Never Coming to a Theater Near You

July 19, 2004
The title of this book, a collection of Turan's daily newspaper reviews from the Los Angeles Times
, promises the unearthing of deeply obscure material or a truly revolutionary take on old favorites. Turan, who is also a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition
, sets the book up more modestly in his introduction as a guide to unsung films now on DVD and video. He's a lovely reviewer, able to encapsulate a film's charms in a few phrases, and he has a particular knack for opening sentences, an important tool for any newspaper writer. But the section on English-language films contains reviews of movies like Election
, Dead Man Walking
and Muriel's Wedding
—i.e., multiple Oscar nominees and winners, many that benefited from mass-market publicity campaigns. In essence, Turan's favorite flicks are already sung. His section on foreign films is far more useful, since many of them had very limited releases. Turan saves the best for last: nine longer essays he calls "Retrospectives." These pieces treat topics we don't hear much about: the great directors Max Ophuls and Frank Borzage, the delectable treats that came from "pre-code" Hollywood, and Yiddish film. And Turan's funny gloss on the familiar conventions of Chinese martial arts films shows how perceptive and winning he can be. Agent, David Halpern.

September 1, 2004
As a remedy for the lack of exposure for small, quality films, Turan, critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio's Morning Edition, offers this compilation of a decade's worth of reviews, a "guide for the perplexed viewer looking for something different." Divided into categories of English and foreign-language films, documentaries, classics, plus some career retrospectives, the reviews are brief and accessible but grounded in solid film history scholarship. The author tries to indicate what makes each film special and why the reader should seek it out on cable television, video, or DVD. Some of the films, e.g., Whale Rider, may already be familiar to the discerning filmgoer, and some readers might wish for a greater length and depth to the essays. Turan lacks the intensely personal voice of Pauline Kael, but his uncluttered prose is inviting, and the collection fills a niche as one of the better recent surveys of independent film. Recommended for public and academic film history collections. Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2004
Turan, " Los Angeles Times " and National Public Radio film critic, collects reviews of more than 140 films that may have slipped under most filmgoers' radar. While such films as " Dirty Pretty Things," " Yi Yi," " Crumb," and " Eyes without a Face " did not get the distribution of " The Lord of the Rings" , they have, according to Turan, made his "professional life richly rewarding." His readily apparent enthusiasm comes without hyperbole, although he is prone to saying such things as "Nigel Hawthorne's work as the deranged monarch . . . enlarges our understanding of what acting can accomplish"--which can be taken as a bit grand. Reviews have been updated and revised--some include brief notes about what certain actors have gone on to do--but the one on Mike Leigh's " Naked" makes no reference to his " Secrets & Lies" and the one on " The Commitments " does not refer to " The Snapper," also based on a Roddy Doyle novel. A section on retrospectives is a nice bonus, as are articles on such filmmakers as Anthony Mann and Frank Borzage. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)