Ty Watches "Sinners"

My wife and I saw "Sinners" last Friday. I had read nothing but glowing reviews for the movie, and then RD texted me and told me it was a great movie. I trust RD's opinion on movies. He has never really steered me wrong. And the 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes was all I pretty much needed to see this movie. I also saw a preview for it when my dad and I watched "Mickey 17".

As we settled into the theater, which was about 90 percent full, my expectations were pretty high. And this movie more than lived up to the hype. I loved everything about "Sinners". The movie was stylish and cool. I liked the old school vibe of the movie.

“Sinners” takes place in the early 1930's in Mississippi. Michael B Jordan plays dual roles, and from the moment he was on screen, the very first shot, I couldn't take my eyes off what he was doing. Michael B Jordan has become one of the most reliable actors in all of Hollywood. And when he and Ryan Coogler team up, that is a match made in heaven. Coogler and Michael B Jordan made magic together in "Fruitvale Station", "Black Panther" and "Creed". They have now done the same with "Sinners". This is one of the coolest and most unique movies that has come out since "Everything Everywhere All at Once". It may seem like a rehashed vampire movie, but it is so much more than that and so much better than that and so much cooler than that.

The movie has a slow burn to it for the first hour, where they're, for all intents and purposes, "getting the band together". We learn a whole lot more about the two characters Michael B Jordan is playing. One is a hustler and one is no nonsense. They get all the people they want to help them out, and they head out on their way. During this first hour we also see the town they grew up in and returned to, the people they have interacted with and it seems like something sinister is lurking underneath. We then see a man on fire enter on screen, and this is where the movie goes from great to classic. This is where the vampire portion of the movie comes into play. But the vampires represent so much more in this world. And at times I actually side with the vampires. The main vampire is talking about community and acceptance and it is damn enticing and moving. But the main characters that fight them are on the good side, and eventually you have to accept and agree with them. They have the best interest of the community.

Throughout all of this we get some excellent, all timer scenes in this movie. I love the driving on dirt roads we see a lot of in the beginning. The old school church is haunting and interesting. The dance sequence the vampires do was frightening and fascinating. But, the scene that will be remembered for all time was the music scene with Preacher Boy playing guitar and singing an old blues classic. During the song we see music from all genres and all eras. It makes for one of the best and most unique scenes in the history of film. It was amazing to see all this different music come together while Preacher Boy absolutely nails the song. I think about this one scene multiple times a day.

"Sinners" is making a ton at the movies, which is well deserved. "Sinners" also definitely earned all of the positive reviews. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. It is wonderful and one of the fresher ideas in Hollywood. Check it out. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

My wife and I finally watched "Wakanda Forever" this weekend. We love the first "Black Panther" movie. It is one of my personal favorite superhero movies. I think it was different and cool and fun and has the best music of any superhero movie. I am also a big time Chadwick Boseman fan. I saw his movies before and after "Black Panther" all the way up to his final role, of which he was tremendous, in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom". But we had been putting this one off because we weren't fully ready to see how they would handle his death. Our date nights also got interrupted by real life for the past month. And the movie clocks in at about 2 hours and 40 minutes, so we really needed to be ready for a long night. We got that and took advantage.

Right off the bat, I really enjoyed "Wakanda Forever". I saw some of the less than favorable reviews, there were not many, but those reviews seemed off to me. I thought they did an excellent job of handling Boseman's death. The whole beginning was a fitting tribute to his wonderful job as Black Panther. It made me sad to see the funeral, but it was necessary to move this story along. We had to know what happened in this fictional world. From that point on I thought the writers and filmmakers did a stupendous job of moving the story along. I have my own personal issues with Letitia Wright and where she stands on certain issues, but she can act and she is tremendous as Shuri. I wanted to get mad at her for what she said about COVID and the vaccine mandates, but I eventually got to a point where I was able to separate the art from the artist. She was the right person to be the lead of this franchise moving forward. It makes the most sense. Even before Boseman passed I told my wife that if they move on from him that Shuri would be best. Angela Bassett is in a class all her own. She owns her screen time in this movie. She is more than deserving of her Oscar nomination. She played this role to perfection and I ached for her character. That was how stupendous she was in this movie. In a movie where there is no true lead actor, she was the closest. She was top notch. The little bits we got from Lupita N'yongo and Danai Guerra were also great. They have taken over as these characters and I am invested where they take them from here. N'yongo had the most heartbreaking scene in the movie and my wife and I definitely teared up during the post credit scene. Winston Duke is a delight and M'Baku is one of my favorite characters of all time. I cannot picture anyone else playing that role. Michael B Jordan has one scene in this movie and he is amazing. Kilmonger is my favorite villain of all time and he brings the heat yet again.

