‘Sinners’ is a Hell of a Time at the Movies

April 16, 2025

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Sinners! (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot)

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell, Jayme Lawson, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Li Jun Li, Yao, Lola Kirke, Helena Hu, Peter Dreimanis, Saul Williams, Andrene Ward-Hammond, David Maldonado, Buddy Guy

Director: Ryan Coogler

Running Time: 137 Minutes

Rating: R for Guns, Nightlife Vices, and Supernatural Mayhem

Release Date: April 18, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The boys are back in town! Those boys in question are twin brothers Smoke (Michael B. Jordan) and Stack (also Jordan), while the town is in rural 1930s Mississippi. They were previously sojourning in Chicago, but now they’ve returned with millions in hand (quite possibly attained through criminal pursuits) and plans to open the hoppingest juke joint in town. Joining them in this venture are their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a budding blues guitarist virtuoso; Smoke’s old flame Annie (Wunmi Mosaku); Stack’s old flame Mary (Hailee Steinfeld); and seemingly everyone else they grew up with. Their dream quickly comes together, but lurking just outside are a few party crashers with a thirst for blood who are here to ensure that opening night will be even more unforgettable than anybody bargained for.

What Made an Impression?: Get Yourself Excited: A quick note before I really dig into the meat of this review: you all should know that I say this movie’s title with the same cadence that Superintendent Mario Chalmers refers to Principal Seymour Skinner on The Simpsons. (It’s also how I say the last name of a certain Italian tennis player.) That didn’t really affect my enjoyment one way or the other, but I do like to be transparent.
The Bloodiest Good Time: I’ll just go right ahead and get this off my chest: Sinners might just be my favorite vampire movie of all time! That’s not a huge huge surprise, as I’m not a major aficionado of Dracula and the like, so the bar wasn’t particularly high. But there are still plenty of fine examples that now must give up the throne. Perhaps you’re surprised to hear this, considering that the trailers play a little coy with the premise’s true nature. But that patient approach in which writer-director Ryan Coogler waits a little while to show off his full hand is a big reason why it’s so successful.
A Sense of Time and Place: Sinners nails every temptation that’s so tantalizingly cool about its era, but in a way that also makes you realize that America is and also has been like this. The outfits and diction might change, but working folks and the discriminated classes have always been trying to scheme and break free and find their families. There’s a lot more to what makes Sinners cook than that, but that’s a good starting point to let you know why it’s so exhilarating.
Play It Again: There’s a magnificent set piece about halfway through in which Sammie’s singing and strumming is so magical that it summons the spirits of multi-genre past and future musicians into the party. (That power is a big reason why those supernatural baddies have found their way here.) Speaking of music, the rest of the film is soundtracked by frequent Coogler collaborator Ludwig Göransson, who blends an intoxicating stew that both honors and transcends its Delta trappings.
It’s a Beaut!: Sinners‘ cinematographer is Autumn Durald Arkapaw, a name I’m not too familiar with, although she did shoot the second Black Panther and a few other flicks I’ve seen. But man oh man, she outdid herself here. Every frame just pops off the screen and irons itself into your brainstem. I’m sure costume designer Ruth E. Carter (another Coogler regular) appreciated the fine lens work, since it made it undeniably clear how her duds were in no way duds.
Get Comfy: Don’t bolt out of your seat after the credits start rolling, because there’s more to come! If Marvel blockbusters have you feeling cynical about mid-credits and post-credits scenes, well, forget all that, because Sinners offers a couple of codas that deliver a few new flavors while deepening everything that it’s all about.

Sinners is Recommended If You Like: Only Lovers Left Alive, the American blues songbook, BlacKkKlansman

Grade: 5 out of 5 Smokestacks

‘Wakanda Forever’ and Ever, Amen

December 30, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Forever? Forever Ever? (Credit:
Marvel Entertainment/Screenshot)

Starring: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Winston Duke, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Divine Love Konadu-Son

Director: Ryan Coogler

Running Time: 161 Minutes

Rating: PG-13]

Release Date:] November 11, 2022 (Theaters)

Upon seeing the first Black Panther back in 2018, my expectations were sky-high, and there was pretty much no way to meet them. For Wakanda Forever, however, I arrived with significantly subdued enthusiasm. I doubted that it could fully process the grief of Chadwick Boseman’s passing or that it could be another Landmark Cultural Event. So I ended up seeing it more than a month after its release with a much more chillaxed approach. And you know that? That may just have made all the difference. Also, the conflict with Namor was plenty satisfying and I totally didn’t see it coming.

