do almost anything in my book, but he wasn’t able to figure out the spatial and logistical challenges of mounting a full-scale musical at the Bowl.”  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

One man on a sparse stage offering up a history lesson. Perhaps not the easiest sell for a theater production. Unless the man is Laurence Fishburne and the history lesson revolves around the U.S. Supreme Court‘s first African American justice, Thurgood Marshall. Reprising the role that earned him a Tony nomination for his performance in the 2008 Broadway run of George Stevens Jr.‘s “Thurgood,” Fishburne proved this wasn’t just a Hollywood vanity project. Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote of the Geffen Playhouse production: “He salutes the man (winking affectionately at his appreciation of a stiff drink and fine looking women) and pays homage to the civil rights legend, allowing us to see how the injustice of growing up in the ‘separate but equal’ Jim Crow South prompted Marshall to become a champion for justice.”

-- Lisa Fung  (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Pop vixen Katy Perry waited till the end of summer to release her “Teenage Dream” (Aug. 24), but she’d been inescapable in the three or four months prior to that. After cavorting with Snoop Dogg in her “California Gurls,” she scored a second Top 5 single with the album’s title track -- a glossy and nostalgic look at young love. Yet don’t be fooled. “Teenage Dream” the album is largely about lust.

-- Todd Martens  (Joseph Nair / AFP / Getty Images)

Al Pacino‘s role as money-lending villain Shylock in New York‘s Public Theater production of the Shakespeare comedy was the talk of the city, said Times theater critic Charles McNulty, who added, “It’s also the most intriguing element in veteran director Daniel Sullivan’s handling of a play that is as curiously compelling as it is notoriously troubling.”

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Joan Marcus / Associated Press)

After finding mainstream success with her “Paper Planes,” a heavily licensed, Clash-sampling cut that won the border-hopping electronic artist a Grammy nomination, M.I.A. seemed poised for superstardom with her “Maya.”

That hasn’t quite panned out, as the first glimpse of the album, “Born Free,” was far more punk than dance and came with a controversial, extremely violent video. Soon after, the New York Times painted a not-so-flattering picture of the artist, contrasting her posh life with her political ideals, and M.I.A. responded by posting the reporter’s phone number online. All this overshadowed the release, which in five weeks has fallen out of the top 100 and doesn’t look likely to cross the 100,000 sales mark anytime soon.

A shame, as The Times’ Ann Powers wrote, “It feels like a serious artist’s sometimes tentative but very promising step toward a broader vision of herself. In its 12 tracks, M.I.A. explores both what it means to serve as a sexual/romantic ideal in the Beyoncé way and what happens when a self-consciously political artist like herself confronts the sentimental streak deep within.”

-- Todd Martens  (Leon Neal / AFP / Getty Images)

This Huntington Beach band survived a tragedy and documented it in full on record. Avenged Sevenfold confronted the unexpected death last year of drummer James “The Rev” Sullivan on its recently released “Nightmare.” The darkly personal hard-rock song cycle was instantly embraced by fans and gave the locals its best-ever sales week on the U.S. pop charts. “Nightmare” landed at No. 1 in early August, topping the chart with 162,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. After three weeks, the album was still in the top 20.

-- Todd Martens  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

That’s right, Stewart. Laugh it up. You deserve it. You’ve picked on CNN’s Rick Sanchez enough for him to blow up and get himself canned and your staff aligned and fired back when women-centric blog Jezebel questioned your appreciation of the fairer sex in the workplace. Not to mention you brought Barack Obama on your show -- the first time a sitting president has ever gone on the late-night talk show -- and, of course, there was that whole Rally to Restore Sanity thing with buddy Stephen Colbert.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Charles Sykes / Associated Press)

Who knew Chris Pine had it in him? Sure, we’ve seen the “Star Trek” actor in Neil LaBute‘s “Fat Pig” at the Geffen Playhouse in 2007 and in Beau Willimon’s “Farragut North” two years later at the Geffen. But the Irish accent? The violence? The comic timing? And his special way with cats? Pine was the man to watch in the Mark Taper Forum production of Martin McDonagh’s blood-soaked black comedy “The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” As crazed Irish terrorist Padraic, who was willing to shoot his own father over a mishap with his cat, Pine still managed to show off his charm. And, as Times theater critic Charles McNulty noted: “The conviction and fine-grained texture of his acting continue to impress, as does the exemplary way he’s been managing his career -- one of the few young box-office guns eager to enrich his talent every bit as much as his bank account.” Oh, and it didn’t hurt that Taper audiences had a bloody good time.

