Sinners
“i want your music and i want your stories.”
Sinners is BY FAR my favorite movie of 2025, not just because it’s a vampire movie, but because it is so smartly written. i LOVE when movies use vampirism as a metaphor for something bigger than just vampires, and Sinners use of vampires was phenomenally chilling. i won’t say too much on it as it’s spoiler territory, but just know this movie is a 1930’s period piece in Mississippi. ALL the characters here are so interesting, but because there’s so many of them, we don’t get to explore much of them. however, Smoke and Stack get plenty of time to explore which is beautiful because their dynamic is incredibly interesting especially when it comes to their interactions with Annie and Mary, respectively. however, WB needs to do better with their trailers because they revealed WAY TOO MUCH details in it that would’ve made for a super cool reveal.. so honestly just go in as blind as possible but you’ll enjoy it either way.
the performances were stunning especially from Michael B. Jordan who flawlessly plays twin brothers with a dream to open up a juke joint. Hailee Steinfeld is great here but not having her sing was diabolical. Miles Canton has a bright career ahead of him after this performance and his singing was superb.. the perfect choice for this role for sure. Jack O’Connell as an irish vampire did something to me.. like even his song had the theater tapping their feet. Wunmi Mosaku’s performance was the standout for me (outside of Jordan) as i genuinely felt so connected to her character in such a “small” amount of screen time. Li Jun Li gives another amazing from Babylon to Sinners.. she definitely deserves more recognition in Hollywood. the rest of the supporting cast does amazing as well.
the music here was just simply amazing.. the score itself was incredible (expected from Ludwig Göransson), and the soundtrack gave me chills several times. i’d argue this is essentially a musical as music plays such a huge role in the plot of this movie. the cinematography was fantastic, like i strongly urge everyone to see this in IMAX because those scenes were just so chilling especially when the aspect ratio changes in real time. the production, costume, and sound design were impeccable as well. the pacing was the type of slow burn that just works for me.. the film takes place all in one day/night, so we slowly are increasing the pace before the vampires come and that’s when shit starts to hit the absolute fan. the climax battle was SOOO FUN to watch and i selfishly wish it was longer because just WOW.
i am really happy that WB pushed this back a month and swapped it with Mickey 17 because now it’s more likely to get more oscar recognition than Mickey 17 released in March. i know it was pushed back to allow more time for post-production, but still.. Mickey 17 honestly will probably not get many nominations and if it does it’s because it’s from the director of Parasite (this is coming from someone who loves Mickey 17.. so pipe down). MARK MY WORDS, Sinners will become the next horror movie to be Oscar nominated, one of the first to actually win Oscar’s, AND hopefully follow in Get Out’s footsteps to winning best original screenplay. i obviously know horror movies have won at the Oscar’s before.. but not in a long time (outside of The Substance), so i’m excited.
anyway, this is by far my favorite movie of the year and i definitely would love to see it in IMAX 70MM, but i’m already going to the city a lot these upcoming months and need to save money.. :( BUT i would like to rewatch in 4DX.. so if anyone has seen it in that format please lmk if it’s worth it because if it’s not, i’ll just watch again in my local IMAX because that experience was life changing, and is why i love movies and why i want to pursue filmmaking as a career. also, i NEED Warner Bros to include the IMAX scenes on this 4k disc because the aspect ratio is such an integral part to the story and you can’t just exclude that part of the story especially when you gave Joker 2 the IMAX scenes.. so GIVE IT TO US PLEASE. also also, Marvel let Ryan Coogler make the Blade movie because he gets shit done, and Sinners is perfect indication that he understands Vampires beyond the surface level hollywood standards.
2025 MOVIES RANKEDRYAN COOGLER RANKED