She was clearly upset and knew that Carol wasn’t happy with her. She was crying a lot and being told to “look at the flowers”. What was she expecting was going to happen at this moment? Did she think was going to be punished? Did she know she was going to die?
First off, I don’t dislike this movie. It’s a very well made movie for what it is. But what it is isn’t exactly what I was expecting
From a technical standpoint, this movie is beautifully made. The music is amazing. Even non diegetically, the soundtrack has an almost anachronistic feel to it. It feels genuinely period appropriate, but with a vibe that feels modern and punchy. Obviously the standout scene with all of the past, present and future musicians best represents this. The costuming is great. I read that it was bought from the cancelled period version of Marvel’s Blade. I especially love Michael B Jordan’s suits. From both the characters he plays. I’m
A sucker for a period suit. I even love it when they strip onto the vest and braces (British vernacular here). And the sets and cinematography is stunning for the most part (I’ll come back to that).. And these are all things that are Oscar worthy
However, once the film does start the vampire portion, it seems to lose all nuance. Thete are clearly some heavy themes at play here. Music. Race. Religion. Colonialism. There is some writing earlier in the movie that skims over this. But at no point does it really delve into any of it. And the second half of the movie almost loses it altogether. It’s like the movie wants to dip its toe in these subjects, but it has nothing really to say about it.
The acting throughout is solid. But none of really blows me out of the water. Everyone is doing their job correctly. But nobody is lifting the writing. Nor is the writing lifting the performances. Obviously MBJ playing 2 distinct roles is very well done. But it’s not as good as Tom Hardy in Legend. Or even Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap. I’m a little surprised at all the best supporting acting nominations too. Delroy Lindo is fine. As is Wunmi Mosaku. But are they award worthy?.
Once the vampire action starts, most of the characterisation and acting goes out of the window. Once Hailee Steinfrld becomes a vampire she basically becomes background scenery. Which is odd considering she has third or fourth billing.
Jack O’Connell has a great presence as Remmick. I love the design of the red eyes. But he too is underwritten. He’s just a scary villain. Which is fine. But not something I’d expect from an Oscar nominated movie.
The directing and cinematography also becomes very basic. Some of the scenes outside are lit too darkly. There’s a scene where the red eyes are seen peering out of the dark that’s suitably spooky. And even when the vampires catch on fire near the end. But the rest of the scenes are just filmed flat.
The action scenes are ok. But once the vampires get inside, I was excited for some well choreographed fights. There’s one good bit with MBJ shooting some pistols, but the rest is just kind of a bloody massacre. With some plot armour stopping the main characters from being killed straight away.
And then the script just becomes a lot of scenes where characters just talk to eachother across the doorway. It even starts repeating itself with them having the same scene over and over of “is the person at the door a vampire or not”. It’s done too many times to have any tension.
The story also becomes very rote and falls into all the horror movie cliches. Along with stupid character choices. Why would Lisa invite them all in?! It becomes very base under siege. With scenes literally copied from other movies, like the Thing
Now, I love a base under siege story. I love Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight. Which does all of this. And it was schlocky and fun. But Sinners isn’t
I guess my frustration with this movie comes from my expectations. I went in fully aware that it would be genre clashing. Maybe something akin to From Dusk Till Dawn. But with less of a tonal whiplash. I was expecting a well made period horror drama with a strong story, great acting and great directing. And there was a lot of hype going in.
But it just became a staple of the genre. A very well put together staple of the genre. But not better than the films I compared it too.
Season 1 of Angel was very dimly lit with lots of shadows and at times hard to see dark tunnels and back alleys. Some of this is due to the limitations of 90’s TV budgets. And even modern transfers are quite fuzzy.
But there was something about season 2 that was so beautifully photographed. It was still fairly darkly lit. But the images are so much more crisp and detailed. The colours are so much more vibrant and the cinematography is so beautiful.
And then from season 3-5, it just becomes fiat, and brightly lit. Not ugly. Just uninteresting
And this isn’t something I’ve only noticed with modern HD transfers etc. I remember thinking this back in the day when I was watching the show on my tiny 14 inch tv in my bedroom.
I remember specifically watching Reprise when it aired and thinking the scene at the beginning with Angel in the warehouse full of goats looked so good
Is there any behind the scenes information on why season 2 specifically looked so good and the rest of the show didn’t?
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At first I thought it was just Rue. But it appears on some of the other characters’ faces too. It almost looks like tears running down their face. Rue generally has a very stripped back aesthetic. And it seems like that’s the only makeup she wears