Let's Talk about Sinners
For a Few Hours, We was Free.
Thanks to getting sick, I’m extremely late to the Sinners party, but holy hell, what a party it is and continues to be. Easily a contender for my favorite movie of 2025, Ryan Coogler and company created one of the most intoxicating and invigorating cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long time, and it’s been incredible to see the responses to the film as a whole. Sinners truly feels like this rare moment for modern horror, where the film has become something even bigger what any of us saw on the big screen — and I don’t say this to discredit the other amazing horror movies that have been released at this point in the year, because us genre fans have been eating well (as the kids like to say).
But Sinners feels like it has left an immediate cultural footprint upon its release (which has to feel vindicating for Coogler and everyone involved, considering how many industry folks were rooting for the film to fail), and all of the success that this movie has already enjoyed has just been really incredible to see.
So much has already been said about what makes Sinners so great (Richard Newby did a great breakdown HERE, and I just recently caught up with Ashlee Clark’s utterly fantastic piece), so I’m not going to go the traditional review route here. Instead, just because my brain has been struggling to stay focused (both the full-time and part-time jobs have been taking a toll lately, on top of the ongoing illnesses that just keep hitting me again and again), so I’m going to just write about some of the stuff I love and hope that I can do this masterpiece justice in my own way (I will absolutely not even come close but such is the life of a writer).
The Cast: I’ve been a big fan of Michael B. Jordan’s for some time now, but he really does something so transcendent in Sinners that I’m still having trouble articulating just how fantastic I think his work is here as both Moore brothers, Smoke and Stack. But for as phenomenal as Jordan is, Sinners works as exceptionally well as it does because it is an ensemble piece through and through, where every single performance in the film gets to shine here. Seriously.
I’m also absolutely in awe of Miles Caton, who makes his feature film debut in Sinners as “Preacher Boy” Sammie, as the only thing that shines more here than his acting capabilities is his musical talent, and both are exceptional. I still cannot believe that Sinners is his first movie, and I hope big things await him in the future because he deserves all kinds of success.
Oh, I also wanted to mention Jayme Lawson, who plays Pearline in Sinners, as she left me breathless with her work in Sinners, especially with her performance of “Pale, Pale Moon.” That whole sequence was a big ol’ bag of WHEW.
Delroy Lindo also absolutely rules here (as he always does in any project he appears in, if we’re being honest) as Delta Slim, and I also totally loved Omar Miller as Cornbread, too (it’s all about “fellowship and love”). Wunmi Mosaku is a performer that I have enjoyed in everything I’ve seen her in ever since Ciaran Foy’s Citadel in 2012 (most genre fans should know her from the stellar His House). Wunmi is positively electric in Sinners, and her chemistry with Michael B. Jordan is through the roof (I’ll talk more about her and her character in a bit).
I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention Jack O’Connell as Remmick, the head vampire in Sinners. I spent the entirety of movie trying to understand just why he was so freaking unnerving to me, and then I realized he was the head thug kid in James Watkins’ Eden Lake, a movie whose horrors haven’t been able to escape after nearly 17 years. Also, that demonic Riverdance-esque sequence where Remmick is the focal point has been living in my head rent-free because it was freaky as all hell, and O’Connell is a big part of that.
Sexy Vampires: As someone who is a conoisseur of vampire cinema and has experienced an array of sexy vampire movies like Fright Night, Near Dark, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Lost Boys, The Hunger, Interview with the Vampire, Dracula 2000 (sorry, Gerry Butler is a sexy Dracula), Def by Temptation or Vampire in Brooklyn (big fan here, sorry not sorry), it was just such a great experience to get to enjoy a grown-up vampire movie again that wasn’t afraid to dip its toes into some provocative waters. I mean, even beyond Sinners being a vampire film, it was just nice to have a horror movie that didn’t feel afraid to let its hair down and get a little naughty with its bloodsuckers. We need more movies like Sinners.
Also, I know there have been a lot of comparisons between Sinners and the aforementioned From Dusk Till Dawn, which I totally get, but I felt like this had more of a cinematic connection to a movie like Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, which still remains one of my favorite movies released during the 1990s (directed by the brilliant Ernest Dickerson). The two films share a lot of similar themes and a very similar set-up to boot, and there were several moments (especially in the latter half of the film) where I kept flashing back to Demon Knight while I was watching Sinners, which made me positively giddy.
