Kenneth Turan

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Los Angeles Times
For 2,642 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 66% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 32% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 6.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Kenneth Turan's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 Vertigo
Lowest review score: 0 Stolen Summer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,845 out of 2642
  2. Mixed: 659 out of 2642
  3. Negative: 138 out of 2642
2642 movie reviews
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    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Piano
    It takes exceptional acting to enable a story like this to take hold, and Campion has gotten it here. [19 Nov 1993]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Bugsy
    Levinson has always been a director who completely understands the concept of the American Dream, and his sensibility is perfect for this story of a man who cared so little about money that he was willing to stake everything he was or ever hoped to be on a crackpot scheme to turn a corner of Nevada desert into the pleasure dome of the American West.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Fireworks Wednesday (2006)
    What pulls us into Fireworks Wednesday is the universality of the emotions its characters display and the familiarity of the situations they find themselves in. Farhadi is a master navigator of these waters, and even his earlier films reward our close attention.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Maid
    The Maid has that particular gift of leaving you off balance in the best possible way, and whenever something like that comes around you owe it to yourself to check it out.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Insider
    A dead-on tale of corporate power, courage, cowardice and how we live.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    East of Eden
    Not only one of Kazan's richest films and Dean's first significant role, it is also arguably the actor's best performance. [10 June 2005, p.E12]
    • Los Angeles Times
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Neil Young: Heart of Gold
    It's the record of a life, a musical and spiritual autobiography, and as directed by Jonathan Demme it taps into the kind of unashamed, unsentimental emotion that's become increasingly rare in films of any kind.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Birds of Passage
    Birds of Passage tells a story of a traditional culture fighting for its life against incursions from the outside world, of how insidiously clan ways and spiritual values can be compromised, and it certainly has familiar elements. But the electric filmmaking, sense of tragedy and cultural specificity are far from usual.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Nostalgia for the Light
    A film of rare visual poetry that's simultaneously personal, political and philosophical, it's a genuine art film that's also unpretentious and easygoing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Ballets Russes
    A captivating film that truly elevates the spirit, Ballets Russes is the most emotionally satisfying documentary since "Mad Hot Ballroom."
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Les Misérables
    Ly’s considerable skill aside, what makes Les Misérables such an immersive experience is the crackling sense of authenticity that is the film’s birthright.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Love and Death on Long Island
    Love and Death on Long Island is sharp, sophisticated and completely delicious, a purposeful comedy that focuses on the power of screen images to uproot lives and the poignancy of amour fou, totally mad love.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
    Though she’s a first-time director, Costin has put together a film that’s a savvy cinematic education as well as pure fun. If you care about the movies, don’t even think of staying away.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Lost in La Mancha
    Records an accident while it's happening, revealing a situation that makes you laugh again and again while weeping, metaphorically at least, for the sheer frustration of it all.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Revanche
    A darkly compelling film from Austria, can be viewed as either a thriller with psychological overtones or a psychological drama with thriller elements.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Good Night, and Good Luck.
    Couldn't be more unlikely, more unfashionable -- or more compelling.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Cherry Orchard
    An exquisite performance by Charlotte Rampling, whose work as Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, the matriarch of the great estate the cherry orchard sits on, is the film's dazzling centerpiece.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Pride
    Pride is an unapologetic crowd-pleaser of a movie, but it has some potent points to make, and the reality of what happened has a power of its own.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Show Me Love
    A completely charming reality-based romantic fantasy, both sweet-natured and sympathetic, Show Me Love is a leader of the pack.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Town Is Quiet
    Intimate and human yet deeply ambitious, a powerhouse of a film made with a disturbing vision.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Moneyball
    Starring Brad Pitt in top movie star form, it's a film that's impressive and surprising.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Brothers McMullen
    While other films struggle for their effects, Brothers simply lives and breathes, thoroughly likable from beginning to end.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time
    Intoxicating and meditative by turns, helped by Fred Frith's minimalist score, this film opens a portal into a singular creative mind.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Watermark
    If Watermark does nothing else, it will make you question society's contradictory view of water use.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Three Kings
    Off-and-on cynical and sentimental, Russell's darkly comic tale shows how much can be done with familiar material when you're burning to do things differently and have the gifts to pull that off.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Gosford Park
    It's the style of the thing, not the plot, that is the attraction here, the great way the cast has with the snarky dialogue.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine
    Thorough, impressive and smartly put together, joining dynamically edited verite footage with a series of thoughtful interviews, Breaking Point serves a pair of interlocking purposes.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Joy Luck Club
    If The Joy Luck Club doesn’t make you cry, nothing will. In an age of contrived and mechanical sentimentality, its deeply felt, straight-from-the-heart emotions and the unadorned way it presents them make quite an impact. No matter how many hankies you bring with you, it won’t be enough.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    The Lunchbox
    One thing that makes Lunchbox so strong is that a touch of melancholy hangs over its sweetness. Finally this is a film about the wheel of life, about what helps us cope with its turns and find our way in its unforgiving labyrinth.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Kenneth Turan
    Much Ado About Nothing
    Actors as well as athletes have a prime of life, a time when everything they touch seems a miracle. And the crowning pleasure of watching Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in this rollicking version of Much Ado About Nothing is the way it allows us to share in that state of special grace, to watch the English-speaking world’s reigning acting couple perform at the top of their game.
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