Round-up 16: Ryan Coogler's Sinners Reaction

I started an internship this past week. Lots of great things on the horizon for me, finally, things are looking on the up-and-up for once. I’m meeting lots of new people and engaging with my school coursework on a much more hands-on basis. Not sure if it’s the same for everyone, but there’s a clear difference between sitting in a lecture hall with thirty-plus other students being talked to about various formulas and actually sitting down with a small group of individuals trying to accomplish a task together. The office slash nine-to-five gig is kind of right up my alley as well. Definitely an adjustment, for sure, but an environment I feel much more at home in. There’s a certain stability with this kind of job, not just in its future returns but in the day-to-day structure of its operations. There are clear expectations of what is needed of you, and that makes it much easier to adapt. At least, it is for me.

Unfortunately, because of this being a quite hectic week of adapting to a new environment, I didn’t get to watch much of anything this round-up. I still wanted to check in and give ya’ll an update on how things are going and what I’ve been consuming though. I started playing Minecraft again, a departure from the usual kind of games I play that have much more linear structure, at least as far as storytelling goes. Minecraft is just a sandbox, allowing you to do whatever you want, really. I always find myself getting burnt out on the game pretty quickly due to the lack of clear direction, but this time around, I started a multiplayer game with a friend, and this made it much more engaging and fun. Reminds me of the old days when one would have five or more people hanging out in a single server. Griefing houses, building disgusting-looking houses, and dying from too many mobs, all done with friends, makes it a much better time. Coming home after eight hours of juggling menial office tasks, sometimes, or at least this week, I needed something more engaging than just a movie or television show. This silly game was exactly the stimulation I was looking for. Then, of course, there always comes the shame after you pour a couple of hours into it, realizing that time could’ve been spent watching a new film or reading a damn book.

That’s my big issue with playing video games these days, I notice myself feeling immensely guilty after a few hours a week. Like I’ve been wasting time. I suppose there is a sound argument supporting that claim; there isn’t much return on investment with playing video games. At least when I was grinding out (my almost one thousand hours in)

Civilization VI, I can pretend I’m playing something “smart”, or that might have skills transferable to the real world. I can’t really justify hours of Minecraft when all I get out of it is losing time behind me.

I digress, while I did spend an alarming number of hours this past week pacing around my room, playing Minecraft, and getting reacquainted with the working world, I did find the time to watch a new release that I’ve been eyeing for a while now. Ryan Coogler has been on my radar the past few years, particularly after seeing his Fruitvale Station (2013), starring Michael B. Jordan as the real-life Oscar Grant III, a man who got caught at the wrong place at the wrong time and ultimately lost his life to police brutality. An honest and piercing slice of reality brought to the big screen in an unprecedented way. It was Coogler’s most recent effort, however, that has brought him to international acclaim.

This past spring, the world became fully aware of Ryan Coogler with the release of his newest film, Sinners (2025), also starring Michael B. Jordan. Instead of a raw biopic, this is a classy romp through vampire horror, done in a way I don’t think we’ve ever really seen before. The film follows Jordan, portraying twin brothers, gangsters who have been holding out in Chicago, and are now returning home to the South to open a juke joint. The story takes its time getting us acquainted with not only the twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, but their friends and family who unite under the roof of their new bar for the turning point of the film, when the vampires come out… This takes what Tarantino and Rodriguez did with From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and ups the ante with powerful themes of perpetual racism and the implications it has from the Jim Crow era. The “slow” start for some, for me, was incredibly addicting screenwriting, as you know the turn is coming, but until then, you’re locked into some beautiful cinematography and character building. I’d be remiss not to mention the music that fills the soundscape around the protagonists (and bad guys, too). Ludwig Goransson’s efforts here were cooking! This might be legitimately one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and I need to get my grimy little paws on the vinyl. Fueled by the specific instruments of the time, and then sped up and amplified intelligently with modern twists, this is truly watching a master at work. The final act of the film has many with split feelings. I had a candid conversation with my younger brother, who has also seen the film, and he resented the multiple times the film seems to start and stop. I can understand that this breaks up the flow of the vampire side of the story, but as the opening brought up countless subplots, the finale does more than enough to close all the loops. And that’s how I saw it. Not only was it finishing the throughlines established in the opening act, it was full of badass action and imagery that excites and powers its way to the post-credits scene (of which I will not get into here as to avoid spoilers).

Sinners lives up to the hype in my book. I can’t wait to watch it again, to be honest. If you haven’t seen it yet, I cannot begin to recommend it enough. And this is coming from someone who loves to brag about his “weak stomach”, especially when it pertains to horror films. Have you seen this one yet? How did you feel about the final act? Did the themes resonate with you as they did for me? As always, I strongly encourage interactions and comments. Hopefully I’ll knock off the Minecraft shit this week and actually watch some more films. Until next time, my friends.