Grade: No Love Lost (No Amor Perdido)

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Black Panther’ Absolutely Resides Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Just a Hitherto Barely Explored Corner

February 14, 2018

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

CREDIT: Disney/Marvel Studios

This post was originally published on News Cult in February 2018.

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, Sterling K. Brown

Director: Ryan Coogler

Running Time: 134 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Prolonged Fighting with a Variety of Weapons, Some of It Fairly Brutal and Bloody

Release Date: February 16, 2018

Black Panther culminates with the lesson, “The wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.” This appeal would seem to apply most directly to the United States at this particular cultural moment, but instead it is an exhortation to the fictional African nation of Wakanda now that its new king T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) has ascended. Wakanda is filled with vast riches and incredibly advanced technology thanks to the stockpile of the alien metal vibranium long ago delivered by a meteorite crash. But it is also supposedly one of the poorest nations on the planet, likely due to a generations-long isolationist policy. Much of Black Panther feels like buildup to this point of opening up to the rest of the world, and in that way it is a prelude to the sequels that are sure to come. But what it reveals over the course of that prelude is thrilling.

Black Panther is not the first black superhero movie, but with a majority-black cast, black director, and African setting, it is unabashedly black in so many ways that are unprecedented for a blockbuster of this magnitude. It is unsurprising then that its initial villain is reminiscent of blaxploitation heroes fighting against The Man. Ulysses Klaue (an agreeably gonzo Andy Serkis) is a white South African arms dealer who is looking to get his hands on vibranium and make a pretty penny in the black market.  But after Klaue is dispatched, the conflict ultimately comes down to that between T’Challa and Eric “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), who was born in America but has Wakandan roots and just as legitimate a claim to the throne as T’Challa. While Killmonger’s methods are overly destructive, his complaints, both personal and regarding how Wakanda does its public business, are legitimate. That Black Panther focuses on an intranational conflict should not be viewed as evidence of African and black cultures refusing to engage with the rest of the world, but rather an illustration that they already have plenty to keep themselves occupied.

While filled with several action set pieces and a fast-moving plot, Black Panther is most successful in its design and production elements. This is the sort of movie that brings a fully realized vision of a fictional world to life. The costumes are based on traditional African garb, but they are their own uniquely lavish style. Diverse tattoos and piercings add to the mix, including a few elements (such as one very stretched-out lower lip) that could be presented comically but are instead signs of dignity.

Culturally, this is a people that honors its elders, going so far as to have another dimension of sorts that exists at the nexus of technology and magic. Dubbed “the Ancestral Plane,” its purpose is for new kings to visit their deceased forebears for the sake of imparting necessary wisdom. Wakanda also treats its women in high regard, as they no big deal serve essential roles in government, science, and diplomacy. It may be true that the throne may not appear to be an option for woman (at least in this outing), but the monarchy is not as unilateral a position as it could possibly be. Considering all that progressiveness, it is disheartening that so much of Wakanda honor is bound up in a code of fighting and a culture of combat. That is not a complaint against the movie; in fact, what we have here is an appreciably complicated look at the difficulty to be a paragon of a nation.

The Black Panther is not just T’Challa, but rather a mantle that he holds currently. Accordingly, Black Panther the film is very much an ensemble piece, with attitude- and passion-driven performances from all the Wakandan tribes. The particular breakthrough is Letitia Wright (probably best known for the “Black Museum” episode of Black Mirror) as T’Challa’s spitfire younger sister Shuri, who manages to be both the comic relief and the Q to his James Bond.

Black Panther fits squarely within the overarching narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though it can stand firmly on its own. Furthermore, it is nice to see it sidestep the easy template of the typical origin story that most solo superhero cinematic debuts tend towards. It has the standard two post-credits scenes, and weirdly enough they fit in the the MCU’s next chapter more squarely than other recent post-credits stingers. The last one is also more satisfying than those recent examples, perhaps because Black Panther takes care of its own, and we are ready when it stretches out.

Black Panther is Recommended If You Like: Shaft, Captain America: Civil War, Fruitvale Station

Grade: 3.75 out of 5 Headwraps