Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo
Written By: Ryan Coogler
Directed By: Ryan Coogler
Studio: Warner Bros
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One of the most talked about movies this year is Sinners, a movie from Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan…and Michael B. Jordan. It’s a swing for the fences type of movie that blends genres and I’m not sure it entirely works but I had a fun time watching it.
The movie takes place in the deep south in the 1930s, and centers around Smoke and Stack, twin brothers (both played by Michael B. Jordan) trying to start fresh after working for the Chicago mob. As they gather up a bunch of people to start a juke joint, supernatural elements have other plans and crash in at the party.
I had no expectations going into this but knew a lot of people talking about the movie. There was a lot of praise and telling people to go see this in the theaters. I thought the first half of the movie, which sets up the characters for an hour, was a bit slow. I think once the juke joint opens, then things got interesting but turns into another movie pretty much. It’s like From Dusk Till Dawn, there’s Irish singing, there’s blues and Buddy Guy in the end. It’s a bit surreal what took place but I think it was a bit all over the place as well.
The acting from Michael B. Jordan was good, and it’s always tough playing 2 people with the same actor but he pulled it off. Hailee Steinfeld has come a long way from playing the little girl in True Grit but she, along with the rest of the cast, did an awesome job. It was good to see Delroy Lindo in this, who’s such an underrated actor who should be in more things. Miles Caton was a standout, as well as Jack O’Connell. That one scene with Jack singing Rocky Road to Dublin was batshit crazy, no pun intended. You can’t help but love the music in this movie from all the blues to that.
The featurettes are plentiful and I loved the one on the music, which played a big part of the story. Ludqwig just gets into it, every film he works on and I love that he worked with some Blues legends as well. You see how much attention went into all the music, the blues and that one Irish folk scene. There’s so much more to watch like the Making of, deleted scenes, special effects and other featurettes.
Sinners is going to be a movie people will love, or one that people will dislike. I guess there could be people in the middle that like one part of Sinners more than the other. From a vampire movie perspective, it took too long to establish all the characters and dragged on. If you took away the vampire elements, then you just have the characters going up against the racist lawn owners? Ryan Coogler went with his vision, From Dusk Till Dawn type of movie instead. I think it will be a movie that gets better with each viewing.
Features:
Dancing with the Devil: The Making of “Sinners”
Thicker than Blood: Becoming the Smokestack Twins
Blues in the Night: The Music of “Sinners”
Spirits in the Deep South
The Wages of Sin: The Creature FX of “Sinners”
Deleted Scenes
Video:
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (63.75 Mbps)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.75:1, 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.75:1
Audio:
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Audio descriptive
Subtitles:
English SDH, French SDH, Spanish
Forced subtitles
Bottom Line: A genre blending movie that people will either love or hate
Running Time: 137 mins
Rating: R
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: