Sinners
“Sinners” is a horror film set in the early 20th century (1932) in Clarksdale, Mississippi, featuring Micheal B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld. One of the main protagonists, Sammie Moore, a field hand in Mississippi and son of a preacher, receives a pleasant surprise from his cousins Smoke and Stack, who come home from Chicago to get away from their scandalous business. Upon arriving, Smoke and Stack buy a warehouse and decide to use it as a “juke joint,” commonly known as a club primarily for African Americans. The three invite many of their friends and all goes well until the appearance of supernatural and unwanted guests in pursuit of Sammie Moore for his innate talent for singing. Sammie, Stack and Smoke, along with their friends, must fight both family and strangers in order to survive the night.
This story delves beyond just supernatural events and also tackles topics such as racism and discrimination amongst minorities. Using the supernatural enemies to represent the greed and desire that Caucasian groups had towards minorities, by taking them and using them as tools to diminish them. The urge to rebel and survive is to show triumph and passion for how hard African Americans and other minorities fought to achieve equality. It is a beautiful piece crafted by Ryan Coogler, the same man who directed Black Panther and Creed, two beautiful films that reach toward minority communities, but relate to a demographic while still maintaining a universal message. I personally love this movie and how all the characters are real and have so much depth to them. A lot of media today overlooks the side characters of the story and they are able to be taken out of a story and it wouldn’t change. That’s different with “Sinners” so that the viewer can relate to multiple perspectives.
F1: The Movie
“F1,”starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, is a movie about Formula One driving. This movie follows a once great F1 talent Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), who was an up and coming star until a tragic racing accident. Sonny, now with no direction in his life, gets brought back into F1 by an old friend as the last hope for his failing F1 team. The team is on the verge of being cut from all of F1 so it is up to Sonny Hayes and Joshua Pierce, played by Damson Idris who is a rising star famous for Snowfall.
“F1” is designed to be enjoyable for all ages with action, intensity, romance and triumph. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer does an excellent job portraying F1, making it both enjoyable and memorable even with it not having as much recognition as other sports. It doesn’t require prior understanding of F1 to understand what is going on, which is something a lot of movies fail to do. There isn’t much to say about the movie cause there wasn’t much detail to it as it is supposed to be taken at face value, it was just a classic road to glory story that wasn’t anything special aside from the actors who were playing in it. I loved that I was able to watch this and there was no underlying meaning behind it so it was a comforting experience. But out of these four I would have to put it at fourth just because I’m not as big of a fan of Formula One so nothing resonated with me.
Frankenstein
“Frankenstein” is a horror and science fiction Netflix Original inspired by the 1818 book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This nearly three hour movie is about scientist Victor Frankenstein in the late 18th century who spends the entirety of his life in pursuit of resurrecting the dead after losing his mother to scarlet fever, casting aside his remaining family to be able to make his dream a reality. When he finally achieves his dream, Victor becomes regretful of the undead soldier he has made and begins to fear it, ultimately leading to the attempted murder and abandoning of this monster he gave life to. This moment marks the beginning of the creature’s loneliness and confusion about its own existence.
This movie is my favorite of all the Oscar nominees, not only because of the actors but the hidden messages throughout it. It’s so emotional from every character and is romantic even when it is not trying to be. Viewers see the growth of the monster and his creator, and the parallel in one gaining humanity (The Creature) and the other losing it (Victor), before coming together in the end. The film also explores the dangers of unchecked ambition and the consequences of playing with forces that humans may not fully understand. It raises deeper questions about responsibility, asking whether a creator is morally obligated to care for what they bring into existence. The little details of how characters speak such poetic lines, some that you won’t catch or understand until you reach the end of the film. After watching this movie, I was left emotionally distraught after experiencing the tale of both the creator and his creation. Neither side was morally just in what they did, but that is what it means to be human, which spoke to me as a viewer.
Marty Supreme
“Marty Supreme” was one of the most anticipated movies of the year with its very unique and interesting promotional ads. The movie is about an aspiring ping pong player Marty, played by Timothee Chalamet who, after losing a major international tournament, dedicates himself to going back and beating his rival, Koto Endo. Marty doesn’t care what he has to do to get his dreams, resulting in him hurting, lying and stealing from the people in his life.
This is a movie of how obsession with something ruins both you and the environment you are in, much similar to films like Whiplash and The Wolf of Wall Street. The main character isn’t meant to be supported but much more hated by the audience for the things he is doing to attempt to achieve his dreams. Timothee Chalamet performs this role perfectly in really showing the ignorance and selfishness Marty is supposed to envelop, and gives a truly beautiful performance. With how excited I was to see this movie, I was somewhat let down after watching it. It was a good movie, but the hype around it made me hold my standard higher than what the movie actually was. It was a very chaotic story and I was left unfulfilled. Even if I was let down, I was still on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next, which not a lot of movies do for me. The acting was phenomenal and the conclusion was well played leaving it up to your own interpretation.
