Film-Forward

About Kent Turner

Kent Turner, the editor of Film-Forward, learned the ropes of the festival circuit at the San Francisco International Film Festival and has worked in film production and acquisition in Los Angeles. He is currently the director of programming at the Monmouth Film Festival.

Tim’s Vermeer

Directed by Teller
Produced by Penn Jillette & Farley Ziegler
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
USA. 80 min. Rated PG-13
Hailing from the Iowa cornfields, high school graduate, self-taught techie inventor, and self-made millionaire Tim Jenison turns his life over to a wonky but accessible pursuit. He spends his considerable resources and time traveling the world scrutinizing Dutch superstar […]

By |January 30th, 2014|Arts, Documentary, Top Picks|0 Comments

August: Osage County

Directed by John Wells
Produced by Steve Traxler, Jean Doumanian, George Clooney & Grant Heslov
Written by Tracy Letts, based on his play
Released by the Weinstein Company
USA. 119. Rated R
With Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard & Misty Upham
In a voice […]

By |January 15th, 2014|Comedy, Drama, Melodrama|0 Comments

The Best of 2013

By July, it was clear that there were already more than a half-dozen films that could securely claim a spot on a 10 best list. Overall, it was very good year, offering almost something for everyone, and with plenty of notable films hovering below the cut (the austere Paradise trilogy, the awards favorite 12 Years […]

By |December 23rd, 2013|Asian, Comedy, Crime, Featured, Israeli, Teen, Top Picks|0 Comments

Saving Mr. Banks

Directed by John Lee Hancock
Written by Kelly Marcel & Sue Smith
Produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie & Philip Steuer
Released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
UK/USA. 125 min. Rated PG-13
With Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Annie Rose Buckley, Ruth Wilson, B. J. Novak, Rachel Griffiths, Kathy Baker, Colin Farrell & Melanie […]

By |December 15th, 2013|Biopic, Book adaptation, Film History, Musical|0 Comments

The Armstrong Lie

Written & Directed by Alex Gibney
Produced by Frank Marshall, Matt Tolmach & Gibney
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
USA. 123 min. Rated R
“Exhaustive.” That’s the best description for Alex Gibney’s thorough 123-minute scrutiny of Lance Armstrong and his now tainted sports record. In particular, he zeroes in on Armstrong’s ill-fated 2009 Tour de France comeback, which raised […]

By |November 17th, 2013|Documentary, Sports|0 Comments

Passion

Directed by Brian De Palma
Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd
Written by Mr. De Palma & Nathalie Carter, based on the French film Crime d’Amour
Released by Entertainment One
Germany/France. 102 min. Rated R
With Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Karoline Herfurth, Paul Anderson & Rainer Bock
Split screen  and misleading dream sequences: Brian De Palma’s latest brings back his flourishes from […]

By |November 12th, 2013|Crime, DVD/Streaming/On Demand, Featured, Melodrama, Thriller|0 Comments

I Am Divine

Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
Produced by Mr. Schwarz, Lotti Pharriss Knowles, Lance Robertson & Jon Glover
Released by Automat Pictures.
USA. 90 min. Not rated
At Paramount, Josef von Sternberg turned Marlene Dietrich into a screen goddess. Forty years later, shoestring Baltimore filmmaker John Waters did the same, helping to mold a screen icon of a different sort, […]

By |October 27th, 2013|Festivals, GLBT, Pop Culture, Top Picks|1 Comment

All Is Lost

Written & Directed by J. C. Chandor
Produced by Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb, Justin Nappi & Teddy Schwarzman
Released by Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
USA. 107 min. PG-13
With Robert Redford
This steadily absorbing man-adrift-on-a-damaged-sailboat saga has possibly the three most suspenseful sequences of the year and in many ways blows another survival-against-the odds-odyssey, Gravity, out of the water (more puns […]

By |October 18th, 2013|Action, Disaster, Top Picks|0 Comments

Toronto 2013 Highlights

An Indian father accompanies his young—and only—son, Siddharth, to an outdoor bus station. He waves goodbye to his smiling boy as the packed bus drives off 200 miles north, where Siddharth has been sent to work in a trolley factory. The boy, nicknamed Siddhu, is supposed to come back a month later for Diwali, but […]

By |October 18th, 2013|Espionage, Festivals, French, Middle East|0 Comments