SINNERS (2025)

You’re racist if you don’t like this movie.

Sorry I didn’t finish my earlier attempt at a Sinners review, I got distracted by a 39-year-old Ralph Macchio movie. AS I WAS SAYING…

It you merged From Dusk Till Dawn, Miller’s Crossing, Shaft, Goodfellas, The Twilight Zone, The Thing and Riverdance you would get Sinners. Ryan Coogler took all these moving parts to make a genre-defying, spooky masterpiece. If there’s one movie you need to see before major surgery- this, is it.

If you’re the kind of person that only goes to a movie theater once a year, make it Sinners. Ryan Coolger’s created a true movie-going experience, and nothing less than a gargantuan IMAX screen with bowel loosening surround sound will suffice here. For me it’s just not a five-star movie unless I shit myself in one of those reclining AMC chairs. In related news, avoid seat H12 at Madison Yards AMC, theater 2.

Last Train to Clarksdale
Immersive – I’ll say it again. Coogler really gives you a feel for what a racist, sweltering hellhole plantation-era Mississippi must have been as opposed to the racist, sweltering hellhole it is today. It feels like you know the exact date this film takes place, also they tell you – October 16th 1936. Which just so happens to be the day Robert Johnson supposedly made his deal with the devil. (See part 1) AND  HOLY SHIT – that’s the same date – October 16^th, 1990, I stole that CD from Shop-Rite video! Nah, but can you imagine? That would be freaky. Point being Coogler really did his homework on this and it shows. There’s so many cool historical McNuggets, you need two viewings to see it all, luckily I did just that.

The actors are really good too. As the Smokestack twins, Michael B. Jordan has so much presence and charisma, you don’t even give a shit that he’s playing identical twins. You get to hear Halllie Steinfeld say all the filthy shit you dreamed of and the white guy who plays the Remmick the evil, uh, more evil vampire – was terrifying and a fine dancer.

If you don’t have a convincing young bluesman, it all goes to shit.  Well, Ralph Macchio was booked on Karate Kid: Legends so they got someone named Miles Canto, who is a real musician apparently. This is his film debut as Sammie and shit – He’s the Scottie B. Pippen to Michael B. Jordan.  You need to believe he can play, sing and conjure spirits from another world, because that’s exactly what Sammie does in THAT ONE SCENE. If you’ve seen it, you know the one I’m talking about.

THAT ONE SCENE
It’s futile to try and describe, so let me try. Sammie finally plays a song in the club and what follows is one of the most mesmerizing and original sequences I’ve ever seen in non-porno film. Yes even The Flintbones. Not only that, it summarizes the theme of the movie, how all different kinds of music can be joyous, sexy, seductive and even evil. As the opening voice over said, “There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true. It can pierce the veil between life and death.” Yea this movie is good but wait, where are the fucking vampires in this thing?

Sir, I suddenly find your manner as distasteful as your cognac.

– Blacula

The second half of Sinners is basically a conventional vampire movie, tropes and all. Until that point, Sinners could have been historical fiction, a gang movie, hell even a musical and it still would have been good.  The change in tone did seem abrupt to some and even I ask myself, “Do you even need vampires?” Yes. Fuck yes. Because the second half is one of the best vampire movies I’ve ever seen. Take that, Blacula!

What if Max the Head Vampire was black?
If you thought the Irish were pale and scary, you should see Irish vampires. HIYOOOOOOOOO.
As I was saying in Remmick’s case, his motivations are relatable. It would have been easy to make him the white devil or a KKK guy (more on that later), instead he’s an Irishman who got fucked out his land, which adds more spice to the soufflé.

Obviously, a vampire can only enter you home if you invite him in, duh. Didn’t you learn anything from the Lost Boys? So Remmick tries to talk his way in by offering them what is essentially freedom in exchange for being a vampire. Think about that – If I were a black man in 1936 Mississippi, I’d take that deal. Hell, I’d take it now. That way I’d outlive my student loan payments. HIYOOOOOOO!!  Point being, even vampire movie cliches are totally different in this setting and context.

The Veil Between Life and Death
Speaking of which, the racism in the movie is addressed but it’s not the main theme of the movie as it should be given the setting. It’s a vampire movie, not Roots. So there’s that scene at the end of Stack (or was it Smoke?) mowing down the klan with a machine gun, that might have been kind of tacked-on in an already long movie and HOLY SHIT THAT’S BUDDY GUY!!!!

I said that aloud in the theater and my gf looked at me like, “Who the fuck is Buddy Guy?” Only the greatest living bluesman who I had no idea he was in this and was only 70% sure he was still alive. This is not a Stan Lee cameo, it’s essential to the story. So much so it’s kind of wasted as a mid-credits scene. As if I needed to shit my pants again. Wait, do I have a spastic colon? You can’t get these details with AI.

Shit I noticed on the second viewing.

• The film’s aspect ratio actually changes. Establishing shots and such were shot widescreen and then expand to a taller IMAX ratio. The Oscars are racist if cinematographer Autumn Durald doesn’t win an Oscar, I will punch a nun.

• Awesome Goodfellas-esque tracking shot before THAT ONE SCENE that would be the coolest shot in any other movie. All the characters would impact the story later and it’s a perfect introduction.

• Obviously the music is essential. This nerd video explains how the music started organic, acoustic just Sammie and the blues, then became progressively louder and more artifical as the story got darker and more vampirey. Shoutout to the man with the umlats – Music Supervisor, Ludwig Göransson! My blog is huge in Sweden.
  
  
• Since this was released in April, there’s a lot of “overrated” and don’t believe the hyper posts – fuck those guys. If you can’t geek out and shit yourself every now and then, what’s the point of going to movies, let alone posting about them