A look at country music's best of the year.

Music writer Chad Berndtson picks the good, the better and the best of 2008.

Based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, the movie follows a man (Brad Pitt) through the 20th century as he ages backward.

Darren Aronofsky’s ``The Wrestler'' is a devastatingly poignant look at not just an athlete, but a person who – like all of us – is suddenly coming to the realization that he’s no longer what he used to be.

Clint Eastwood, channeling Dirty Harry, plays a cantankerous, racist war hero whose once-affluent neighborhood becomes home to Asian immigrants.

Tom Cruise as a Nazi colonel who leads a band of conspirators trying to blow up Hitler. Hig-powered co-stars include Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh and Bill Nighy Terrence Stamp and Eddie Izzard.

When director Darren Aronofsky introduced a packed-house advance screening of “The Wrestler” at the Toronto International Film Festival a few months ago, he seemed a little shell-shocked when he referred to it as “a gentle, small film.”

When it comes to world music, most people are a little apprehensive… probably because they’re thinking Peter Gabriel and Enya. No, no, no. We’re talking about music from all over the world. And there’s more than enough to go around from 2008.

“Guitar Hero,” a music-based game that puts the player center stage as a true-to-life rock star, has become a cultural phenomenon. No more singing in the shower or playing air guitar.

Two movies this week: One very funny; one very, very serious.

If Christmas at your house is anything like Christmas at my house, you can't remember a year that didn't involve watching at least one screening of 'A Christmas Story' — and sometimes several in a row.

The year two-thousand-and-eight A.D. was not a particularly fantastic time for music in general, but even more so for hip-hop’s big names. Lil’ Wayne made a splash with "Tha Carter III," but it was hardly an all-time classic; Kanye made an album that really wasn’t hip-hop at all. But there was plenty of great rap music flying under the radar over the course of the year, so if you missed it, here’s your chance to catch up, as we present the Best Hip-Hop You Might Have Missed in 2008.

Two very different movies were chosen as the best by the Boston Society of Film Critics during the society’s annual voting on Sunday.

Few films gather heaps of praise in equal measure from critics and the public alike. "Slumdog Millionaire" is one of those films. The public right now doesn't constitute the masses since the movie isn't being shown in all the suburban megaplexes. Yet. That situation should change once major awards begin coming its way, and they already have.

Take a look at Jim Carrey’s resume: stupid comedy after stupid comedy (“Ace Ventura,” “Dumb & Dumber,” “Bruce Almighty,” etc.), punctuated by terrific dramatic performances (“The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). He’s a great comic actor with surprisingly effective serious leanings. At this point in his career, you really can’t be sure about what you’re gonna get from him.