There’s Something About Sinners
takeaways for tinseltown + movies + marathons + the moral clarity of Ms Rachel
This Week In Cool Shiny Culture:
🌈 Megan’s Cool: The Wedding Banquet
Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, and Han Gi-Chan star in this remake of the 1993 film: The Wedding Banquet. In the movie, best friends Chris (played by Yang) and Angela (played by Tran) face huge relationship challenges while living under the same roof. Angela must confront her mommy issues before she can think about becoming one herself, but her partner, Lee (Gladstone), is ready and her bio-clock is ticking! Meanwhile, commitment-phobic Chris faces separation from his long-term boyfriend, Min, who must go back to Korea upon graduating art school and losing his student visa. Somehow the foursome decides the best solution is for Min (BF) & Angela (BFF) to marry but first they must convince Min’s discerning Korean grandmother that they’re straight and in love. As you can imagine, heartwarming hijinks ensue.
🧠 Kaley’s Cool: Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka
I actually started AND finished a nonfiction book someone recommended! It helps that that someone was Megan and the book was Filterworld, right up my alley as I think about culture and the way the Internet’s algorithms intersect and influence us pretty much all day everyday.
Granted, I listened to the book while falling asleep (in my Bluetooth headphone / eye mask!) which means I grasped less than if I was fully lucid, but I enjoyed it a lot! I’ve long admired Kyle Chayka as a Smart Culture Thinker and appreciated his focused exploration of concepts like “corrupt personalization” or the illusion of personalization that platforms like Netflix present by pushing you content that actually serves their business interests under the guise of personalization.
📖 Megan’s Shiny: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I’ve gone on the record saying I’m tired of romance novels about writers and yet I am giving Great Big Beautiful Life a pass because Emily Henry brought an interesting framing. This is a grumpy sunshine, rivals to lovers, she-fell-first-he-fell-harder romance featuring two biographers who are competing for the same job. To win the honor of writing the family’s Hearst-like legacy, they must win over the trust of the last remaining family member: a secretive former socialite who may be obfuscating her motivations… and the truth. The romance was fully B-plot in favor of a deep and satisfying exploration of generational trauma (a theme for me today apparently).
🥛Kaley’s Shiny: Nicole Kidman’s admirable commitment to sex on screen
I watched Babygirl. Another Megan recommendation (an influencer!) I enjoyed it. It was interesting. To be honest though, I could watch Harris Dickinson dancing to Father Figure and picking up Nicole Kidman on a loop for the full 2 hour runtime and probably would’ve enjoyed it the same amount.
My main takeaway was a real appreciation for Kidman’s continual choice to take roles in psychosexual dramas. From Eyes Wide Shut to Big Little Lies to Babygirl and more, she’s clearly interested in delving beyond the idiom that sex sells to interrogate the darker, twistier depths of sexuality, violence, power dynamics, and female desire. I hope - and believe she will! - continue it into her 60’s and 70’s!
If you’re interested in going deeper on Kidman’s sprawling and fascinating career, I highly recommend a great episode of Anne Helen Peterson’s Culture Study podcast with guest (and Megan’s favorite) Sam Sanders: Nicole Kidman’s resting rich face.
Megan on Sinner’s It-Factor
Ryan Coogler’s new film Sinners starring Michael B Jordan is making waves in Hollywood. By any metric of success, Sinners is a great film:
🎥 it’s a feat of filmmaking. From the camera tricks for Michael B. Jordan to portray twins to shooting on a combo of film and IMAX cameras, it's tantalizing to look at on a big screen.
🤑it’s raking it in at the box office as the 3rd highest grossing movie of 2025 so far ($180M, after A Minecraft Movie – $398M & Captain America: Brave New World – $200M)
🧠it has a perspective but it doesn’t beat you over the head with it (*cough Netflix cough*). It shows not tells and leaves you thinking about and wanting to discuss what you watched
🌐As such, it’s dominating the discourse with people unpacking the themes of race, history, faith against the vampire plot
But to truly explain the success of Sinners, we can’t ignore the central thesis of the movie. Sinners argues that there’s more to existence than simply being alive: existence is about being in community, being free, and expressing yourself. In the film, two brothers ‘Stack’ & ‘Smoke’ (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return to their sharecropper hometown in Jim Crow Mississippi with dreams of starting their own juke joint. There’s an especially poignant scene where–for a moment–this dream is realized. Cousin Sammie aka Preacher Bo (played by Miles Canton) performs at the juke joint, the crowd is moved by his performance, and it’s so powerful it conjures the spirits of ancestors (and draws unwanted attention from our villain.)
“It’s not a subtle metaphor that Black music attracts white vampires.”
–Linda Holmes, Pop Culture Happy Hour
Sinners explains the ‘white Vampire’s’ motivations in a way I haven’t seen as successfully articulated since Get Out. In Get Out, Jordan Peele’s horror metaphor names the way white supremacy has a complex relationship with Black bodies that leaves us somewhere between coveted and discarded. Sinners takes this a step further, naming the desire to covet the Black soul specifically because of our life affirming ability to connect to one another even in the darkest of times. The film specifically names music and the blues as the medium through which this particular magic happens.
But I think this “magic” that Ryan Coogler depicted at the Juke Joint happens everyday in culture. In fact, the way Sinners has struck a chord is an example of this magic. Anytime a storyteller uses their talent to voice their truth it has the potential to transcend the moment to connect us to something bigger than ourselves. Sinners achieves this potential.
