Horror Sinners - Michael B. Jordan/Ryan Coogler Reunite

Just come from the theater. I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, Michael B Jordan is at his career best in this and deserve some award recognition for this, and I also like the score.
On the other hand, man.. I really thought this would bring some fresh air to the genre, but its basicly the same plot we saw hundred of times before. Its basicly Quentin Tarontinos "From Dusk Till Dawn" from 1996.
The only new idea from Coogler is
Vampirism as a metaphor for cultural appropriation of black music
 
Just got out. I did really enjoy it though I probably won’t revisit it. MBJ isn’t a great actor to me but he’s always good and does well enough. Delroy Lindo could maybe see a nom somewhere he was great. Story wasn’t groundbreaking but the experience is great. There is a scene when the music gets going that really gave me goosebumps. Interested to see how this does when awards season hits.
 
Just got out. I did really enjoy it though I probably won’t revisit it. MBJ isn’t a great actor to me but he’s always good and does well enough. Delroy Lindo could maybe see a nom somewhere he was great. Story wasn’t groundbreaking but the experience is great. There is a scene when the music gets going that really gave me goosebumps. Interested to see how this does when awards season hits.

Just curious, why not?
 
Just not my preferred Genre tbh. It’s rare that I revisit horror movies. Real world is a horror show as is. And I’ll give Coogler credit he could’ve filled this thing with jump scares but he really showed a lot of restraint. I’m curious to see what he has planned for this with that deal he struck.

Edit: I will also say that I’ll def be getting it on physical 4k cause I’m weird like that. It’ll go with the few other horror movies I liked but don’t watch lol.
 
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Loved it. This movie was a masterpiece. It’s like The Color Purple, O Brother Where Art Thou and From Dusk Til Dawn mashed together and yet still manages to be its own thing. Great characters, stunning cinematography, smart dialogue, and what has to be the soundtrack of the year. It’s funny because after the vampire craze of the 2000s and 2010s, I pretty much never wanted to see another vampire movie as long as I lived. Now here we are in the 2020s and my favorite movie of last year was Nosferatu and my favorite movie of this year might end up being Sinners. It will be heartbreaking if this flops because it’s an exceptional film.
 
Just come from the theater. I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, Michael B Jordan is at his career best in this and deserve some award recognition for this, and I also like the score.
On the other hand, man.. I really thought this would bring some fresh air to the genre, but its basicly the same plot we saw hundred of times before. Its basicly Quentin Tarontinos "From Dusk Till Dawn" from 1996.
The only new idea from Coogler is
Vampirism as a metaphor for cultural appropriation of black music
I'd actually say its more Demon Knight. The seductive singing and hive mindset seemed fresh, but I get it if you had hopes it might really turn it on its head.

Which for me it kinda did...but didnt go all the way with it. And thats with more music.
 
This feels like a movie you have to see twice to really get a gauge on it.

I'll say there was some masterful directing taking place early on. Felt like I was watching one of those award contender dramas that come at the end of the year. Then there is some next level experimental filmmaking thats on another level (I dont know how it will play for others, but wow what a scene)

The vampires are very charismatic and thematically its wonderfully intertwined on race, culture, community and freedom. Not heavy handed. Subtle and through vampric lore.

I'd say there limitations to just that kind of setup. Whats taking place outside is much more intriguing.

I've got a really high score on the movie, but a second will let me know if Im solid on that. There's enough praise on RT about acting, cinematography, etc those are obviously great. Just taking the film in probably needs another rewatch for me.
 
Really caried the second half. I want ....... version of that.
I just bought it on itunes .

I also bought I Lied To You , the song in that epic sequence that everyone is talking about.

Both sequences back to back moved me , and even though they're two radically different styles of music , I love the blues , and I love and Celtic songs .

So both sequences really got me .
 
As a From Dusk Till Dawn fan, I dug this film a lot. All the actors were great, music was bangin, just a well made film. Only critique I have is that the third act felt like, I don't want to say rushed, but there's a point where they figuratively rip the band aid off and I'm like oh they're jumping right into the home stretch now aren't they. But I will say about 90 percent of the way through I liked it but then an epilogue happens and then I REALLY liked it, maybe even loved it.

Coogler is just a damn fine director.
 
I just bought it on itunes .

I also bought I Lied To You , the song in that epic sequence that everyone is talking about.

Both sequences back to back moved me , and even though they're two radically different styles of music , I love the blues , and I love and Celtic songs .

So both sequences really got me .
Different than the movie version. Cause that was such an enchanting mood. Still really good.
 
