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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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Movie Reviews

The Film 'Les Miserable' Does The Musical Proud

Les Miserables is one of the most popular theatrical musicals, with 60 million tickets sold in 42 countries. Producers of the movie version are hoping to attract a lot of those fans, too. They shouldn't have a problem, says film critic Kenneth Turan.

The Film 'Les Miserable' Does The Musical Proud

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Movie Reviews

'Zero Dark Thirty': Taking Bin Laden Down

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal last teamed up on the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, set during the Iraq war. The hunt for Osama bin Laden is the subject of their new drama, Zero Dark Thirty.

'Zero Dark Thirty': Taking Bin Laden Down

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Movie Reviews

'The Hobbit' Is 'Solid' But Not 'Exceptional'

Director Peter Jackson takes his audience back to Middle-earth in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, set in a time before the Lord of the Rings films.

'The Hobbit' Is 'Solid' But Not 'Exceptional'

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In 'Hyde Park On Hudson' Murray Captures FDR

Bill Murray plays Franklin D. Roosevelt in the new movie Hyde Park on Hudson. Critic Kenneth Turan says Murray's work beautifully conveys the notion of the chief executive as seductive star performer who counts on his charm to get his way.

In 'Hyde Park On Hudson' Murray Captures FDR

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Ken Burns Film Examines 1989 Jogger Case

Ken Burns' new movie in theaters is The Central Park Five. Five black and Latino teenagers admitted to the rape and beating of a white jogger and served prison sentences. But a startling confession in 2002 by a convicted murderer and rapist whose DNA was present at the crime scene led a judge to overturn their convictions.

Ken Burns Film Examines 1989 Jogger Case

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Great Director Would 'Not Approve' Of 'Hitchcock'

Few directors put up as convincing a public mask as Alfred Hitchcock. Few actors are as compelling as Anthony Hopkins, who plays the great man, or Helen Mirren, who plays Alma, his wife. But even with these two Oscar winners, the reviewer says Hitchcock is one portrait of a marriage we could have lived without.

Great Director Would 'Not Approve' Of 'Hitchcock'

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Daniel Day-Lewis 'Simply Becomes Lincoln'

Daniel Day Lewis is a two-time Oscar winning actor, but he surpasses himself and makes us see a celebrated figure in unanticipated ways in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. The movie unfolds during the final four months of the president's life as he focuses on getting Congress to pass the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery despite fierce opposition.

Daniel Day-Lewis 'Simply Becomes Lincoln'

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Chess Prodigies Shine In 'Brooklyn Castle'

Documentary film has developed a new minigenre in the past few years: kids in competition. In Spellbound it was a spelling bee, and in First Position it was ballet. Now, chess in Brooklyn Castle. Critic Kenneth Turan has this review.

Chess Prodigies Shine In 'Brooklyn Castle'

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Family Secret Comes To Light In 'The Flat'

The flat is an apartment in Tel Aviv belonging to the grandmother of director Arnon Goldfinger. When she dies at 98, seven decades after emigrating from Germany, the entire family gathers to decide how to dispose of her possessions. Everything changes with a shocking discovery of a virulently pro-Nazi newspaper.

Family Secret Comes To Light In 'The Flat'

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Ben Affleck 'Smartly Directs' His New Movie 'Argo'

Argo tells an incredible true story: How a CIA agent rescued six Americans from the jaws of the Iranian Revolution with a little help from the good folks of Hollywood. Besides directing it, Affleck also stars in Argo.

Ben Affleck 'Smartly Directs' His New Movie 'Argo'

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Liam Neeson Is The Most Valuable Asset For 'Taken 2'

At a beefy 6'4", Liam Neeson, the star of Taken 2, certainly looks physically imposing, but he can also act. The counter-intuitive notion of casting someone who can be human and vulnerable as an action hero is what made the first Taken so watchable.

Liam Neeson Is The Most Valuable Asset For 'Taken 2'

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'Looper' Is 'Wild' And 'Wears Its Crazy Lightly'

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis star as the present and future versions of a skilled assassin in Rian Johnson's mind-bending thriller Looper. Not to be missed is Jeff Daniels, who gives an electric performance as Abe, a man from the future fed up with living in the past

'Looper' Is 'Wild' And 'Wears Its Crazy Lightly'

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Eastwood Returns To Acting With A Baseball Drama

In Trouble with the Curve, Clint Eastwood plays Gus Lobel, a venerable scout for the Atlanta Braves who finds it increasingly difficult to mask the creeping ravages of old age. Gus is a cantankerous coot who trips over furniture because he is on the way to going blind, a condition he understandably tries to hide from his boss Pete, played by John Goodman.

Eastwood Returns To Acting With A Baseball Drama

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'Ambassador' Spotlights African Corruption

Danish filmmaker Mads Brugger posed as a diplomat to document rampant corruption in the Central African Republic. If the way Brugger is acting on camera makes us uncomfortable, the film asks, why aren't we doing more to stop it when it happens on a much larger scale.

'Ambassador' Spotlights African Corruption

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