While at its core Sinners is a piece of carefully constructed art featuring a collage of talent that isn’t easily replicated, we know Hollywood is going to try. So, these are the lessons I think we should be taking away from Sinners (beyond greenlighting Sinners 2):
1. Original artistry can do numbers
In a time when Hollywood is dead set on investing only in safe bets, we’re drowning in existing IP, reboots, and remakes. Sinners is a testament to what taking a swing at something new can earn you.
“I wanted to make the thing that only I could make.”
–Ryan Coogler, in conversation with Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker
2. Rewatchability is back
With Sinners, audiences are going to the theater several times to thoroughly appreciate the details, foreshadowing, and metaphors in the intricately crafted story. A starkly different film is also proving the power of rewatchability to box office success: Pride & Prejudice’s 25th Anniversary Re-release. The film has grossed $6M in 2 weeks for its 20th anniversary celebration– while also being available on Netflix! I myself went twice and may do the same for Sinners.
Films like Sinners and Pride & Prejudice are drawing repeat audiences because they’re rich texts. Plus, increasingly, theaters like AMC are reliant on subscriptions and have a growing membership of discerning movie lovers looking for an excuse to go to the movies up to 3 times a week. But we come to this place for magic, and the bar is high. The types of films that warrant repeat viewing are proving not to be the high octane franchises with multiple installments and huge SFX budgets.
The entertainment industry is heavily influenced by following the money. Hollywood has chased the money all the way to content that’s highly digestible or meant to be second screened. In this new context, the best, most scalable product is going to be something that can put (the same) butts in seats, again and again. High quality, layered, and intentional storytelling has a longer shelf life. This is nothing new, just a return to form.
3. Black stories are profitable
Looking at the box office for 2025 before Thunderbolts* recent release, about one-third of the top 10 films were very Black:
#2 Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie as the lead
#3 Sinners
#4 Mufasa: The Lion King, though animated, is directed by Barry Jenkins and most of the main characters are voiced by Black actors
#10 One of Them Days starring Sza and Keke Palmer. The little movie that could! Despite a limited release and relatively small budget, it’s held its own to stay in the top 10 for a considerable time!
Follow the money Hollywood!
Marketing: Now You See Me sequel captures discourse with Venmo stunt
Now You See Me 3 aka Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has started its marketing campaign with a clever IRL campaign to publicize the surprise trailer drop. Last Tuesday (4/29), Now You See Me broadcast a mysterious countdown in Times Square and on their TikTok live stream that read: “Text for magic: 315-669-8263.” Those who followed instructions before the time ran out were rewarded with a venmo deposit. The lucky few who did then obviously screenshotted their mini windfall and shared it with all of their friends. This stunt is on brand for the film’s Robin Hood style plot which sees the ragtag team of magicians stealing from the wealthy and giving away their loot.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, they gave out $250k total. If you do the math on that ($250K budget, transactions of ~$120) we can speculate that a little over two thousand people participated.
Overall, this is a clever way to scale the “pulling a quarter out of someone’s ear" trick and definitely got people talking about the magic meets heist movie. We’ve done enough math for today so we’ll let the business analysts make the final call on whether this ROI beats a traditional linear TV ad spot.
Our grade: B+
Must see TT: Heartwarming moment with the Girlies at the Boston Marathon 🩷
Everyday Activism: Ms Rachel’s advocacy for kids in Gaza
Beloved children’s educator and YouTuber Ms Rachel is taking [what shouldn’t be] a controversial stand by using her platform to advocate for the kids in Gaza. She sidestepped the political quagmire by simply sharing videos of her tiny fans (such as Celine, Sila, and baby Amal) watching from war torn refugee camps in and around Gaza with captions about how they deserve better and sending wishes for their safety.
captions from left to right:
My friends Celine and Sila in what used to be their home in Gaza. They deserve to live in a warm, safe home again. They deserve to be children
I love how they are swaying to the music! 💗 They deserve to be in a warm, safe home
This is precious baby Amal in Gaza. 💕 She deserves everything my baby has. They are no different. Her mom and I are no different. Our love for our babies is no different. I pray that Amal and all children have healthy food, clean water, medical care and a safe place to live. So many children don’t, but they could. That’s the part that hurts so much. We stand by @ayuob.family.gaza
What Cool Shiny is reading ✨📰👀
My Brain Finally Broke – Jia Tolentino for The New Yorker
The phone eats time; it makes us live the way people do inside a casino
A Progressive Mind in a Body Made for the ‘Manosphere’ – Jack Crosbie for the NYT
Mr. Piker benefits from “jock insurance,” said Tristan Bridges, a sociologist who studies masculinity and gender at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The term is used to describe how men with “a lot of masculine gender capital” are generally given more leeway to do things like challenge norms and make mistakes, he added.
Alix Earle, SipMargs, and the crash course in partying Gen Z didn’t know they needed – Lauren Mello for #ForYou by Melissa Blum
Earle cleverly aligns herself with the Gen Z paradox: rejecting perfection yet craving authenticity in high-definition. But beyond aesthetics, what we're really seeing is her strategic evolution from College Party Girl → WAG → Gen Z Boss Babe, echoing the trajectory pioneered by the Kardashians but adapted for a generation that insists on "bringing their whole self" to work.
See you at the movies,
Megan & Kaley