Ryan Bingham

Early on in “Crazy Heart,’’ while lounging in bed just before the inevitable happens, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character turns to Jeff Bridges’s Bad Blake, the down-and-out country singer she’s supposed to be interviewing for a story. Cast in shadows, she asks him an asinine question that ends up capturing the essence of the film’s soundtrack. “So where’d all those songs come from?’’ she wants to know. “Life, unfortunately,’’ he replies. Sticking to that philosophy, the soundtrack is full of odes to hard knocks and hardened hearts.

CAMBRIDGE — What a difference a year — and an Academy Award-winning song — makes. One year ago, Texas-bred Ryan Bingham was another in a long line of sturdy singer-songwriters with a feel for earthy Americana and a flair for granting time-worn phrases (“Dollar a Day’’; “Hard Times’’) fresh relevance. Having a preternaturally weathered voice whose grain splits the difference between Springsteen, Stephen Stills, and Steve Earle never hurts, and neither does having a rambling, roaring band; but it was “Crazy Heart’’ — the movie that won Jeff Bridges his first Oscar — that likely...

Ryan Bingham, the protagonist of Jason Reitman’s warm, smoothly made comedy “Up in the Air,’’ is another of George Clooney’s playboy loners. They live inside a membrane of narcissism until some force - be it love or justice - attempts to break in. In “Up in the Air,’’ the membrane is punctured early. Ryan works for a consulting firm that companies hire to reduce their staff. The firm is thinking of cutting back itself. Ryan’s boss - played by Jason Bateman, doing unctuous as only he can, like a 21st-century Dabney Coleman - has brought in a sharp young woman named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick)

Early on in “Crazy Heart,’’ while lounging in bed just before the inevitable happens, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character turns to Jeff Bridges’s Bad Blake, the down-and-out country singer she’s supposed to be interviewing for a story. Cast in shadows, she asks him an asinine question that ends up capturing the essence of the film’s soundtrack. “So where’d all those songs come from?’’ she wants to know. “Life, unfortunately,’’ he replies. Sticking to that philosophy, the soundtrack is full of odes to hard knocks and hardened hearts.

CAMBRIDGE — What a difference a year — and an Academy Award-winning song — makes. One year ago, Texas-bred Ryan Bingham was another in a long line of sturdy singer-songwriters with a feel for earthy Americana and a flair for granting time-worn phrases (“Dollar a Day’’; “Hard Times’’) fresh relevance. Having a preternaturally weathered voice whose grain splits the difference between Springsteen, Stephen Stills, and Steve Earle never hurts, and neither does having a rambling, roaring band; but it was “Crazy Heart’’ — the movie that won Jeff Bridges his first Oscar — that likely...

Jeff Bridges is not Bad Blake, the alcohol-ravaged country musician he portrayed in the 2009 film "Crazy Heart," a role that won him an Oscar. He is, however, a fine musician whose self-titled debut album shares DNA with Blake's rootsy, lived-in musings. No mere vanity project, "Jeff Bridges" allows the actor, who has been playing since his teens, to display his skills as a singer and songwriter with exquisitely considered sonic backdrops by producer and longtime buddy T Bone Burnett.

ON WGBH Greater Boston 7 p.m. WGBH (Channel 2) Masterpiece "Zen: Vendetta" 9 p.m. WGBH (Channel 44) Italian detective Aurelio Zen reinvestigates a closed case. ON CHRONICLE Mystery Main Streets 7:30 p.m. WCVB-TV (Channel 5) Our town has farmland and waterways, wildlife, and a population that goes up and down depending on the season. RADIO HIGHLIGHTS The Diane Rehm Show 10 a.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) A deeper look into the race riots of 1919 with author Cameron McWhirter.

A couple of weeks ago, we looked back on the eclectic career of Brad Pitt, and marveled at the intelligence of his choices as well as his instinct to shun his movie-star persona while still giving the people what they want. Pitt's friend and co-star in the "Ocean's" movies, George Clooney, has shown similar tastes and daring both in front of and behind the camera. And in the process of staying true to his beliefs, he's carved out one of the most respected careers in town. This week, he directs the political drama "The Ides of March" and plays a supporting role as a governor seeking the...

Ryan Bingham, the protagonist of Jason Reitman’s warm, smoothly made comedy “Up in the Air,’’ is another of George Clooney’s playboy loners. They live inside a membrane of narcissism until some force - be it love or justice - attempts to break in. In “Up in the Air,’’ the membrane is punctured early. Ryan works for a consulting firm that companies hire to reduce their staff. The firm is thinking of cutting back itself. Ryan’s boss - played by Jason Bateman, doing unctuous as only he can, like a 21st-century Dabney Coleman - has brought in a sharp young woman named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick)