Blame it on the format, but that still doesn’t make this a compelling read.
Los Angeles Times/NPR film critic Turan presents a book-length favorites list.
Whip-smart and to the point, the author’s cogent movie reviews are perfect for reading in the newspaper over your morning coffee, and he’s even better on the radio. Unfortunately, these brief pieces don’t work as well between hard covers. The premise of here is admirably simple: these are the films that have affected Turan the most, and for the best. The result is a joyously hopscotch catalogue of cinema, everything from John Sayles to John Frankhenheimer, highbrow to lowbrow (though not surprisingly, indie critical faves are overrepresented), but since the pieces are uniformly positive, a numb feeling soon sets in. And since the reviews are not long enough to really get into the meat of a film, Turan is forced to present his views rather plainly, with laudatory adjectives paraded one after another to the point of sounding like a press release (“Prepare to be astonished by ‘Spirited Away’ ”).
Blame it on the format, but that still doesn’t make this a compelling read.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58648-231-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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