Category: movies (page 1 of 1)

The cast of the movie Sinners during the performance of "Magic What We Do" in the film.

May 1, 2025 / 2 Comments

‘Sinners’ Sings the Blues

They say the truth hurts, so I lie to you

Yes, I lied to you

I love the blues

—Miles Caton (as Sammie in the movie “Sinners”)

Sammie’s song for his father is called “I Lied to You”(Co-written by Ludwig Göransson and Raphael Saadiq). Sinners begins at the end with this preacher’s boy returning to his family’s makeshift church after surviving the harrowing night at the Juke. As Sammie holds onto the neck of his destroyed guitar for dear life, his father begs him to put the guitar down and embrace the pulpit. Isn’t all he’s seen enough to give up the devil’s playthings and stay safe with him and pray?

Sammie can’t do that. He loves the blues.

Sammie loves the blues because he loves life and all that comes with it. Born into poverty under Jim Crow, Sammie greets each day with gratitude, kindness, curiosity, and a desire to share his incredible gifts with the world.

I didn’t love the blues—maybe I never knew it. I have always associated blues with its maudlin themes, ignoring until now that joy stands right next to it. I have long preferred the rhythm of R&B—that boogie woogie—over the wobbly strings of a guitar or the warbles from a harmonica. Blues thrives in contradiction. It loves the saint and the sinner equally. It doesn’t seek to hide from grief, anger, frustration, weakness, or the devil. To do so would also deny the pleasure and possibility of being alive.

Ludwig Göransson’s score and the soundtrack album for this movie have me considering the blues with fresh ears. On the In Proximity Podcast, Göransson and Ryan Coogler discuss their love of the genre as they explain how the film’s music came together. Coogler finds a throughline between “Tha Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and the work of folks like Buddy Guy, who appears as the elder Sammie in the post-credits scene. Hip-hop artists Rod Wave, Young Dolph, and OG DAYV appear on the soundtrack.

Where “Tha Crossroads” lingers in grief and mourning, I find my hip-hop blues in De La Soul’s stripped-down reflections. Songs like “I Am I Be” and “Trying People” (see also The Grind Date & And The Anonymous Nobody…) remove artifice, mute the boom bap, and bare the soul of rappers taking stock of their lot in life at specific moments in time. These songs provide clarity and hope during challenging times, not by false bravado but through vulnerability and tenderness. Their mere existence as marvels of creativity let me know that whatever I’m going through, I will survive it. I may even thrive.

That is the motivation of all the film’s protagonists. They all buy into the Juke Joint dream of the Smokestack Twins because they can see the possibilities despite the dangers. They all gladly trade the doldrums of their everyday for just the chance to feel truly free away from the watchful eyes of their oppressors. By the end, most lose their lives but never give up their agency.

I’m starting to understand the blues.

In the film, Delta Slim tells the tragic tale of a friend who was a victim of the oppressive racism of 1930s Mississippi before turning his harmonica into a beautiful expression of all the trouble he’s seen and endured. My mind turns to Nina Simone and the unimaginable woe she conveys in her performance of “Mississippi Goddamn.” Simone doesn’t appear on the soundtrack or the official playlist that Coogler and Göransson put together, but Alice Smith does. She covered Simone’s “I Put A Spell on You” on a tribute album from a decade ago. In the weeks before the release of Sinners, I just so happened to be revisiting Smith’s debut album, For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me.

The surreal montage “Magic What We Do” awakens the lead vampire’s interest in Sammie in the movie and has stirred something deep in me. I’m weaving across genre, time, space, and race, as I reckon with my relationship with this powerful music.

Later in the podcast, Göransson refers to the silver-adorned instrument Sammie carries with him throughout the film as “The Hero Guitar.” Woody Guthrie—the American folk singer and songwriter inspired by the black blues artists of his time—often performed with a hero guitar of his own. Guthrie’s axe wasn’t meant to ward off vampires like those in Sinners. He wanted his audiences to know that “This Machine Kills Fascists.”

