Benji Kaplan

Benji Kaplan Patron

I like movies, always have.

Favorite films

  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Interstellar
  • La La Land
  • Amélie

Recent activity

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  • Adolescence

    ★★★★½

  • Black Bag

    ★★★½

  • Opus

    ★★★½

  • Girl 6

    ★★★★

Pinned reviews

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  • Sorry, Baby

    Sorry, Baby

    ★★★★★

    I saw some raving reviews of this so I snatched up an online ticket before it sold out. I was kinda scared to watch it because I had my expectations unreasonably high, despite knowing nothing about it.

    Is this going to be my favorite film of 2025? Well as I was watching the final scene, I contemplated just dragging the progress bar back to the beginning and immediately rewatching it. So maybe yes? I couldn't have imagined wanting to rewatch…

  • All We Imagine as Light

    All We Imagine as Light

    ★★★★★

    One of my favorite movie viewing experiences I have had this year. Samiha and I watched a noon screening at the forum. It was pretty empty there for once. This one doesn’t need a big audience to get deep under your skin though. I think we both got so deeply invested in the main characters that we were on the edge of our seats scared that anything bad would happen to them. Instead, we are swept through nighttime’s landscapes gorgeously…

Recent reviews

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  • Adolescence

    Adolescence

    ★★★★½

    I had no clue what I was getting into with this. Incredible work from every single person involved. I didn't enjoy it but I couldn't stop watching.

  • Black Bag

    Black Bag

    ★★★½

    Really odd lighting in this one, but thoroughly captivating from the moment it begins. Soderberg is on a roll. I think this could become a cult classic. It has some assuredness about it, just like its main characters.

Popular reviews

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  • God's Country

    God's Country

    ★★★★★

    What does God's Country mean? I think it refers to a white man's arrogance. To the white man, ownership is a double standard. He simultaneously has the right to shoot one who enters his property without permission, and to enter another's property without permission, with no perceived punishment. That has been the basis for the United States of America for centuries. So when this film opens on a slide show of the people the white man took everything away from,…

  • Dune

    Dune

    ★★★★★

    I think I still need time to collect my thoughts but my first thoughts on this movie are of is size and scope. I read the book "Dune" in mid 2020 and I absolutely loved it. My expectations for this movie were high because of that as well as because well, Villeneuve was directing it.

    My expectations were met and maybe even surpassed. this movie is genuinely epic. It is gorgeous. The palette and score are so intense. I just…