‎Ben Seyfert’s liked reviews • Letterboxd

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The River 1951

★★ Watched by Gilbert C. Moore 08 Mar, 2018 1

My first Renoir was pretty disappointing.
Two weak stories intertwine into a project that is either a heavy indian documentary or a cheap white romance. Never commits to either and never comes full circle.
It looks like a Janus picture. Just lacks the magic that most of their classics usually have.
Red Sparrow 2018

★ Watched by Laurence Barber 27 Feb, 2018 9

hey siri show me a straight teenage boy's jerkoff fantasy that's been directed like an over-budget Starz rip-off of The Americans where literally nothing that happens is important but they've made sure you get to see plenty of sideboob while its star is being tortured
Red Sparrow 2018

★½ Watched by Hannah 26 Feb, 2018 4

Some thoughts:
- One awful rape scene is bad enough, two is a fucking insult
- It's torture porn packaged as a spy film
- Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Irons and Charlotte Rampling and Ciaran Hinds should all apologise for their TERRIBLE Russian accents
- America is SO afraid of Russia
- Has Justin Haythe ever heard a woman speak?
- Matthias Schoenaerts deserves better
I'm giving this 1 star for Matthias Schoenaerts and .5 for Trish Somerville's costume design and the rest of it can get in the fucking sea
Red Sparrow 2018

½ Added by Brandon Thompson 36

I got through about three minutes of it. I put in a good solid three. I’m sorry to anybody who loves this movie. I couldn’t give that kind of time. It was three minutes and I was just "oof". Is it just about spies? Is Dominika Egorova kind of like a narcissistic sociopath and she's a spy so every guy falls in love her because she makes him feel bad about himself and that’s the love story? I haven’t seen…
Red Sparrow 2018

★★½ Added by Gonzo 6

► Gonzo's 2018 Movie Rankings
I like my spy thrillers plodding, hollow, and uninteresting, with a side of awful accents, said no one ever.
Death Wish 2018

★★½ Watched by davidehrlich 01 Mar, 2018 49

2018 is turning out to be a truly inclusive year for on-screen representation. “Black Panther” invited African-American audiences to see themselves in a massive superhero movie that wasn’t about their own oppression, “A Fantastic Woman” gave transgender women the chance to see themselves in an acclaimed film that wasn’t terribly retrograde, and now Eli Roth’s dangerously enjoyable “Death Wish” gives right-wing lunatics the opportunity to see themselves in a fascist fairy tale that wasn’t directed by Dinesh D’Souza. To each…
Annihilation 2018

Watched by Sean Baker 25 Feb, 2018 29

I really like this film. It's bold and beautiful. Color scheme and production design are top notch. Doesn't feel the need to answer every question.
I hope this does well at the box office because Garland is trying something different here.
Saw it on the big screen at the DGA in LA.
Murder on the Orient Express 2017

★★½ Watched by PUNQ 04 Mar, 2018

So much glamor and so little substance delivered for one of Agatha Christie's most beloved tales. It's like all the focus was on the glitter and not the characters. Empty characterizations from a star-powered cast rushing through their scenes. Still I love the world of Christie and I'm all for other's attempting a Poirot than David Suchet, and I felt Kenneth Branagh was a good one.
Dunkirk 2017

★★★ Watched by Mira116 04 Mar, 2018

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I’m completely fine with expressing unpopular opinions, so let’s go.
Dunkirk is visually stunning, a cinematographic spectacle unencumbered by dialogue or weighty exposition. It zigzags from beach to sand to boat and leaves the head reeling as to what is happening when and spatial relationships.
Tom Hardy and (the underused) Cillian Murphy deliver excellent performances that essentially carry the film.
But.
But.
This is a very empty film, one that lacks investment in characters, one that doesn’t care about the…
Double Lover 2017

★★★★½ Watched by PRIME 16 Feb, 2018 1

I figured out why I so adore (erotic) thrillers: they boast the simultaneous capacity to be eerily supernatural and wholly terrestrial in a single gesture. The best domestic theatrical release I’ve seen thus far in 2018. Will see this in theaters (at least) a second time. I hope my warm feelings do not diminish.
The Post 2017

★★★★½ Watched by Gilbert C. Moore 15 Jan, 2018

To no surprise, this film is INCREDIBLY well directed.
All of the talent, behind and in front of the camera, shows beautifully along glowing pictures and another brilliant Williams score.
A very timely and relevant film about the silencing of both the press and women in the workplace. Couldn't have been released at a better time.
P.S. that scene between Streep and Brie.
Darkest Hour 2017

★★★½ Watched by Andrew Nosal 02 Jan, 2018

Scenes will drag and falter at times, but Gary Oldman gave a career-high performance in a well written, acted, scored, shot, and directed film.