Woody Guthrie holding a guitar with the words 'This Machine Kills Fascists' written on it, promoting social justice through music.

Those were the monsters of his time. And ours.

I may not be well-versed in B.B. King, Albert King, Geeshie Wiley, Lightnin’ Hopkins, or Professor Longhair. Yet, I understand their willingness to acknowledge the trauma of the human condition while still delighting in the wonders of life.

I lied to you.

I love the blues.

A still from the film Sinners featuring several members of the cast at a pivotal moment in the film.

April 25, 2025 / 1 Comment

Sinners Won, Even If Some Folks Won’t Admit It

As Sinners enters its second weekend in theaters, you’d think this town would be overjoyed: a high-concept, Black-led, original studio film opens to over $55 million putting butts in seats at screens across the country and helping to reverse the dismal box office trends of early 2025. But if you’d only read the trade coverage from last weekend, you might think Ryan Coogler’s big swing had stumbled.

It’s an excellent opening for a period horror film, except it’s hard to call it completely successful because of its enormous budget.

If we, as a studio, give that to [Coogler], when somebody else we want to be in business says, ‘Hey, I want this deal too’ — and you say, ‘No, I only gave it to him’ — how can we expect them to work with us? It’s bad for the business. It’s bad for filmmaking relationships.

The film’s creators and cast are predominantly black, making all the muted praise seem tinged with bias, whether conscious or not. An anonymous defender of the deal terms gives us this clunker (from that same Vulture article):

Look, here’s the problem in Hollywood, okay? There’s no rationale or logic behind absolutely anything. So anytime there is a filmmaker who has a lot of heat and — I hate to say this — but when you have a diverse or a female filmmaker who has a lot of heat off a movie, it’s all about, What can I get? Hollywood will pay for what they have to pay for. If you control it, and you have a lot of bidders, you can make a different kind of market.

Matt Belloni refers to the sentiments of industry insiders he spoke with during the “How Did Sinners Really Do This Weekend?” episode of The Town as “conventional wisdom.”

“Conventional wisdom is more often convention and not wisdom,” replied Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List and a relentless critic of Hollywood’s double standards. “It is a preconception that is not rooted in data. Let’s look at the numbers.”

Last weekend’s discourse may be moot as the movie outperforms the tracking and usual trends this week. Gitesh Pandya now thinks it may end with over $200M in box office receipts. The film has also generated a buzz and critical acclaim that may make it franchise-worthy and a rewatchable horror classic, given the repeat business it is enjoying.

But, I was curious, what are the numbers telling us?

Bar chart comparing all-time Easter weekend domestic box office receipts for various films, with the highest grossing film on the left featuring a character from a Ryan Coogler movie.

Sinners had the best Easter Weekend gross for any film not based on existing intellectual property, such as a sequel, reboot, book adaptation, or true story.

Sinners also compares admirably with similar releases from other auteur directors.

Release Date	Title	Director	Opening Weekend	Budget
Mar 22, 2019	Us	Jordan Peele	$71M	$20M
Jul 16, 2010	Inception	Christopher Nolan	$63M	$160M
Aug 2, 2002	Signs	M. Night Shyamalan	$60M	$71M
Jul 30, 2004	The Village	M. Night Shyamalan	$51M	$72M
Apr 18, 2025	Sinners	Ryan Coogler	$48M	$90M
Nov 5, 2014	Interstellar	Christopher Nolan	$48M	$165M
Jul 22, 2022	Nope	Jordan Peele	$44M	$68M
Jul 26, 2019	Once Upon A Time in Hollywood	Quentin Tarantino	$41M	$90M

(source: The-Numbers.com // Non-IP Originals, domestic opening weekend box office)

Outside of Jordan Peele’s Us, which had a massive opening on a minimal budget, Ryan Coogler’s project aligns with other directors known for singular vision and a high hit rate for Originals. Sinners sits comfortably with well-regarded hits from Christopher Nolan, M. Night Shyamalan, Peele, and Quentin Tarantino.