-- Lisa Fung  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

She’s quite possibly the biggest pop star in America right now. What more is there to say? In the last 12 months, she’s won a Grammy for album of the year, debuted a No. 1 album in October that sold more than 1 million copies in its first week and starred in her very own Thanksgiving prime-time special. Her tour won’t hit Los Angeles until next summer, but the pop artist with a country bent seems to be on an unstoppable streak.

-- Todd Martens  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, which opened in October, gives LACMA a big, clean, flexible, naturally lighted, single-story space for temporary shows. And unlike so many new art museum buildings, the art is right inside the front door, not sequestered behind a café, party space, shop or other paraphernalia incidental to the reason you are there.

-- Christopher Knight  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Despite all intentions, “Eye for the Sensual: Selections From the Resnick Collection” is an eloquent argument against vanity exhibitions in art museums. With a smattering of first-rate works, many of which have been on individual loan to museums before, the ragtag array is achingly incoherent.

-- Christopher Knight  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Now that we’re running out of comic-book characters and old TV show characters to bring to the big screen, what’s left but to take real-life people and turn them into movies? True, the lives of Mark Zuckerberg, boxer “Irish” Micky Ward, Aron Ralston and King George VI don’t lend themselves to sequelization. But three-fourths of them are still alive, so it’s always possible we could be seeing “The Social Network 2,” “The Fighter Returns” and “Another 127 Hours” in our near future.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

Pictured: James Franco in “127 Hours.”  (Chuck Zlotnick / Associated Press)

They don’t have the “Right Stuff”? They already were “larger than life”? The puns can keep coming. But seriously guys, the Beatles never did a reunion tour despite their gaggle of grown-up fans. What makes you think you can?

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images for DCP)

The favorite of design magazine editors and L.A. Times arts critics alike was honored in September with a $500,000 grant.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Matt Harbicht / Getty Images)

Oh, “Glee,” you and your envelope-pushing ways. Except this time it’s not always for the singing. There was the racy GQ cover (pictured -- and shot by Terry Richardson no less). Soon after, Mr. Shue (Matthew Morrison) showed his pecs for Details, and even “Other Asian” Mike Chang (dancer Harry Shum Jr.)’s six pack got a magazine spread. We get it. You’re attractive not-kids playing misfit kids on a TV show. Can we move on now?

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Terry Richardson / Associated Press)

Far East Movement, the Los Angeles electro/rap group, reached a notable milestone this fall. Not only did its third album, “Free Wired,” debut at No. 24 on the Billboard charts, one of the highest charting debuts by any all-Asian American group, but its “Like a G6” became the No. 1 single in the country (having already crowned digital charts for weeks).

-- Todd Martens  (Stefano Paltera / For The Times)

It’s too soon to tell if the highly anticipated, highly expensive stage adaptation about your friendly neighborhood you-know-who will actually fly, but the multiple injuries, canceled previews and other hiccups seem to have caught director Julie Taymor in a nasty web.

-- Whitney Friedlander  (Jacob Cohl / Associated Press / The O and M Co.)

In late 2010, the Smithsonian Institution included a 23-year-old, 13-minute video from the late artist David Wojnarowicz about social indifference to the AIDS epidemic in an exhibition about gay identity in art at the National Portrait Gallery. But after politicians called it “anti-Christian,” Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough removed the project from the exhibition.

A couple of weeks later, Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art painted over a mural it commissioned from Italian street artist Blu on a wall at the Geffen Contemporary, after seeing its depiction of dollar bills covering military-style coffins.

Both controversies generated debate about what constitutes censorship at a public institution.

-- Whitney Friedlander

Photo: Italian artist Blu works on his MOCA mural before its whitewashing.  (Justin T. Ho / For The Times)