Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is the film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Morning Edition, as well as the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. He has been a staff writer for the Washington Post and TV Guide, and served as the Times' book review editor.
A graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, he is the co-author of Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke. He teaches film reviewing and non-fiction writing at USC and is on the board of directors of the National Yiddish Book Center. His most recent books are the University of California Press' Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made and Never Coming To A Theater Near You, published by Public Affairs Press.
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Film critic Kenneth Turan reviews Memory of a Killer, a Dutch noir thriller about a hit man who's developed Alzheimer's disease. The film is based on the much-praised crime novel series by Jef Geeraerts.
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Timothy Treadwell spent 13 summers among the grizzly bears of Alaska before one killed him. Film critic Kenneth Turan says director Werner Herzog has fashioned a riveting story of Treadwell's obsession.
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The Dukes of Hazzard is a film so meaningless that it is almost impossible to review, according to critic Kenneth Turan. He says the movie is, "not empty calories, which implies pleasure, but simply empty. It's a cosmic void where a movie ought to be."
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Film critic Kenneth Turan, takes a look at the restoration of the iconic French film, Elevator to the Gallows. Made in 1957, it is a melding of French cinematography and American music that Turan is thrilled to see in theaters. -
A summer movie season is hardly complete without a popcorn epic by Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor, Armageddon.) Bay's latest, The Island, has a scifi premise rooted in fear of genetic engineering.
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Director Tim Burton confesses that when it comes to confections, he likes "dark, bitter chocolate." His version of Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' is dark, if not exactly bitter.
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Film critic Kenneth Turan reviews what Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's calls his final movie, Saraband. The film features a divorced couple from one of his earlier works.
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Steven Spielberg takes a new crack at the classic H.G. Wells novel War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins and the talented child star Dakota Fanning lead the cast. The film emphasizes the power of evil and highlights the volatile nature of human fear.
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Film critic Kenneth Turan reviews My Summer of Love, a teen film from director Pawel Pawlikowski. Turan says the film is not your usual Hollywood teen fare. Fore one thing, it was named best British film of 2004. -
Film critic Kenneth Turan reviews Batman Begins. The film is about the origins of Bruce Wayne and his superhero counterpart the Caped Crusader.