It feels too early to discuss the Global Box Office for this film, though that is one of the major talking points in the articles questioning its path to profitability. In that episode of The Town, Leonard frequently refers to a 2021 study from McKinsey & Company that notes the smaller production and marketing budgets for movies by black filmmakers to counter this narrative.

Bar graph illustrating the production and advertising budgets for US films from 2015 to 2019, highlighting how films with Black off-screen talent have smaller budgets despite higher earnings per dollar.

The study notes,

There is also a widespread misperception in the industry that content starring Black actors will not perform well with international audiences. In 2019, the top films with Black leads were distributed in 30 percent fewer international markets on average—yet they earned nearly the same global box-office sales as films with White leads and earned more than those on a per-market basis.

Coogler received a budget commensurate with similar directors, and the cast and crew did international press tour dates in London and Mexico City. By comparison, Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and had local premieres featuring the on- and off-screen talent in London, Berlin, and Tokyo.

As the McKinsey study suggests, the black-led film appears to have received a smaller global rollout than one by a white director with an equivalent budget and similar deal terms.

So why was …Hollywood framed as a hit while Sinners was met with skepticism despite their similarities?

Studio execs, agents, and consultants might debate deal structures (and defend their decisions to pass on this project now that it is a hit) as we all worry about Hollywood’s future. Some might roll their eyes at Ryan Coogler’s desire to have ownership terms that align with the premise of his magnum opus. Still, creatives should applaud him for taking advantage of the unique opportunity this project and his commercial and critical track record offered him at this point in his career.

Audiences already know what’s up. Franklin Leonard encouraged us to see Sinners again at this week’s live taping of Nobody Knows Anything. “Make an entertainment journalist mad,” he joked. The crowd’s response suggested they didn’t need much convincing. Their second or third screening tickets were already burning holes in their pockets like sunlight to a vampire.

February 4, 2019 / 0 Comments

Heavy, California

“They say heaven’s waiting for you, so I’m headed for California.”

— Jungle

My freshman year of college, I was part of a particular dorm called Roots which focused on giving the 24 of us that lived on the floor a foundation in the backbone of western civilization. Those eight months have been the only time in my life when I’ve actively thought about philosophy critically, clinically, academically. I think about ways of being often. Hell, this blog is a collection of essays about me considering how to be in the world and yet, I haven’t built upon that structure from my first year of Higher Education oh those many moons ago.

Windows to the Will: Anomalisa is an essay in Zadie Smith’s collection, Feel Free. In it, she reviews Charlie Kaufman’s animated film through the prism of philosophy, specifically Arthur Schopenhauer, of whom, Kaufman is clearly—to those who are scholars of the subject—a fan. It’s a brilliant essay, knowledgeable and smart and witty and fun in ways well beyond me, and it got me both to spend a few dollars to rent the film on YouTube and to think back on my Introduction to Logic class that was part of my year in Roots.

The film is exceptional in form and function even though I found the protagonist, Michael, insufferable. Smith seems to find some way to identify with him and his struggle to escape boredom and sameness. I had no such luck. There’s a very tender sex scene—amongst puppets, mind—and I think here is when you’re supposed to feel something for Michael as he shows such care and compassion for Lisa, a woman who he believes might save him from his dispassionate life. A woman who is different, until she sleeps with him. A woman who is special until he attains her. A woman whose fleeting uniqueness give him permission to cheat on his wife and be rude to everyone around except her. And then, it passes, and he loses this compassion for her. She becomes just like everyone else, and we see that he has no moral center at all, just an endless want for something more than all he’s been given.

Le sigh.

I got an A in my Introduction to Logic class, yet I don’t know how. I found the work challenging and the philosophers, like Michael, mostly insufferable. I guess I understood the “math” of logic, but I couldn’t stand the dudes that came up with it. My assessment then was that these were men who couldn’t stand that they were merely human and not mythical heroes. Men for whom the human condition was a prison.

Get over yourselves, is what 19-year-old me must have thought.

I’m not sure that appraisal was wrong, but I’m thinking about spending more time with the great (?) philosophers this year.

Though, they all seem to be such jerks, maybe not.

