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so, maybe it's time to face

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facts. You're stuck in the past.

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Based on the February 2024 Nielsen

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Report, more at discover.com slash credit

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card. The

0:20

very scary movie Sinners finds Michael

0:22

B. Jordan playing twin brothers

0:25

who open a 1930s juke joint

0:27

and opening night does not

0:29

go as planned. The film

0:31

is written and directed by Ryan

0:33

Coogler making his first movie since

0:35

the Black Panther franchise. Coogler mixes

0:37

blues music with classic horror in

0:40

a standoff between the brothers and

0:42

their friends on the inside and

0:44

the bloodthirsty and growing menace outside.

0:47

I'm Aisha Harris, and I'm

0:49

Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about sinners.

0:51

This movie is so fun on

0:53

Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

0:56

Joining me today is NPR producer

0:58

Mark Rivers. Hello, Mark. Hello,

1:00

fellow sinners. Thanks for having me. Hello.

1:03

Also with us is Ronald Young Jr.

1:05

He's the host of the film

1:07

and television review podcast, Leaving the Theater.

1:09

Hello, Ronald. Hello, Linda. Glad to be

1:11

here. So in sinners, Michael

1:13

B. Jordan plays twin brothers,

1:15

Smoke and Stack, who returned to

1:17

their Mississippi hometown in 1932

1:20

with some money they made in

1:22

Chicago. Through, we are

1:24

led to believe multiple robberies. But

1:26

now their dream is to open

1:28

a juke joint, and once they've

1:30

secured a location, they enlist their

1:32

friends to get ready for opening

1:34

night. Both brothers also have unfinished

1:36

business with women, stacked with a

1:38

girlfriend named Mary, played by Hailey

1:40

Steinfeld, and smoke with a healer and

1:42

hoodoo conjurer named Annie, with

1:44

whom he shares a complex past

1:46

of love and grief. She's

1:48

played by Wanmim Masaku. Opening

1:51

night starts off well, but then

1:53

a trio of white strangers led by

1:55

a creepy Irish musician named Remek

1:57

arrives. At first they just seem

1:59

to be interlopers, but they turn

2:01

out to be... vampires, actual

2:03

literal vampires. What follows is

2:05

an all night battle between those inside

2:07

the juke and the creatures outside

2:09

who want to transform them into monsters

2:11

too. Sinners is in theaters

2:14

now. Ronald, I'm going to start with you.

2:16

We were at this movie together and I

2:18

know that we had a lot of fun

2:20

sharing space at this movie. Tell me what

2:22

you thought. I have never been more excited

2:24

about it. Well, OK, never been. This is

2:26

the most excited I've been about a movie

2:28

in a very long time. Like we walked

2:31

out of the theater, Linda, and you looked

2:33

over and said, yeah, you know, Ryan Coogler,

2:35

he wrote it, he directed it and he

2:37

made it. And I was like, yes, not

2:39

IP, an original movie made

2:41

from a person. who imagined the

2:44

movie and then put it on the

2:46

screen and it was fantastic. I

2:48

don't even think I could be objectively

2:50

critical of this movie. I have

2:52

zero notes. I'm ready. Like whatever

2:54

y 'all have to say, I'm gonna say yes

2:56

and let's go. Yeah. And I

2:58

think this is exactly why I had

3:00

that conversation with Ronald and the way out

3:02

is that this is kind of the

3:05

model that you hope will happen when somebody

3:07

like Ryan Coogler gets a chance to

3:09

direct, say Black Panther, is that it will

3:11

not result in them going off and

3:13

making nothing but that. forever, that

3:15

they will still make movies that come

3:17

from a deep sense of their own

3:19

vision, which if you look at interviews

3:21

with him about this film, it's clear

3:23

that this is very much from the

3:25

heart. And like Ronald said, not IP,

3:27

not a sequel. Although I suspect they

3:29

will franchise this, but that's just me.

3:31

That's me wondering. They may very well,

3:34

but we shall see. Aisha, what did

3:36

you think? Well, as we record this,

3:38

we are less than 12 hours from

3:40

when I finished this film, like at

3:42

this. Exactly 12 hours ago, I was

3:44

still sitting in my IMAX theater looking

3:46

up at the screen and being just

3:48

completely entranced and sometimes confused, sometimes amused,

3:50

other times completely just like, ooh,

3:52

that's very sexy. What's happening here?

3:55

People were talking about Nesferatu. I

3:57

mean, this is not to compare them

3:59

because they are very different, but this

4:01

movie is sexy. This is sexy, sexy

4:03

vampires. I really,

4:05

really, really loved this experience.

4:08

And I think that, you

4:10

know, it's been so fascinating

4:12

to see Michael B. Jordan

4:14

and Ryan Coogler become this

4:16

team that they both make

4:18

each other so much better.

