Kenneth Turan Professions : Film critic Born : October 27, 1946 Browse All Authors Top 9 quotes by Kenneth Turan Audiences looking for a rich, textured, cinematic experience will be put off and disconcerted by an image that looks more like an advanced version of high definition television than a traditional movie. Kenneth Turan definitions television looks Baseball endures at least in part because it is a contemplative sport that delights in nuances. Not a brazen game, eager to sell its thrills cheaply, but rather an understated affair that must be courted if its to be loved. Kenneth Turan baseball games sports What's most troubling about this witless mishmash of whiny, infantile philosophizing and bone-crunching violence is the increasing realization that it actually thinks it's saying something of significance. Kenneth Turan violence realization thinking "Joy" is based, albeit loosely, on the life of Joy Mangano, an entrepreneur, inventor and QVC shopping network star with the mega-selling Miracle Mop. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent as Joy, but the film starts off on the wrong foot with woeful depictions of her background as the only sane person in her dysfunctional family. Kenneth Turan shopping stars feet What audiences end up with word-wise is a hackneyed, completely derivative copy of old Hollywood romances, a movie that reeks of phoniness and lacks even minimal originality. Kenneth Turan romance hollywood wise Death is supposed to be the great equalizer, but that's never true. Death is random, capricious, unconcerned, a flagrant player of favorites. It keeps its own counsel, so much the better to profoundly shock by its actions. Kenneth Turan player action death Silence is not the absence of sound. It's a physical place, a Kenneth Turan regret silence sound Things get better when Joy hears about a televised way to sell products and makes a connection with QVC. She convinces an executive there, played by Bradley Cooper, to let her appear as herself. Kenneth Turan get-better connections joy A TREAT. FASCINATING. Director Lipes is a classic cinéma vérité practitioner in the mold of Albert Maysles and Frederick Wiseman. Kenneth Turan mold classic directors Similar Authors Andre Bazin film-critic Andrew Sarris film-critic Armond White film-critic Bob Mondello film-critic Drew McWeeny film-critic David Edelstein film-critic All Authors