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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Earlier generations of science fiction fretted about nuclear radiation or alien invasion. What powers Interstellar is an up-to-date concern about the viability of Earth as home for the human race.
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Kill the Messenger is based on the true story of a reporter at the San Jose Mercury-News who uncovers the CIA's role in arming the Nicaraguan Contras, then becomes the target of a smear campaign.
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Begin Again is the latest effort by John Carney. This film and his previous Once have so much in common that you can't help asking yourself, "Can lightning strike twice?"
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The works of Charles Dickens have been made into literally hundreds of films and TV episodes, but almost nothing has been done with the great author's life, until now. Our reviewer says The Invisible Woman is an exceptional film about love, longing and regret.
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David O. Russell is a director on a hot streak. His last two films, Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter, pleased critics and did well at the box office. And his new film is likely to do the same.
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It's the letter everyone's received. The one that says you've won $1 million but is actually about selling magazine subscriptions. But what if someone truly believed they'd won that million? And what if that individual was your cranky father and he insisted on going to prize headquarters to collect his money.
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Formula 1 racing is having its moment in the sun on American movie screens. The new movie Rush attempts to combine Hollywood style with an independent film's sensibility. Rush is directed by Ron Howard.
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Wadjda tells the story of a 10-year-old Saudi girl determined to have a bicycle in a culture that frowns on female riding. Writer-director Haifaa al-Mansour says she wanted to put a human face on the situation of women in Saudi Arabia, where driving is not permitted.
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The film District 9 was one of the surprise hits of 2009 because it was a rare action movie that addressed issues in a smart way. Now its writer-director, Neill Blomkamp, is back with Elysium. A car thief must get to the healing machines on space station Elysium if he wants to live.
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In World War Z, Bradd Pitt saves the world from a zombie apocalypse. When Pitt's character gets stuck in a Philadelphia traffic jam with his family, that's when the apocalypse begins.