August 18, 2025
'Sinners'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Van Lathan, and Wesley Morris pop open a cold bottle of Irish beer to revisit Ryan Coogler's 'instant classic' 'Sinners,' featuring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, and Miles Caton.
Notes
- Only the 5th movie to get 'instant Rewatchable' treatment (after 'Get Out', Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 'Top Gun: Maverick', and F1).
- Budget of ~$90-100 million, grossed $366+ million globally. Second highest-grossing original horror film domestically, behind only 'The Sixth Sense'.
- Working title was 'Grilled Cheese.' Filmed in Donaldsonville, Louisiana for IMAX.
- Coogler's WB deal: first dollar gross, final cut, ownership reversion after 25 years – compared by Bill to the Deshaun Watson contract.
- Coogler said he does not want a sequel ('I wanted it to feel like a full meal'). Bill predicts he will eventually make one (~2038).
- Score by Ludwig Goransson (two-time Oscar winner; used a 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar).
- Miles Caton's first film ever; found via open audition. Buddy Guy plays Old Sammy in the post-credits coda (age 88 during filming).
- Wesley Morris did not like the 'famous scene' (Sammy's song triggering the musical/cultural montage). Bill and Van loved it. Wesley called it polarizing.
- Coogler's influences: From Dusk Till Dawn, The Faculty.
- The movie is described as simultaneously: a vampire movie, a blues movie, a religious critique, a musical, a father-son movie, a brothers/twins movie, a sex movie, and a 100+ year survey of Black culture.
Categories
Most re-watchable scene
- Bill, Van, and Wesley: The post-credits coda – Old Sammy/Buddy Guy sequence in 1992, reuniting with vampire Stack and Mary in hip-hop era clothes. Unanimously considered the best scene and the emotional capstone.
- Craig: When Remic floats down and the juke joint action kicks off.
- Bill: Also the opening (Smoke goes downtown, shoots a thief, makes a deal). Van: Also when Mary first arrives at the juke joint.
- Wesley notes the 'famous scene' (Sammy's song triggering a time-spanning montage through Black musical history) is 'a borderline mini scene for most rewatchable' but deeply divisive.
The most 2025 thing about this movie
- Bill: The movie premiered on Max, which then rebranded to HBO Max.
- Van: The IMAX filmmaking technology needed to make it look authentically 1930s.
What aged the best?
- Bill: Coogler's artistry and deal-making; the twins technology.
- Van: The look/cinematography of the film.
- Wesley: Michael B. Jordan's star power – 'people came for him, stayed for Coogler.'
Most cinematic shot
- Van: Remic falling out of the sky at magic hour.
- Bill: The flashback to Stack hearing Preacher Boy sing in the car for the first time.
Best needle drop
- Bill: The fake closing credits sequence – also wins the Kid Cudi award.
- The blues music throughout, especially Sammy's original song.
Weak link of the movie
- Bill: The fight scene logic – 8 people vs. 50 vampires, unclear how they survived ('The Blade Conundrum').
- Van and Wesley: Mrs. Child's annoying decision to leave the club makes no emotional or practical sense.
Over-acting award
Bill: Delroy Lindo (said with love – Delta Slim is supposed to be dialed up). Van: Mrs. Child.
The hottest take award
- Van: Delroy Lindo's performance almost became his hottest take – 'he's incredible in this.'
- Wesley's controversial take: The famous musical montage scene does not work for him. 'The execution – twerking, electric guitar, the breadth of cultures conjured – was too much.' Acknowledged Coogler probably got studio notes but died on that hill.
Casting what-ifs
Halsey completed a script read for the Hailee Steinfeld role but didn't get it.
Best "that guy"
Omar Benson Miller as Cornbread. Also: the Choctaw Native American vampire hunters (one scene, maximum impact).
Best "heat check" performance
Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim or Buddy Guy as Old Sammy. Also the Choctaw hunters.
Apex Mountain
- Ryan Coogler: Yes, peak power/influence.
- Michael B. Jordan: Yes, official beginning of his prime.
- Vampire movies as metaphor: Yes.
- Twin brother movies: Yes (highest-grossing twin-lead movie).
- Hailee Steinfeld: Yes, so far.
- Blues in movies: Yes.
- Black vampires: 'Definitely apex mountain for black vampires.'
Cruise or Hanks?
Cruise wins
- All agree: Mid-90s Cruise as Remic – 'Cocktail-era Cruise as an Irish vampire.'
- Also discussed: 'Denzel or Will' (custom category) – early 90s Denzel (Devil in a Blue Dress / Malcolm X era) as Smoke, no contest.
Scorsese or Spielberg?
Scorsese.
What role would Philip Seymour Hoffman play?
Remic (the Irish vampire). Or the Klan leader.
Just one Oscar, who gets it?
All three: Ryan Coogler for directing. Bill also says score (Ludwig Goransson) is the safest bet to actually win.
What memorabilia would you want (or not want!) from the movie?
- Van: Delta Slim's harmonica; also the broken guitar.
- Bill: The broken guitar is great too.
Best (or worst!) life lessons from the movie
- Bill: 'You keep dancing with the devil, one day he's going to follow you home.'
- Van: 'White women can come in the party, but not white men.'
Best double feature for this movie
- Van: From Dusk Till Dawn.
- Bill: Fruitvale Station – 'first go in the beginning and follow the journey all the way. Coogler and MBJ fully realized 12 plus years later.'
- Wesley: A Tarantino movie (impulse pick).
Who won the movie?
Ryan Coogler – unanimously. Van: 'Ryan Coogler. Ryan Wayne Coogler.' Bill notes Miles Caton could be the answer in 20 years if his career explodes.