Sinners

I think characters have to give us a reason to watch them, so they have to be "appealing" to watch in some way. Now that could mean they are likeable, sympathetic or even plain awful and we want to see them get their comeuppance, but I find most characters in today's movies bland and badly drawn, so I couldn't give two hoots about them. You've got to set your characters, and their world, up quickly, so that the audience are invested in what happens to them. I couldn't care what happens to any of them in Sinners, because the writing hasn't given me a reason to care. It's bad writing by the screenwriter, but it's indulged because Ryan Coogler is one of those guys loved by Hollywood and therefore above criticism, similar to Paul Thomas Anderson. They are allowed to take liberties with their audience because nobody is telling them do it better/tighten it up/hurry it up, and I don't think it's good for them or the movie business. Neither Sinners nor One Battle… have set the box office alight, and are barely breaking even. Both have interesting enough premises, but they could have been done a lot better.

I think the problem for me also is that a lot of today's actors are bland. Our leading men are Leo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet, Ryan Gosling, Michael B Jordan…all former child actors that Hollywood is comfortable to anoint and give opportunities to because they won't rock the boat and are safe/dull. I think I'd have been more invested in this film if it had edgier leads, a Jonathan Majors instead of Michael B Jordan. Now I know he's had his own scandals but my point is I'd rather see grittier actors in a film about the deep south and slavery, not models playing dress up.

Also, can Hollywood please stop with the shocking opening scene, followed by caption "(some time) earlier" set up in movies and TV? Jesus, I'm so sick of it. The bloody White Lotus has a lot to answer for. It's so passé.

NB I'm in a ranty mood today. Don't pay too much attention to what I say :)

But didn't we actually see the park and the non-scary dinosaurs early on, as well as foreshadowing the danger posed by the T-Rex and velociraptors, which drove the action of the second half? The characters, the world and the threat were well set up there whereas Sinners was a drama up until somebody just fired in the vampires and said "here, deal with that." Maybe I'm misremembering Jurassic Park though. Haven't seen it in a long time.

A very slick and stylish take on the vampire genre. It's an impressive looking movie in many respects, some very likeable characters, including the villains. I enjoyed it a lot.

I did find it quite hard to shake the comparison of 'From Dusk Till Dawn'. The structure of both movies would be similar, there's the brother angle with one being quite methodical, the other impulsive but both equally violent and FDTD had a quite well curated soundtrack to reflect the tone of the world it was set in. I wouldn't say the movies are like-for-like, but certainly comparable for reasons other than just vampires.

My point was about casting a grittier actor than a pretty boy like Michael B Jordan, but feel free to misconstrue my words if it supports your argument.

It was barely a moderate hit by today's standards, given it's high production costs.

No, I am not suggesting a lack of foreshadowing in Sinners. I was talking about the foreshadowing in Jurassic Park.

There was a moment in Sinners when a black character walked across a street from the 'black' side of the street to the 'white' side. As they crossed the road all the black extras were subtly replaced by white extras. And the opposite happened when the character crossed back to the black side. I think it was all done in one shot.

I thought it was a very clever shot, a simple but stylish cinematic moment to show the racial divide. That's the type of film making that gets me on board with a movie. Sinners, along with 28 Years Later and Weapons, was a real highlight of last year.

Glad someone else picked up on this. The sort of thing that goes way over most peoples heads.

It tells the story of a racial divide that goes back generations, in one single shot, without uttering a single word.

Amen brother. There's a lot of dummies on this thread who will laud any movie with a liberal Hollywood slant. Ooh, it's a vampire film about slavery, with a black cast and a black director, it must be amazing, and anyone who doesn't like it is stupid and/or racist. Shut up! I watched House Party last week, a movie from 1990, with an all black cast and director. A masterpiece in comparison to this shite.

Nah, I just have good taste dude. But hey, if you're happy with this Hollywood slop, all the best to you. You've found your level.