March 26, 2018 / 0 Comments

Blow Your Mind (Mwah)

“You can’t tame me.”

— Dua Lipa

Like Arrival before it, Annihilation is creeping into my thoughts frequently. There’s some kind of through line between the serious science fiction of these two films and the humor and catharsis of watching Hidden Figures, a story about real people doing real science. I’m not sure what it is, exactly, but they are all connected in my head, lifting each other up.

I’ve been thinking about how radical it is that we have major mainstream pop culture that doesn’t center the male gaze. That maybe doesn’t even consider it. I haven’t seen Wrinkle in Time yet, but I have noticed that women have seemed to enjoy the flick far more than male critics. When something isn’t made for you, perhaps explicitly ignores you, after everything before it was made for you, is your adverse reaction visceral even if you don’t recognize that is the root?

I haven’t seen it yet, but I wonder.

I finished reading The Tipping Point. It only took me nearly twenty years to get to it. We talk about virality so much these days, and in our digital culture, it is easy to identify the salespeople, and with a little more thought, we could tell who the connectors are (we’ve got the data), but who are the mavens? Have we given that role up to services that aggregate everyone’s thoughts? Is that better than trusting an individual who we know has done the proper legwork, whose opinion we respect, who delights in the knowing?

I wonder.

LA Public Library rules for new releases is that you’ve got seven days to read it, no renewals. I’ve taken the bait on a Walter Mosley novel that I didn’t even know was out. Can I win the battle with my devices and idle TV time to focus and finish a book in a week? Challenge accepted.

Maybe I’ll use it as an excuse to implement candle hour, act like a futurist, slow jam the news, or even break up with my phone.

Doubtful, but I wonder.

December 31, 2015 / 0 Comments

Thank You

“There’s no righteousness in your darkest moment.” — Sleater-Kinney, Sympathy

Thank you, 2015, for pushing me to go beyond what’s comfortable. For giving Tiffany great work opportunities and a shake up to her routine (and mine). For London. For meaningful conversations with loved ones. For Dominique Toney on my tv. For Omaha. For 80 years of Pauline. For successful knee surgeries. For xoxo. For the creative work I was able to do around the GRAMMYs and elsewhere. For getting to highlight my mom in some of those ventures. For DC. For reconnections with old friends and acquaintances. For new friends. For Kendrick, Kamasi, and Kaiyote. For the Force and Furiosa. And Creed. For Coates and Woodson and James and G. Willow. For being able to see myself and people who look like my friends in the pop culture narrative. For Hamilton. For biscuits. For basketball. For acknowledging the passage of time and being okay with who I am and who I’m not in this moment.

For friends. For family.

For Suzie.

For tomorrow and whatever may come.

January 30, 2015 / 2 Comments

Unforgivable Blackness 2015 Edition: Ava DuVernay and Marshawn Lynch

“I don’t know if these industry mofos overlook us cause they might be afraid. They don’t know if we get the spot like that, you might not get your spotlight back for a couple decades.” – Black Milk, Losing Out (Let’s Talk)

Rembert Browne’s entertaining “Rembert Explains” podcast’s latest episode featured Mychal Denzel Smith discussing the thru-line between director Ava DuVernay’s approach to her work and the criticism of that work and the NFL’s Marshawn Lynch who has become famous not only for his spectacular play on the field but for his refusal to follow the rules of the league which he deems absurd.

This refusal to play “the game” is what rankles people. On a recent @Midnight, Chris Hardwick ranted because he was so annoyed with Lynch’s unwillingness to eat shit. We all have things we don’t want to do at our jobs, he harangued. Suck it up and take it. We all have to do that.

Except, maybe you don’t.

DuVernay sees no value in exerting energy towards gaining acceptance into the Hollywood establishment. In fact, she thinks it’s futile. In this episode of KCRW’s The Business (the other podcast I listened to today), DuVernay essentially breaks down her whole mission statement. Why knock on doors that the person on the other side has no interest or incentive in opening for you? Build your own house. Open your own door. I was struck as I have been every time she’s spoken about Selma over the last few months with how certain, confident, and driven she is. Ava takes no shorts.

