Dayton937

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

Ryan Coogler

McCoy on Movies: Sinners

By

Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan turn in a near perfect Southern Gothic tale in SINNERS

The teaser poster for writer/director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed, Fruitvale Station) southern gothic horror thriller SINNERS. Credit: Alon Amir © All Right Reserved.

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:

 

CAST: 

The Smokestack Twins Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan)
Sammie a.k.a. Preacher Boy (Miles Caton))

Beatrice (Tenaj Jackson)

Mary (Hailee Steinfeld)

Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo)

Remmick (Jack O’Connell)

Annie (Wunmi Mosaku)

Grace (Li Jun Li)

Bo Chow (Yao)

Pearline (Jayme Lawson)

 

WRITER /DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

THE PLOT: Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) are twins who left their native Clarksville, Mississippi for a better life up north in Chicago long ago. Now, they are back and throwing around cash like it’s going out of style … For it seems that good fortune up north has led them back to Clarksville where they plan to open up their own juke joint. (It is 1932, after all.)

 

Their cousin Sammie a.k.a. Preacher Boy (Miles Caton) is a talented musician who’s pastor father (Saul Williams) has warned him about the perils of picking up the guitar he is fond of and playing secular music, a.k.a. the blues. But Sammie wants to follow his dreams, dreams which become stronger once he meets local legend Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo). Meanwhile, Smoke and Stack are building up their staff for their new venture, which, in addition to Delta Slim, includes local general store owners Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao), sharecropper Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) and potions expert (and Smoke’s old flame) Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). Also hanging around is Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), a woman whose ethnic background has complicated her relationship with Stack, a.k.a. her former lover. Then again, Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a married woman in her own right, has caught the fancy of Sammie who is ready to let his little light shine.

 

All the parties find themselves in for an enjoyable opening night at Club Juke – until it isn’t. For once a man named Remmick (Jack O’Connell) comes a calling, their entire night is about to change … And all sinners will be punished for their deeds.

THE REVIEW: “No notes.” Those were the two words I texted a friend after finishing SINNERS, the latest collaboration between writer/director Ryan Coogler and his frequent muse, Michael B. Jordan. For in mixing in themes of music and its importance to the soul (literally), southern gothic themes relating to race and horror elements, Coogler’s latest film might be his best effort to date. For it is a cinematic experience of culture and storytelling that is a masterclass in creating and investing in characters and moments topped off with themes of love, loss and music.

Jordan has already staked his claim as one of Hollywood’s best young (aka under 40) talents; SINNERS finds him pulling off the remarkable task of playing twins and giving each enough depth to stand on their own. Whereas Stack is fast and smooth, Smoke is calculated, much more rough around the edges and yet both are passionate about their dreams and losses (as well as the impact of the women in their lives). Whereas Robert DeNiro’s recent turn as two mob bosses in The Alto Knights has been criticized by some as too much self-indulgence, it’s hard to imagine someone else turning in a dual performance that begs attention as much as Jordan does watching SINNERS. 

 

Likewise, whereas Steinfeld’s and O’Connell’s character could quickly become one dimensional, both – just like Mosaku as Annie – craft personalities that are intricate to Smoke and Stack’s respective stories. While most will come to SINNERS for Jordan as the headliner, it is newcomer Miles Caton that is the film’s center, both musically and in terms of many of the various themes explored during the film’s two hours and 17 minutes. Caton’s future should be as bright as his performance is memorable which, given all he asked to do in his feature film debut, is saying something.

There have been many great duos in history from Abbott & Costello to Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson … With SINNERS following their previous efforts (Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Coogler and Jordan have proven yet again they can make fantastic cinema together, this time exploring a new realm while maintaining all the elements – humor, timing, emotion and captivating scenes – that made all their prior journeys together work. Is that because of Jordan flexing his prowess to bring Coogler’s vision to life or Coogler putting his actors in the best possible light to shine? It’s both – and that’s what makes SINNERS a top film so far in 2025. 

For like all of us, SINNERS may not be perfect, but it’s about as close to perfect as any human making a movie of its nature could hope to be. 

 

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):

 

 

Black Panther Delivers Definitive Superhero Experience That Transcends Race

By

Director Ryan Coogler, cast deliver definitive superhero experience that transcends race in Black Panther

“Quit asking me if I know Catwoman … Or I will claw your face off!” T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) stares down a foe as his royal alter ego in a scene from BLACK PANTHER. Credit: Matt Kennedy © 2018 Marvel Studios. All rights reserved.

WATCH THE TRAILER(S) HERE: 

 


 

 



KEY CAST MEMBERS: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Forest Whitaker, John Kani, Sterling K. Brown, Florence Kasumba and Daniel Kaluuya

WRITER(S): Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole (Screenplay); Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (based on the Marvel comic by)

DIRECTOR(S): Ryan Coogler

 
WEB SITE: http://movies.disney.com/black-pantherHERE’S THE STORY: Introduced to the Marvel Universe in Captain America: Civil War; Black Panther finds T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) still reeling from the loss of his father T’Chaka (John Kani) during a terrorist attack in Vienna. Now preparing to take the throne, T’Challa return home to his native Wakanda for the ceremony where he will officially become king over the most technologically advanced nation on Earth.