All the positive reviews of the film in these posts are killing me because I can’t go to the theater and have to wait for it to come out on digital a few months from now. :weeping::weeping::weeping:
So who snatches up Jack O'Connell first. DC or Marvel?
DC, definitely. He’s already working with Warner Bros., anyway.
 
All the positive reviews of the film in these posts are killing me because I can’t go to the theater and have to wait for it to come out on digital a few months from now. :weeping::weeping::weeping:

DC, definitely. He’s already working with Warner Bros., anyway.
Thats a good point. Both Delroy and Jack just got picked up to be in the new WB's Godzilla/King film.
 
Jack O'Connell is my Choice for the DCU Joker paired with Drop's Brandon Sklenar ,as Batman.

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O’Connell was damn near unrecognizable in this. If I didn’t know he was in it, I wouldn’t have recognized him. Amazing performance. I’d love to see him in a DC or Marvel villain (or hero) role.
 
Reddit post seems like its from @Deck Rickard
Y’all, I’m not gonna bury the lede here. Sinners is a 10/10, it’s the best thing I’ve seen in a long while. It’s everything I want in a movie. It’s super badass, it’s sexy, it’s funny, it’s mystical, it makes wild choices, it pulls no punches, it’s a period piece, a musical, a horror film, a social commentary. It never stops being the most insane and awesome vampire movie while the themes run deep through every scene. This is exactly the kind of best case scenario for Coogler who has spent the last decade plus making big studio IP films to kick down the doors and remind us he doesn’t need any of that to make a great ****ing movie.

There is a sequence in this movie that had me levitating out of my seat with tears down my face, and I struggle between not spoiling it here but wanting to discuss it in depth. But I do want to talk about what this movie is getting at, because it’s such a brilliantly nuanced conversation taking place in a legit vampire movie and neither ever feel forced together. On the surface it might be easy to compare this to a Peele film and say it’s about race, but really it’s about culture. This movie is about why creating space for furthering the culture through art is important. The sequence I’m referring to is a little abstract and it’s the first time this movie’s thesis really opens up, but it’s so incredible. Musically and visually and thematically it’s an absolute home run and feels like Coogler showing off what he’s had up his sleeve all this time. And the horror of this movie begins with the end of that sequence, when you see the three vampires watching these people have a great time and while it’s not stated out loud, the visual message here is that these boring cultural vampires cannot stand not being invited to join the party. And that’s about to ruin everyone’s night.

I honestly feel like this movie does such a fantastic job of conveying its theme that I will do it a disservice here, but I’m going to try. The lore of this movie is that some people are so ****ing good at making music that they awaken evil spirits to challenge them, which is already cool as hell. Sammie is the one the vampires want the most. Why? Because he’s culturally significant. The vampires want him to become one of their collective consciousness, sharing his music and talents with the monoculture. But these people that have worked so hard to carve out a space for themselves know Sammie is meant to enrich their specific culture, that’s why they're so protective of him and why Smoke basically threatens him to stay. It’s not about keeping anyone out, it’s about how when there’s plenty of places to go enjoy folk music or the mainstream, there should be no problem with there also being a space for the minority culture to thrive.

And how about these vampires? This movie is hilarious as much as it is frightening, and the vampires being Irish sea shanty folk singers is maybe the funniest thing about it. I didn’t take it as a knock on any specific culture, but folk music like that is so dependent on synchronization and unity while the cultures being explored in that club music scene feels much more based in individuality and unexpected flavor. It’s so genius to make that the collective consciousness style and how their ultimate goal is to consume other cultural art to be one with their mainstream ideals. It actually works so well with the old lore of vampires, for example them needing to be invited in is so perfectly indicative of how personal it feels to not be invited into these spaces even if it’s for the purpose of preservation of the art. I love folk music, but what a great director does is show you their perspective and I can feel how Coogler feels when he hears it with this movie.

And the cherry on top of this insane movie is how religion plays into it all. I think this is a little more buried in the text, but it is called Sinners and opens with a church so it was on my mind. In the climax when Sammie defaults to the Lord’s Prayer and the vampire starts reciting it too, something really clicked for me. Something about how organized religion is the original monoculture, forced upon people and now so deeply rooted that separating it from current culture is almost impossible. Sammie isn’t just fighting the idea of mainstream music and people trying to bite his lived-in style, he’s fighting his father who has religious expectations and sees his creativity as an obstacle stopping Sammie from being Godly. It’s a brilliant opening because of the vibe of that first scene, seeing Sammie go back home, my immediate thought was “oh look what the nightlife did to this boy” and after seeing the movie you know how important that night of playing was to him, how it wasn’t the club that destroyed him.

