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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.
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Kenneth Turan

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Arts & Life

'Pan's Labyrinth' Is Realer than Reality Itself

What Guillermo del Toro has accomplished in Pan's Labyrinth cannot easily be put into words. That's because the Mexican-born director is a master creator of images, atmosphere and mood.

'Pan's Labyrinth' Is Realer than Reality Itself

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Review

Arts & Life

'Letters from Iwo Jima' Astonishes with Empathy

Clint Eastwood continues to astonish. His latest film, Letters from Iwo Jima parallels his recent Flags of Our Fathers, but it takes audiences to a place that would seem unimaginable for an American director.

'Letters from Iwo Jima' Astonishes with Empathy

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Review

Arts & Life

'Dreamgirls' Is a Triumph of Old School Glamour

Based loosely on the career of Diana Ross and the Supremes, Dreamgirls is alive with the sound of music. It's a love song two times over, a tribute to both a vibrant period of American popular music and the big-budget Hollywood musical.

'Dreamgirls' Is a Triumph of Old School Glamour

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Arts & Life

'Apocalypto' is Trademark Mel Gibson Gore

Who knows what violence lurks in the hearts of men? Mel Gibson knows. And like he did in The Passion of the Christ, Gibson just can't resist putting every last ounce of it on screen in Apocalypto.

'Apocalypto' is Trademark Mel Gibson Gore

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Arts & Life

'The Nativity Story' Stands on Familiar Ground

The advertising for The Nativity Story has gotten this film's essence exactly wrong. This is not a chance to "experience the most timeless of stories as you've never seen it before." It's just the opposite. It's an opportunity, for those who want it, to encounter this story exactly the way its almost always been told.

'The Nativity Story' Stands on Familiar Ground

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Arts & Life

'Deja Vu' is First-Class Fun

Deja Vu is in the business of confounding expectations. It's not the routine potboiler starring Denzel Washington that the advertising indicates. The film makes little sense, but that hardly matters because it's some first-class genre fun.

'Deja Vu' is First-Class Fun

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Arts & Life

The New James Bond Bets on a New Attitude

James Bond first appeared on the big screen 44 years ago. Up until today, the 20 James Bond features have been as predictable as the shaken-not-stirred martini preference of their protagonist. Now, with Casino Royale, the hero with a thousand smirks has been given a shrewd, and largely successful, attitude adjustment.

The New James Bond Bets on a New Attitude

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Arts & Life

'A Good Year' Provides Few Good Reasons to Watch

The last time director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe got together, the Oscar-winning action epic Gladiator was the result. This time it's a romantic comedy, and the results are not nearly so successful.

'A Good Year' Provides Few Good Reasons to Watch

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Arts & Life

'Borat' Offends, Entertains While Mirroring Society

Borat features British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as a fictional television journalist from Kazakhstan on a tour of the United States. The satire is biting and discomforting. But it's also funny and well-suited for our times.

'Borat' Offends, Entertains While Mirroring Society

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Arts & Life

'Catch a Fire' Breathes New Life into an Old Story

Catch a Fire sounds like an awfully familiar story. And, in some ways, it is. Movies on how South Africa suffered under apartheid, and the heroic efforts made to resist that repressive system, are hardly new. So it's tempting to write off this newest look at that era as too familiar and too late. That would be a mistake.

'Catch a Fire' Breathes New Life into an Old Story

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Arts & Life

'Infamous' Fails Where 'Capote' Succeeded

Infamous tells the story of Truman Capote as he wrote In Cold Blood. If that sounds familiar, it's because a movie about the exact same thing came out a year ago, and it was a better film.

'Infamous' Fails Where 'Capote' Succeeded

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Arts & Life

'King's Men' a Masterful Retelling of an Old Favorite

All the King's Men is a Hollywood remake that may be even better than its Oscar-winning predecessor of 1949. Sean Penn, Jude Law and Kate Winslet star in this wrenching tale of populist politics based loosely on the life of Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long.

'King's Men' a Masterful Retelling of an Old Favorite

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Arts & Life

Documentaries View the Iraq War from Two Sides

Two new documentaries are out about the Iraq war: The Ground Truth and My Country, My Country. My Country shows what the war has been like for Iraqis, while Ground Truth concentrates on the personal traumas U.S. soldiers have to deal with when they return home. Both movies offer compelling views of the costs of war.

Documentaries View the Iraq War from Two Sides

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