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In an otherwise bleak year for television, a few truly great entries shone all the more brightly.

How to survive when provocations are a natural--and inescapable--part of life.

What has made Lamar both fascinating and a bit dangerous, for those, such as Drake, who chose to cross him this year, is the fact that he doesn't seem to desire anything that his peers have.

In his early prose narrative, "Monsieur Teste," the great French poet created an alter ego even more aloof and elusive than he was.

A middle-aged, murderous Tom Ripley; a boozy, stagestruck Mary Todd Lincoln; an unlikely pair of singers at the Grammys--these were the acts that broke through the noise of this fractious, tumultuous year.

Short reviews of recent releases.

Why should American exceptionalism end at the red-light district?

The musicians possess a powerful collective personality, creating an organic mass of sound.

Santa Claus--he's just like the rest of us.

In his new film, "Hard Truths," the director returns to his favorite mode: building intimate portraits of regular people, from the ground up.