This movie committing to the ending, having him clutch that guitar neck and drive away, it’s so powerful. The best thing we can do in this world is be true to our creativity, and this movie is all about that idea. Not to mention the loving eye this movie puts on the brief period where the brothers owned their own profitable business and gave their people a safe space to celebrate their culture, that really got to me. I believe the title, Sinners, refers to the creatives who reject any sort of monoculture and truly seek the unique, the art that could only come from them and their background, and it’s so brilliant because that’s what this movie is. Fully unique and only possible through the lens of the creative force behind it. Coogler is Iron Chef level cooking with this, arguing that being an artist/sinner is better than being a boring saint.

Thematic poetic waxing aside, this movie just absolutely ****s. It’s so sexy and entertaining, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It has some WILD dialogue but these actors sell the hell out of it, especially Hailee who has a really tough role with some insanely explicit lines that she sells so well. And with all these amazing and lived-in characters, this movie is not precious about keeping them alive or from turning. The build-up to the vamps getting invited in was so damn good, I was in tears when the shopkeeper screamed it out. And that shot of everyone grabbing weapons while the vampires open that giant barn door, I swear you could have punched me in the ****ing face and I wouldn’t have stopped watching. The swiftness with which that scene devolves into just death and massacre and violence is what a good climax is all about. Even if you’re not paying attention to the themes, this is a fully satisfying vampire horror extravaganza.

I’m going to wrap this up, but I need to highlight how rare it is to really earn an ending like Michael B. Jordan mowing down racists. Like, it’s such a tropey blaxploitation revenge moment, but it feels amazing with those guitar riffs and with everything leading up. In maybe this movie's most brilliant turn, the vampires aren’t even the most evil characters. At least they offer some semblance of a life, and I really don’t think this movie damns the vampires fully as much as sees them as a naturally occurring obstacle to overcome in order to keep cultural identity unique. No, the real villains of this movie are the Klan racists, and it can be argued that the most convincing argument the vampires make for assimilation is how the racists were going to kill everyone anyways. Why not join mainstream culture and go on to turn the racists into vamps as well? So it feels earned and oh so right when the racists show up for the final scene and get what’s coming from an angry Jordan who had lost everything except his guns.

This movie rocks but the ending plus the mid-credits scene blast this off into undeniably incredible territory. It sees the vampires with such empathy, in a way, and there’s real literary value in how the only survivors of the night are the artist and the entrepreneur, and how Smoke had to overpower his vamp brother in order to get them to leave Sammie alone. This is a movie that will be talked about and thought about for years and years, and I for one can’t wait to rewatch it a million times. Like I said, 10/10.
 
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Thinking about this film more, I also want to add that Coogler just handles the ensemble so so well. I felt like everyone in the final lineup before the big climax had their moment to shine. I also didn't feel like any character was a real liability to the others and if they did something that either endangered themselves or their loved ones, it made logical sense and played more tragic than a character being an idiot.
 
Absolute masterpiece. Anyone who thinks this is a retread of something like From Dusk Til Dawn knows very little about black history or the blues. There are so many layers of subtext and social commentary going on with this film. Just mind-blowing.

I really wish Black Panther III wasn't happening because Coogler is wasted on such franchise filmmaking.
 
Loved it. This movie was a masterpiece. It’s like The Color Purple, O Brother Where Art Thou and From Dusk Til Dawn mashed together and yet still manages to be its own thing. Great characters, stunning cinematography, smart dialogue, and what has to be the soundtrack of the year. It’s funny because after the vampire craze of the 2000s and 2010s, I pretty much never wanted to see another vampire movie as long as I lived. Now here we are in the 2020s and my favorite movie of last year was Nosferatu and my favorite movie of this year might end up being Sinners. It will be heartbreaking if this flops because it’s an exceptional film.
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Absolute masterpiece. Anyone who thinks this is a retread of something like From Dusk Til Dawn knows very little about black history or the blues. There are so many layers of subtext and social commentary going on with this film. Just mind-blowing.

I really wish Black Panther III wasn't happening because Coogler is wasted on such franchise filmmaker.
While Im not quite sure I love the movie (yet). I do love the fact that more people are loving Coogler for doing something very unique. Im glad people are really loving the film. However, yes there is a worry he'll get lost in the Marvel system.

Denzel is the only reason BP3 still has my interest.
 

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