As for the new villian, Namor, was pretty damn cool as well. I loved the backstory of why he is doing what he is doing. He is a much cooler Aquaman. I told my wife that one of the things I love about these "Black Panther" movies is how well they tell the audience why the villain is the villain. I got it with Kilmonger and I got it with Namor.

The battle scenes were epic as well. Ryan Coogler knows how to direct a battle scene better than almost anyone else out there right now. And while the movie is long, it never felt that way to me. I was invested in the stories. I wanted to see why they were doing what they were doing. I loved the stuff at MIT and with Ri Ri, who is now Ironheart. I was saddened by what happened to Bassett. The whole montage of Shuri making a suit was awesome. Seeing where N'yango was now was important.

Where "Tar" felt every second of 2 hours and 40 minutes. "Wakanda Forever" was a blast to watch. I definitely recommend checking it out. It is on Disney + if you have that service, and it has to be streaming elsewhere. Watch this movie ASAP. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Oscar Nominations Came Out Today, and They Mostly Suck

I am not sure the Oscars really know what is good.

I know I promised everyone a greatest American band blog today, but I'm putting that off until next week. There's bigger fish to fry for me today.

The Oscar nominations were handed out this morning and I have two big, big problems with the nominees. First off, why all the white people again? Do the people who vote on these awards think that there are no people of color that act in movies these days? There were a decent number of people that were well deserving of, at the very least, a nomination. What about Samuel L Jackson for his performance in "Hateful 8"? He was awesome. What about Michael B Jordan in "Creed"? Stallone gets nominated, but the lead of this great movie gets no love? That's lame. And even though the movie "Concussion" didn't have its desired effect and wasn't very good, Will Smith was excellent and totally deserved a nomination. I guess the people that give out the nominations are racist, old white people that wish it was still 1950. It's a shame that they refuse to nominate actors that aren't white, especially in 2016. It's upsetting to be frank. I wonder how long it will actually take for actors of color to get their due. It's time, and there are so many great African American, Asian, Indian and so on and so forth of any ethnicity well deserving. I'm sick of all the same white people being nominated. I'm done with Meryl Streep and Matt Damon and Jennifer Lawrence being the people that get nominated no matter how bad or repetitive their performances are. Eddie Redmayne belongs with the people I mentioned above too. I'll take Michael B Jordan, Will Smith and Samuel L Jackson any day over the four actors I just mentioned.

Second issue, my biggest problem, why is Charlize Theron not nominated for her role, Furiosa, in "Mad Max: Fury Road"? How on earth does this happen? How was Jennifer Lawrence's performance in "Joy" aka "Silver Linings Playbook 2", more deserving than Theron? Or Cate Blanchette in a movie I've never heard of, "Carol", more deserving? In fact, Brie Larson in "Room" is the only one that I have no problem with being nominated. "Mad Max: Fury Road" got a ton of nominations, but none for acting. That's wrong. Theron was the best actor in the best movie of the year, possibly of all time. She was so fantastic and perfect in her role. She played the part expertly. She was tough when needed, vulnerable when needed, sad and angry when needed, basically, whatever George Miller asked of her, she did it and did it phenomenally. She was so, so great in this movie. I know it's called "Mad Max", but Furiosa, not Max, was the star and leader of this movie. This may be one of the biggest snubs of all time in Oscar history. I just don't get what else she could have done. Maybe the movie needed to be foreign, or she needed some kind of disease, or she needed some kind of smaller indie role that the academy loves now. That's all bullshit. Why won't they reward the actors from the movie that's widely considered the best movie of the year? It makes absolutely no sense at all. I wrote before, and I still believe, Theron not only deserved the nomination, but she 100 percent deserves the Oscar. There was no better performance all year from anyone, man, woman or child. Theron was head and shoulders above anyone that's been nominated this year. Another shame.

I guess I should know by now to be disappointed in what this dumbass academy does every year. They clearly don't care for minorities and they are just flat out wrong when it comes to nominating actors and actresses. You'd think they'd be more conscious in the 21st century, but they're still racist and stupid.

The morons that give out these nominations suck.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He was once nominated for a grade school acting award, but lost it to the kid playing tree #2. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.