And the rest of the world believes Wakanda to be a third world nation, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) knows the truth. An arms dealer, Klaue wants to steal the rest of the vibranium – the fictional metal that is the rarest in the world in the Marvel Universe – on which Wakanda has built a marvelous empire. And since Klaue led a fatal attack against Wakanda many years ago during T’Chaka’s reign, T’Challa and many of his fellow Wakandans – including W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), elder statesman Zuri (Forest Whitaker), T’Challa’s mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett), his technologically wiz kid sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), Wakandian spy/T’Challa’s former lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Okoye, (Danai Gurira), the head of the Dora Miljae, Wakanda’s female military specialists who essentially serve as the king’s secret service. 


But while T’Challa and company are concerning their selves with protecting Wakanda and taking on Klaue, there is another threat brewing that they don’t even know about that is much bigger and much deadlier – and this threat has a personal connection to T’Challa no one knows.


Then again, with a nickname like “Killmonger” (Michael B. Jordan), what else would you expect? 

WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? African-American comic book readers, Marvel Universe fans; people who really enjoyed Captain America: Civil War; those hoping to see a positive but not preachy African-American dominated superhero movie that is also consumable for all audiences

WHO WON’T (OR SHOULDN’T) LIKE THIS MOVIE? The alt-right/anyone who only gets their information from Breitbart/Fox News; people who hate the liberties taken with the backstories – which vary from their comic book origins – of Ulysses Klaue and Erik Killmonger; anyone who has their mind made up heading in what the movie is or should be.

SO IS IT GOOD, BAD OR JUST AWFUL? Look, I don’t want to take a lot of time overly lauding Marvel Studios or its head Kevin Feige for making what The New York Times accurately called “a landmark event for Black America.” (Seriously – click the link; it sums up everything from why Blade and Hancock were superheroes whose blackness felt coincidental and how the forgotten Blankman and Meteor Man lack the combination of storytelling, poignance and for lack of a better word, coolness of Black Panther) has. 


So, instead, what cane someone say about Black Panther without getting into its larger fit into a culture where a reality TV star – who has been married multiple times and delivered one of the most crass sentences ever heard about women before being caught calling countries like the fictional one at the center of the film … you know – is president and the alt-right’s attempted boycott of the movie had thousands of supporters? It’s simple, really.


Black Panther is a solid superhero film with a fictional country and fictional metal that address very real modern socio-political issues in a way comic book fans – and people who just consider them selves movie lovers – can enjoy.


With Fruitvale Station and Creed under his belt, co-writer/director Ryan Coogler has proven he knows how to handle both socially conscious scripts and action sequences – and never have the two mixed together on screen than they do in Black Panther. From his examination of the ideas of the responsibilities of the haves to the have nots to how vital women can be to any man’s success, Black Panther is a showcase of how to tell a story where multiple characters are critical to its overall vibe – all within the context of the Marvel Universe. Of course, Coogler’s kudos wouldn’t exist without a phenomenal acting job by all the parties involved. 


Bozeman – in one might argue is his best on-screen performance yet – creates T’Challa from the ground up (yes, there are decades of comics to draw from, but there was no real-life person to research unlike his previous roles). Nothing feels like a parody of a man, let alone a superhero; T’Challa is man on a familiar mission but Bozeman makes his Wakandian warrior unique. This is why he plays extremely well against the former Johnny Storm Jordan in his second Marvel outing, as his Tupac-like Killmonger feels both menacing and yet, at the same time, justified in his destruction. You know what he’s doing is ultimately wrong – and T’Challa asserts as such – but you completely understand why, which makes his whole presence much more attention-grabbing. Serkis adds a ton of humor as Klaue in playing a more-traditional evil doer, but Jordan’s role is the one that takes over when it’s time.


The rest of the film’s supporting cast is just as strong in their work, the ladies especially. One could write an entire dissertation on how the performances of Wright, Gurira and Nyong’o are three best African-American female roles in a film not named Hidden Figures in terms of their reveals of strength, intelligence, humor and emotion (I would try but it would be a disservice as I am nowhere properly equipped to do so). That being said, Gurira makes sure all her Walking Dead-fans know she is as strong and lethal in Wakanda as she is Virginia as Michonne, Wright plays the Lisa Simpson-smart kid role better than anyone outside of Yeardley Smith herself and Nyong’o balances the two out perfectly. 


Non-leading man wise, Martin Freeman gets a chance to shine as CIA Agent Everett Ross who’s growing appreciation of Wakanda serves as a subtle appreciation for learning someone’s culture. Meanwhile, Winston Duke – who’s character’s comic book origins were a source of concern for the makers of the film – brings a nice sense of levity to his M’Baku character while the Oscar®-nominated Kaluuya and Bassett make the most of their limited yet functional roles. If my about-as-subtle-as-a-grenade-thrown-through-your-front-door rant above didn’t tip you off before, it is impossible as an adult to not think about Black Panther in the larger context of the world today and the points it does make in a very non-preachy manner. As opposed to discussing that, I will simply let you know Black Panther entertains and then, when the opportunity is ripe, seizes the moment in delivering some of the most common sense, pro-humanity messages while at the same time making us think about why some African-Americans could all be Erik Killmonger given recent, ongoing atrocities even if they want to be T’Challa. But make no mistake: You DON’T have to be black to enjoy Black Panther nor do you have to listen to or even pay attention to the larger implications, but it certainly will add to your experience if you are or discuss it with a black friend.

In adding the first true black superhero to the Marvel Universe, Black Panther‘s cast and crew have proven that judging a character’s content is much better than just the color of their costume.

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):