How about a little forward thinking in 2011? Let’s say goodbye to 2010, at least for a moment (because, like all new year’s resolutions, this one is inevitably doomed to fail) and focus on what is to come, not as the blind wandering around in search of flickering lights in dark art-houses and multiplexes, but with, at the very least, a penlight and an outline of the new horizon.  

It was another transitional year at the movies, one in which curious, sometimes frustrating trends emerged or were confirmed: The rise of conceptually complex films that question the nature of “reality” and “truth”; the return of 3-D as a savior; the death of the romantic comedy; the continued fracturing of indie cinema; and the further evolution of distribution methods.  

I love the year's end. As a writer who delves into the wonders of cinema on DVD, December turns thoughts to the mountains of films consumed over the past 12 months. Believe me, it's a lot. Sussing out the best is an awesome task, but it can lead to hair-pulling conundrums. Where to begin?  

There have always been urban films — from the black exploitation films of the 1970s to the comic movies that capitalized on stand-up performers transitioning to the mainstream to the hood action dramas infused with Hip Hop sensibilities — but it seemed as if black folks would finally be moving on up out of the Hollywood ghetto. Unfortunately, 2010 felt like a step backward.  

2010 was a year filled with attempts to make "crime epics" worthy of the first two Godfathers' ambitions and acting levels, if not always with the same kind of resources available to realize the vision of Coppola's classics. But they've moved beyond the American dream — these new attempts often come from abroad and play the art-house circuit. And, increasingly, they're being made for television.  

Here's why I'm prepared to call the Coen brothers the greatest living American filmmakers: After 25 years, they not only continue to make great movies but they also keep finding new ways to surprise me. In taking on the second adaptation of Charles Portis' novel 'True Grit,' they've subtly crafted what might be their most deeply felt movie yet. Grade: A.  

Summing up a year is always a tricky proposition. It's even trickier at this late date in our rapidly fracturing cultural landscape. Consensus on anything — from our politics to the very nature of reality — is more fleeting than ever in a world where context is obliterated by encroaching, fast-moving technologies that allow us to create our own narrowly defined headspaces.  

Colin Firth, hot off his Academy Award-nominated turn last year in A Single Man, returns to period work as King George VI, the father of currently reigning Queen Elizabeth. Bertie, as he was known among the royal family, was the stammering second son of George V (Michael Gambon) who ascended to the throne when his brother abdicated. We get the triumph, frankly, without much of the real struggle, but director Tom Hooper and his actors do their best to make sure we don’t care about anything other than what they give us. Grade: A-.  

The plot of this live-action adaptation of the simplistic animated classic about the famous talking bear on the hunt for picnic baskets in Jellystone Park certainly feels like an episode of the show. But there’s an infantile mindlessness at the heart of this CGI-based misadventure that makes 'SpongeBob SquarePants' look downright 'Inception'-esque. Grade: D.  

Rather than devoting time to tracking what could have been the comic evolution of the relationship between male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and his former CIA agent father-in-law Frank (Robert De Niro), director Paul Weitz seemingly ended up dangling money before his performers to get them to react on cue in this rote, terribly unfunny exercise. Grade: D-.  

There's something terribly romantic about the bond that develops between Ewan McGregor's and Jim Carrey's gay lovers in a con-man story not far removed from a great film like 'Catch Me If You Can.' There's a sincerity in both movies than humanizes its criminal protagonists and celebrates their abilities to outwit the lawmen that tirelessly pursue them. Grade: A-.  

If the original 'Tron' inspired the rush of sci-fi narratives, virtual gamesmanship and the dawn of this new age, did we really need a sequel to show us that legacy, in 3-D no less? The short answer is no, especially if all 'Tron: Legacy' was going to do would be to introduce Jeff Bridges' character's grown-up son Sam (Garrett Hedlund), a seriously fake-looking computer-generated version of the young Bridges and the same old dark dystopian alternative world we've seen a thousand times before. Grade: D-.   

As a story about a scrappy, working-class nobody who gets an unexpected shot at the title, David O. Russell's 'The Fighter' was bound to earn comparisons to 'Rocky.' And the comparisons are justified — not just because of its plot but also because of its concern for quirky characters and a sense of place. Grade: B-plus.   

Natalie Portman is all grown up, and the proof is in her searing portrayal of the innocent perfectionist Nina in Darren Aronofsky's intense exploration into the dark heart of a rising ballerina. As Nina, Portman fully embraces the girlishness and wide-eyed striving of an artist who has been little more than an instrument to be set in motion by others. Grade: A.  

'The Tourist,' directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ('The Lives of Others'), is actually a remake of a 2005 French thriller about a wanted man seeking to outrun international police and the Russian mob who, through other agents, enlists an unwitting tourist to assume his identity. The director's updated version tries to instill a sense of spirited adventure in fantastic settings, but he’s traveling down the wrong road. Grade: D-plus.