‘That ain’t your brother’: Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s ‘Sinners’ looks like a chill time
The director and star reunite for a horror film. PLUS: Daisy Ridley’s ‘Star Wars’ movie has another new writer, ‘White Lotus’ Season 3 gets a trailer, and Conan O’Brien talks the Oscars.
It’s January 31, which means this month is finally coming to an end. Right? There isn’t, like, a January 32 this year? Nervously flips through calendar. Anyway, let’s get into this Friday edition of Popculturology.
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Book it
Besides an unfortunate NFL playoff game this weekend, I really haven’t watched much TV this week. I did finish Flux, a science-fiction novel by Jinwoo Chong, earlier this week before starting Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven.
I was a fan of the HBO adaptation of Station Eleven, and Caitlin had read the book right before the pandemic hit. I watched the miniseries long enough ago to forget enough so that the book keeps surprising me.
NEWS, NOTES & TRAILERS
🍿 The Sinners trailer is a touch creepy
I’m not sure if Warner Bros. meant for this bit of synergy over the weekend, but the studio dropped a creepy tease for a new Sinners trailer during Sunday’s AFC championship game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. (Sigh.) While Josh Allen was trying to get the Bills into their first Super Bowl since 1994, his fiancé, Hailee Steinfeld, is one of the stars of Sinners.
The trailer dropped online on Tuesday — and it definitely feels like a chill movie. Like, sit back, relax and watch Michael B. Jordan play twins who somehow get mixed up in partying, playing music and some kind of evil possession.
Sinners isn’t just the fifth film from director Ryan Coogler, it’s the fifth time he’s worked with Jordan. The duo’s work has yet to disappoint. (If only I could say the same about Allen and Bills coach Sean McDermott.)
The Daisy Ridley Star Wars movie has another new writer
The saga of Daisy Ridley’s return to Star Wars continues. After losing writer Steven Knight (who came on board after the movie previously lost Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson), the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed project was in flux, with Lucasfilm pulling it from its expected Dec. 18, 2026, release date.
Well, now Obaid-Chinoy and Ridley’s New Jedi Order movie has yet another new writer: George Nolfi. In addition to directing and writing Matt Damon’s The Adjustment Bureau, Nolfi has written the screenplays for films that include Ocean’s Twelve and The Bourne Ultimatum. (He seems to really like working with Damon ...) Is he the right person to finally make this movie a reality? Who knows!
