A Brief Review of 'Sinners'

A Brief Review of the hit flick 'Sinners', written by entertainer and comedian Spiritt Garrett. Read by 'Adam'

 

spirittgarrett.net

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
A brief review of 'Sinners'.

(00:02):
Written by Spiritt Garrett.
I was honestly not planning on watching the film while in theaters,
although I did plan on watching it when I could at home.
Vampire films aren't really my thing,and the last black vampire movie I remember is Vampire in Brooklyn,
not exactly a glowing reference for black vampire films.

(00:27):
But,as a day one MCU fan since 2008,I am a fan of Ryan Coogler,
which is the only reason I was even planning on seeing this movie at all.
Because I'm not into vampire flicks,I didn't even bother watching the numerous trailers released right before the film hit theaters.

(00:48):
Because of that,I didn't know one of my favorites in Delroy Lindo was in this movie until his first scene.
While I have my list of films (or types of films) that will entice me to head to the theater,
if a movie has excellent word of mouth,a high ranking on IMDB,

(01:08):
and makes a lot of money,I'll tend to go see those movies to see what the fuss is all about.
Because of that, I didn't catch this movie until it had already been out for three or four weeks.
To my surprise, I fell in love with this movie!
As of the time of this writing,the movie I didn't initially even plan on watching at all in the theater,

(01:33):
I've now seen twice.
And immediately after getting to my car after the first viewing,
I downloaded and listened to the soundtrack in its entirety.
Not only was the music of the film and its soundtrack excellent,
but the music of the film was also the driving force for so much of the storyline.

(01:56):
This isn't intended to be an extensive review of the film as the others I have on my website.
This film will definitely get one of those extensive reviews,
but that's reserved for when I own the movie and can rewind and pause as necessary.
Here, I just want to express a few things based on my couple of viewings.

(02:20):
This brief review will contain spoilers.
So, if you haven't seen the film, you might want to pause this until you do.
My Three Favorite Scenes.
#1.
The famous scene that jumpstarted the climax of the film.
Ryan Coogler's masterful vision of generations of musical genres colliding in one bluesy fucking song.

(02:46):
You know the scene.
You were mesmerized throughout.
It made sense that it was meant to be powerful enough to draw unwanted attention from uninvited guests.
The scene was not only groundbreaking,but it was also responsible for all of the crazy shit we see after it,

(03:07):
following what we're told in the opening narration of the movie.
#2.
The scene where we hear Will Ye Go, Lassie Go (sometimes called Wild Mountain Thyme).
I remember this scene hypnotized me in the theater,
especially with the theater's excellent sound system.

(03:28):
When Mary first discusses with Stack going outside to speak with the trio,
I shook my head in the theater thinking,'this cannot end well'.
When she firsts walks out there, they are singing this song.
They were probably already hypnotizing Mary with their music, and as such, she was already dead.

(03:49):
she just didn't know it yet.
The song reminds me of Puff, the Magic Dragon, but creepier.
The way Joan, played and sang by Lola Kirke, stared at Mary the entire time she sang her part.
The audience knows Remmick has turned and is controlling both Joan and her KKK husband Bert,

(04:12):
but Mary doesn't know that.
And the way Remmick looked at Bert before he sang, similarly to how Ike used to look at Tina.
For all we know, Bert's ass didn't even have any musical talent of his own.
The only talent he had probably came from Remmick.
When have you ever known any KKK members to be able to win any fucking talent contests?

(04:38):
The whole shit was wonderfully eerie.
#3.
The scene where we hear Rocky Road to Dublin is one of the most chilling scenes I've ever seen in a movie.
The way Mr Coogler wrote and constructed it, though, was nothing short of brilliant.
If you don't remember, watch closely next time you view the film.

(05:01):
You'll notice that a few scenes before the Rocky Road to Dublin scene,
we see party goers head to their car and scatter off after Delta Slim sent them home following Stack's death due to Mary's bite.
We know the vampire trio are out there,but we don't see what,
if anything,happens to the partygoers after they leave.

(05:25):
When the Rocky Road scene started,first of all,am I the only one who thought the chanting at the beginning was from the Chocktaw Vampire Hunters?
But then when they showed the entire clan dancing and all of their eyes were glowing,
I recognized Cornbread but not anyone else.
I thought, "who are these--".

(05:46):
That was about as far as I got.
"Oh, those are the people that were at the party", was the next thing I thought to myself.
Then we see Mary and Stack, and they are high off vampire blood.
This was another seriously powerfully chilling ass scene!
Including the way Vampire Cornbread was dancing like a possessed scarecrow.

(06:10):
This was some truly awesomely scary shit.
The one thing I didn't like.
There was only one thing that I didn't like upon my first two viewings,
although that list may increase after I watch it on repeat once I own it.
But the only thing I didn't like is them showing us Sammie at the very beginning of the film going into the church.

(06:35):
I didn't think what eventually happened in that scene warranted us seeing it at the beginning.
The reason I say that is because it accidentally sucked all of the tension out of any scene involving Sammie during the climax of the film,
because we already know he survives.
Without that part in the beginning,we would genuinely wonder if Sammie was going to make it,

(07:01):
especially since everyone else but Smoke was dead and/or already a vampire.
I think that would have made him as the lone survivor even more powerful and would have made the mid-credit scene more powerful too.
But still, fantastic fucking film.
Bravo Ryan Coogler.

(07:21):
I will definitely be purchasing this film and looking at it like Remmick looked at Bert before pressing play.
For extended reviews I've written,and gradually as I introduce more of these 'blog to podcast' episodes,
be sure to check out my website and subscribe at spirittgarrett dot net.