That Scene In Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners,' Tho [Side Salad]

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For well over a month, I deliberately avoided reviews, spoilers, even basic plot points, about the movie Sinners. Earlier this week, my semi-paranoid patience paid off when I headed to Manhattan's moneyed Upper West Side for a 10AM, 70mm IMAX screening of Ryan Coogler's Southern gothic blockbuster.

Going in knowing little more than there would be 1. some vampires and 2. a scene where Hailee Steinfeld spits in Michael B. Jordan's mouth (complimentary) somewhere mirrored my experience with Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Til Dawn, which I saw in theaters back in 1996 unaware of its bloodthirsty twist. Comparisons between these two movies may instinctively feel superficial to some, but the way both artfully subvert genre film norms and tropes to tell interesting character-driven stories make them essentially kindred. (Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood this ain't!)

In our current time of ceaseless intellectual property exploitation, it's really a genuine relief that the excellent, original, must-see Sinners wasn't retrofitted into a From Dusk Til Dawn prequel/reboot by some craven studio suit. That Coogler's deal with Warner Bros. means he'll eventually own the film outright seems gloriously in opposition to the commodification of artistic ideas by a Hollywood system perversely fixated on how best to further diminish creator control.

While I was wholly engrossed in what appeared on the absolutely massive screen, especially anything featuring the great Delroy Lindo, Sinners still somehow found a way to take me out of the moment. And if you've seen the movie, well, then you probably know exactly which scene that was.