Cinematography: Look, if you've seen Sinners, then you know that this film is an absolute masterpiece in so many ways, and I'm not saying anything new or profound here. But I would be remiss if I didn't just take a moment to talk about Autumn Durald Arkapaw's approach to crafting Sinners' visual language, as the results feel like discovering this incredible cinematic artifact that effortlessly transports viewers back to the 1930s, which somehow feels very much of its time and ours. I know that probably doesn't make a lick of sense, but there's just such a timelessness to how Sinners looks that for about 90 percent of the movie, it felt very much like a movie that emerged from the past and was being discovered nearly a century later.
When I’m talking about that other 5 percent, that includes one of the mid-credits scenes set in the 1990s as well as that jaw-dropping sequence celebrating the timelessness of music that were just as effective and helped bridge the gap between time periods explored in the film and fully demonstrate the timelessness of Coogler’s story as well.
It’s also worth noting that with the music sequence, I don't think I blinked or even breathed from the moment it started to when it finished, as I felt like I was being immersed in pure movie magic through how everything in that scene unfolded from both a storytelling and a technical perspective. I truly hope this scene goes on to inspire new generations of filmmakers on how to find new ways to communicate with audiences through their visual storytelling, and I am in awe of how Arkapaw and the visual team that worked on Sinners were able to make something that should be nearly impossible to achieve look so effortless here.
Plus-Size Sexuality: Look, this is going to sound like I'm being horny on main, but considering how asexual films are these days, Sinners feels like a breath of fresh, sexy air right now in general. But what's even better than how it embraces this aspect of our humanity so openly is the fact that it makes having sex with someone who is considered Plus-Size something that is completely normal (which it is, by the way). Look, I know that sounds weird but there are so many movies that play up having romantic feelings and/or sex with anyone above a size 10 as either a conduit for laughs or some kind of weird fetish that needs to be studied or whatever, and that's just such an annoying approach in general (and it’s just really played out at this point as well).
So, I just really loved how Sinners wasn't interested in any of that bullshit whatsoever. Annie wasn't more or less loved or valued because of her size — she was cherished and admired because of the power she held within herself and over others (in a good way, of course), as well as her almost otherworldly beauty, both inside and out. She just radiates a warmth that is so inviting, so the sex scene her character shares with Smoke feels incredibly raw and natural.
I just cannot even begin to tell you how amazing that felt to see, especially as a woman who is of a certain size, because I don't remember the last time I saw a scene like that in a major studio release. And the way things are going, I'll probably never see it again if I’m being honest. So, thank you, Ryan Coogler, for letting the curvy gals get in on the action here, too.
Oh, and I know this isn’t directly tied to this scene specifically, but the ending scene that involved the characters of Annie and Smoke absolutely broke me in ways I was not expecting, and I got extremely emotional during those moments (I’m trying to stay vague in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen the film). It’s been a long time since a horror movie left me enthralled and a blubbering mess but that is the magic of Sinners.
Buddy Guy: Look, a million folks have already talked about the music in Sinners and for good reason because holy crap, the film's soundtrack, as well as the performances from the cast members who lend their musical talents to the film, are absolutely amazing. But the one person I wanted to put the spotlight on here who makes an appearance in the film is none other than Buddy (freaking) Guy. As a native Chicagoan, Buddy Guy is one of the pillars of the city's musical heritage so when I saw him in Sinners, I damn near fell out of my seat in the theater.
Buddy is genuinely one of the sweetest people ever (I got to meet him a few times due to my ex's line of work) and an incredible musician who still doesn’t get enough love for his contributions to the landscape of music for a number of decades now. I also loved how the logo for his character's bar in Sinners closely resembled the logo for his own club, Buddy Guy's Legends. All of this just made me so damn happy, and it's great that Buddy's still getting the recognition he deserves after nearly 70 years in the music industry. I also think it's interesting how there are parallels between how Buddy got started in the industry and how Sammie does it in Sinners, too. That is just so freaking cool to me.
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