“What happens next?” In books, on TV series and in film, this decade saw the triumphant return of the heroic narrative. Sometimes, as in (Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean, movies had sequels because the box office told them to, but frequently the sagas were organic and complex, obliging viewers to recall story elements from episodes a year or two before. (You can do that in the DVD era.) We mean Harry Potter, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, maybe Christopher Nolan’s Batman series and, above all, Peter Jackson’s 9 hr.-plus adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy. The New Zealander spent seven years on the project, chose and directed its perfect cast and orchestrated the luminous effects work, all to create a fantasy epic of tremendous scope, gravity and heart. Props also to Jackson for his WETA digital shop, which helped bring the creatures of Avatar to persuasive life; for mentoring Neill Blomkamp on this year’s District 9; and for choosing Guillermo Del Toro, whose Pan’s Labyrinth found children’s fantasy in a much darker shade, to direct The Hobbit, the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings.
To mine joy from misery: that’s the gift of many a terrific movie. Its story needn’t truck in sentimental optimism, just a striving for transcendence. And if there’s verve in the telling, you have yourself a winner. That’s the key to this Anglo-Indian melodrama about a boy who grew up with his brother in brutal poverty, and whose adoration for an even unluckier girl lands him as a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Simon Beaufoy’s script tells the three lives in flashbacks that illuminate India’s dynamic and troubled history over the past 15 years. As gaudy wealth and abasing poverty coexist in Mumbai, so Danny Boyle’s zippy movie catches the contradictions of slum drama, love story, social document and Bollywood musical in its firm embrace. Audiences in Europe and U.S. — and the Motion Picture Academy — gave it a big hug too.
In light of the Material Girl performing at Super Bowl XLVI, TIME takes a look at her life and career, both of which have been lived firmly in the public eye.
