Overview

"The images and memories that matter most are those that are unshakeable, unforgettable. Kenneth Turan's fifty-four favourite films embrace a century of the world's most satisfying romances and funniest comedies, the most heart-stopping dramas and chilling thrillers.Turan discovered film as a child left undisturbed to watch Million Dollar Movie on WOR-TV Channel 9 in New York, a daily showcase for older Hollywood features. It was then that he developed a love of cinema that never left him and honed his eye for the most acute details and the grandest of scenes. Not to be Missed blends cultural criticism, historical anecdote, and inside-Hollywood controversy. Turan's selection of favourites ranges across all genres. From All About Eve to Seven Samurai to Sherlock Jr. , these are all timeless films,classic and contemporary, familiar and obscure, with big budgets and small,each underscoring the truth of director Ingmar Bergman's observation that no form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul."""

Full Product Details

9781586483968

Table of Contents

Reviews

A collection full of surprises and Turan's great insight, Not to Be Missed is a treasure chest -- essential reading for anyone who loves movies. --Susan Orlean, author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and The Orchid Thief What makes this book stand out is how each film is put into context of the time period it was made and Turan's reasons why each one sticks out as memorable and deserving of watching more than once. This collection is a worthwhile companion to similar books of the best in film, e.g., Roger Ebert's The Great Movies and Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza's The Greatest Movies Ever. Recommended for the casual movie fan as well as the serious film student. --Library Journal A veteran critic offers a decade-by-decade list of the films that have been like 'friends who've enriched my life.' Film lovers will eagerly swoop in to see if their favorites are present, and there are certainly some surprises. [Not to Be Missed] will surely ignite debate, disdain and delight. -- Kirkus [Turan's] comments about the movies are always insightful...his writing is fluid and accessible. Richly deserving of shelf space alongside Ebert's The Great Movies (2002), Pauline Kael's For Keeps (1994), and Turan's own Never Coming to a Theater Near You (2004). --Booklist Turan's thoughtful list will inspire readers to rent some of his all-time favorites, and they can have the utmost confidence in Turan's wise and enthusiastic recommendations. --Shelf Awareness Wholly compelling... For the last several decades, Turan himself has been a not-to-be-missed film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio, but now he has cast his memory back to his own formative experiences watching movies. The result is more than a collection of reviews, however; rather, Turan offers an enchanting blend of memoir, cultural and social history, Hollywood intelligence-gathering, and, of course, the testimony of an ardent and exceptionally well-informed aficionado of the movies...Here is a critic and writer at the height of his powers, fully himself and speaking in his unique voice, wholly immersed in a body of knowledge that he has mastered with the gravitas of a talmudic scholar, and yet, at the same time, fully alive with the sheer joy that the movies have inspired in him and so many others. --Jewish Journal

A veteran critic offers a decade-by-decade list of the films that have been like 'friends who've enriched my life.' Film lovers will eagerly swoop in to see if their favorites are present, and there are certainly some surprises. [Not to Be Missed] will surely ignite debate, disdain and delight. - Kirkus

A collection full of surprises and Turan's great insight, Not to Be Missed is a treasure chest -- essential reading for anyone who loves movies. --Susan Orlean, author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and The Orchid Thief A veteran critic offers a decade-by-decade list of the films that have been like 'friends who've enriched my life.' Film lovers will eagerly swoop in to see if their favorites are present, and there are certainly some surprises. [Not to Be Missed] will surely ignite debate, disdain and delight. -- Kirkus [Turan's] comments about the movies are always insightful...his writing is fluid and accessible. Richly deserving of shelf space alongside Ebert's The Great Movies (2002), Pauline Kael's For Keeps (1994), and Turan's own Never Coming to a Theater Near You (2004). --Booklist Wholly compelling... For the last several decades, Turan himself has been a not-to-be-missed film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio, but now he has cast his memory back to his own formative experiences watching movies. The result is more than a collection of reviews, however; rather, Turan offers an enchanting blend of memoir, cultural and social history, Hollywood intelligence-gathering, and, of course, the testimony of an ardent and exceptionally well-informed aficionado of the movies...Here is a critic and writer at the height of his powers, fully himself and speaking in his unique voice, wholly immersed in a body of knowledge that he has mastered with the gravitas of a talmudic scholar, and yet, at the same time, fully alive with the sheer joy that the movies have inspired in him and so many others. --Jewish Journal

Author Information

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. Turan teaches film reviewing and non-fiction writing at USC and is on the board of directors of the National Yiddish Book centre. His most recent books include Free for All: Joe Papp, The Public, and the Greatest theatre Story Ever Told and Never Coming To A theatre Near You. Turan lives in Los Angeles, CA. Follow him on Twitter @KennethTuran.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available