Sinners is good, but it’s no Oh Brother, Where Art Thou
Sinners has been at my local moviehaus for a couple of weeks now. I like Michael B Jorday as an actor. I like period pieces. And I like lots of Ryan Coogler’s work. That should have been enough to get me in a seat on opening weekend, right? In a perfect world, sure. But surprising to no one, we are in a far from perfect world right now.
TBH, there wasn’t anything really compelling to go see this weekend. There was a re-reboot of a horror franchise. There was also an opaquely defined Jenna Ortega movie. And Sinners had a lot of positive chatter so I thought I’d give it a look.
Was it one movie or two?
It wasn’t plainly stated in the trailer, but Sinners is a depression-era vampire movie. Mr and Mrs Average Dude don’t normally go in for horror movies (and Mrs AD didn’t care for Sinners at all) but I’ve enjoyed a few bloodsucker flicks in my day (Lost Boys is a favorite). And I didn’t hate Sinners. The casting was excellent , the cinematography and set design were fantastic. Solid foundation for a movie.
But a horror flick is not how Sinners started out. It began as the story of two brothers – twins – coming home to their Mississippi roots from the Oz-like world of Chicago, where they plan to start their own ‘juke joint’ empire. And a pair of black men from Chi-town trying to get rich in a small southern town at the height of Jim Crowe would be a compelling story in its own right.
Wait, what now?
On opening night of their new black’s only nightclub, a trio of white Irish vampires roll up to the front door and can’t get past the bouncer. Not because the bouncer was tough enough to keep them out, but because of the vampiric rule that says the owner of the house has to allow a vampire entry. This an often overlooked vampire trope but whatever. I have no idea what Ryan Coogler (not jus the director, but the writer) was thinking with this twist.
The second reel of Sinners was a bloody guess at who was gonna get et next. Pretty standard horror movie fare and it worked very well because reel one did its job of establishing the characters. The transition was somewhat jarring, sure. And the origination of the vampires left a lot of unaswered questions. But whatever.
And then, yet another change of direction. Or reversal. Not really sure.
After the vampire battle ended came a second finale, the one that we might have expected if the vampires never arrived at the party. The one that you would expect from a bigoted, Jim Crowe-era southern town. And either one on it’s own is fine. But together…? I have thoughts. The endings seem to contradict each other. More than that I can’t really say without dropping spoilers (which I, of course, will not do). You’ll see what I mean.
But whatever the reason, Sinners felt like a compelling depression-era movie about two black brothers wanting to carve out their own fortune in a time when the world was stacked against such dreams. Then, Coogler woke up one day during production and said ‘I want to make this a vampire movie instead’ and off he went. Maybe luck or maybe skill, but combining both Sinners movie worked. Kind of, anyway.
Like going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show without your toast
What I can tell you is this: It’s been increasingly true that finding commonality through going to the movies is becoming harder. Mr & Mrs Dude arrived early and were seated comfortably by the time the previews rolled. Before the lights dimmed, we realized that we were just about the only white folks in attendance. Did we feel out of place? I suppose, yeah. A bit. But when the lights go down and the show begins, are we not all there to enjoy a movie? Sure we are. But oh, there are definitely differences in how we enjoy it.
Civility ignored
So, let me throw out a comment that is sure to garner some vibrant responses. It’s not ment to be provocative. It is a simple statement of fact that draws an obvious conclusion.
There are always folks who arrive during the previews. It happens to all of us. The polite thing to do is to quietly take your seat with as little disruption as possible. Can we all agree on that? If we can’t, read no further, please.
More importantly, it is an absolute no-no to talk during the movie itself. Whispers are not rude (up to a point). Conversations at audible levels over the movie itself (and all the way to the back of the theater) are a show of absolute disregard for everyone else in the theater. And while I’ve experienced this kind of rude behavior from all skin colors of all ages, I have to say that the overwhelming majority have been of one demograph. Fact.
Such is the age we now live in
Nowadays, civility is often considered an antiquated value at best and a show of weakness at worst. Entitlement is just another name for selfishness, and these days, embracing the victim mentality has given a false justification to selfishness. And if my drawing attention to it instead of ignoring it makes you angry, maybe thou needest to self-examine thyself. Opinion.
But back on point. Even though Mrs Average Dude and I disagreed on Sinners, I am still giving the movie itself a very respectable 3.5 out of 5. Good performances. Great sets. Writing choices were a bit jarring but still okay for all that. Sinners is a movie worthy of your money and corn. I just hope your theater experience is more courteous than ours.
Oh, and one more thing that was weird for no real reason. There was a subplot about how some music is so sublime it could summon evil. At one point, we were give a scene that I think was supposed to be visionary but just seemed bizzare and out of place and it definitely yanked us out of the movie. It was never really expanded upon and just seemed superfluous. Writer/director’s perogative, I guess. But whatever.
Check out all the Average Dude Movie Reviews and our super cool merch at www.barredlands.com
Follow us on X
Follow and Like us on Facebook
#barredlandsdotcom #AverageDudeMovieReviews #PCLoadletter64 #Sinners #MichaelBJordan #HaleeSteinfeld