It reminded me of the now decade old Ken Burns documentary about boxer Jack Johnson: Unforgivable Blackness. This idea of being unwilling to modulate who you are to succeed in the great American experiment and still succeed anyway because you are just that damn good? Yes.

Let’s keep doing this. And to hell with just being unforgivable. Don’t apologize.

Those made uncomfortable by it are undeserving of an apology, anyway.

Their discomfort is the world’s progress.

#beastmode
#changetheworld

Let’s go.

December 3, 2013 / 0 Comments

These Three Words

“Got sucked into a culture, living like I do.” – SBTRKT, Living Like I Do (Feat. Sampha)

There’s a moment in Best Man Holiday when Harper asks his friends what are the three words that define who they are. His reason for asking is a bit duplicitous but I thought it was an interesting question.

Curiosity. Compassion. Kindness.

I am many other things, I’m sure, and I am also sure that there are times when I am not these things but if you were to label me as such, I wouldn’t quarrel.

But who needs labels anyway?

What's Your Label? by Zach Weinersmith — What’s Your Label? by Zach Weinersmith

But maybe I’m wrong. How might you define me?

More importantly, how might you define yourself?

November 27, 2013 / 0 Comments

Revisiting My Old Friend, The Stephen King Novel

“If you can find me, come and get me out of here.” – Oingo Boingo, Private Life

From the age of 12 till about 23, Stephen King was my favorite author. During that time, I read nearly every one of his novels and short stories and his plot driven approach to story telling still informs what I like to read today.

Over the last 15 years, though, I’ve been much more selective with what I’ve read from him. It probably began with The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon—a novella I just couldn’t work my way through. The Dark Tower Novels, Duma Key, and interesting experiments like The Colorado Kid and American Vampire, sure, but, for the most part, I’ve passed. Much of his most recent work just didn’t appeal for whatever reason. Even stories I finished and enjoyed hadn’t filled me with that hunger for me that a much younger me felt upon completion. Only Walter Mosley’s work and the occasional exceptional YA series seem to do that for me these days.

Until now. My third reading of The Shining followed by his latest, Doctor Sleep, has me hungry for more.

I first visited The Overlook Hotel when I was 13 or 14 and returned again in my early twenties. I don’t think I really understood the story either time. What I remembered as I began reading again a couple months ago were a few lingering ideas: Danny Torrance seemed awfully smart for a 4/5 year old; Jack Torrance was scary as hell; and, the hotel exploding.

This time, I still thought Danny was a little too smart but I found many more things that captured my attention that I think I blitzed past previously: the history of the hotel; the hotel as character; how badass Wendy gets when the shit hits the fan.

This poster is way better than the film.

Given these new revelations, I completely get why Stephen King dislikes Kubrick’s film version. He’s right, the movie adaptation of The Shining is terrible. I didn’t get that when I was kid but it really is. Nearly everything that is wonderful and dreadful and terrifying in the book is lost in the film as Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance goes from asshole to evil in a few short steps without any context to who he is and how he got to this point. Dick Hallorann gets incredibly short-changed in the film. And, worst of all, the hotel loses it’s role as the true evil and a character unto itself. In watching the movie for the first time in decades, I was annoyed from the opening moments till the end.

Doctor Sleep felt like a necessary corrective after consuming that dreck Halloween week. It answers the question of what happened to Danny Torrance after that terrible winter in the late seventies and it’s wonderfully scary and modern and mythological and hopeful. There are long sections of terror and awfulness and fleeting moments of dread but you always feel hope and redemption around the edges. And you’re rewarded. It’s a tale of complicated humans and scary monsters and it felt both like the stories I remember from my youth and exactly the kind of thing I want to read now.

I didn’t immediately jump to 11/22/63—a novel that seems perfect for right now, 50 years after that terrible day—as it’s finally time to read Mockingjay (I told you about those infectious YA series). But it’s next. It’s nice to revisit old friends and find you still like them very much.