4:20

And I think this is

4:23

by far their best collaboration

4:25

so far. And you

4:27

know, it's interesting because like Michael B. Jordan's

4:29

an actor. He's done a little bit

4:31

of directing, but like he's an actor. So

4:33

he's talked about how he spends a

4:35

lot of his time just like he does

4:37

more projects than Ryan Coogler does because

4:39

as a filmmaker, as a director, you are

4:42

at least Ryan Coogler. His work usually

4:44

takes years as opposed to like here and

4:46

there. It's just been such a joy

4:48

to see how they created these characters from

4:50

Fruitvale Station to now that all have

4:52

I was somewhat of a through line of

4:54

like underdog, not perfect, imperfect

4:56

with flaws, but you can sympathize

4:58

and empathize with them. And here

5:00

taking it and putting it into

5:02

a completely different genre, a completely

5:05

different realm. And again, completely new,

5:07

different. I loved it. I have

5:09

a little, a few qualms, but we can

5:11

talk about those later. I reject your qualms. I

5:13

reject them wholeheartedly. I'm ready to fight. We'll

5:16

get to qualms. We'll get to qualms. I

5:18

don't need to deviate too much from the chorus

5:20

so far. This is certainly the most fun

5:22

I've had a movie this year. Now, having said

5:24

that, the bar for that I think is

5:26

below the ground. That should not

5:28

take away from Kugler's achievement here. You can

5:30

just feel the charge and just the

5:32

excitement that Kugler feels to finally have his

5:35

own playground to play around in. You

5:37

know, as you guys have said, he spent

5:39

much of his career kind of playing

5:41

in others' playgrounds in the Rocky universe and

5:43

the MC universe. Now, we should say

5:45

also, I think Creed, there's more filmmaking in

5:47

the opening minutes of Creed than in

5:49

all of Rocky combined. And Black Panther is

5:52

certainly the most artistically satisfying and dramatically

5:54

complex MC movie that we... but he had

5:56

a chance to really show us him

5:58

in a way. Well, on Fruitvale Station is

6:00

a true story. Fruitvale Station is a

6:02

true story based on Oscar Grant's life. So

6:05

this is the first thing that's coming completely

6:07

from Kugler, and he's putting so much. into

6:09

this movie. You get a lot

6:11

of movie with sinners. I mean, it's a

6:13

musical drama. It's a kind of

6:15

southern gangster thriller. And then, of

6:17

course, it's a vampire movie. It's a real big

6:19

meal. I'm not sure about all the ingredients,

6:21

I think, with this energy that he's bringing to

6:23

the movie. There's a little bit of anxiousness

6:25

that it's now his whole playground, you know, I

6:27

think. I think in the movie, there

6:29

are certain things that kind of signal kind of anxiety

6:31

about whether the audience is going to be paying

6:33

attention the way the movie kind of starts with this

6:36

immediate energy and drama to kind of make sure

6:38

the audience is grabbed. There are a couple

6:40

of editing choices that make me think certain scenes

6:42

were found in the post -production and not necessarily

6:44

choreographed. So I feel both an energy and an

6:46

anxiety about wanting to get all my ideas out,

6:48

wanting to get all I know and appreciate about

6:50

genre into this movie. And sometimes it might

6:52

weigh it down, but it's such a good time.

6:54

And like you said, Aisha, I think

6:56

Kugler And Michael and Jordan, they bring out the

6:58

best in each other. And you see that here.

7:00

Yeah. This movie to me just feels big. The

7:03

sound is big. The use of music

7:05

is big. The sound design is great, by

7:07

the way. There a few really interesting

7:09

uses of sound design that I think 100

7:11

% help the movie go forward. The

7:13

use of music is really massive and enveloping.

7:15

probably part of the reason why the movie

7:17

felt so big to me is that I

7:20

did see it in IMAX and it was

7:22

shot in 65 millimeter IMAX. And I would

7:24

say like this is the rare movie where

7:26

not only would I tell you like go

7:28

out of your way to see it in

7:30

a theater, but like if you have an

7:32

IMAX theater. It has a

7:34

payoff for just the scope

7:36

of it based on my

7:38

experience of it. What

7:40

I really loved about it is

7:43

that it has such a fascinating

7:45

balance between it is so much

7:47

fun as a scary movie. It

7:49

is fun, fun, fun,

7:52

but it is also, you

7:54

know, really telling a

7:56

story about this community that

7:58

is sort of shut

8:00

in this juke together trying

8:02

to survive and like

8:04

it's not a subtle metaphor

8:06

that black music attracts

8:08

white vampires like and I

8:11

love how much it

8:13

is about that and it

8:15

is about this community

8:17

defending itself against the presence

8:19

of these creatures that

8:21

want to take over. I

8:24

don't think it turns into like

8:26

mostly that I think it remains as

8:28

Aisha mentioned, a sexy movie at

8:30

times and a really scary movie and

8:32

a really like satisfying movie. And

8:34

I also, the other reason, by the

8:36

way, that I would tell you

8:38

to see it in a theater, you

8:41

know, Coogler has said this movie is

8:43

meant to be seen with a big

8:45

group of people. And I think that's

8:47

1000 percent something I would recommend. Audience

8:49

participation is high. We

8:51

had a big, fairly raucous audience in

8:53

the best way. It is one of

8:55

those movies where people are constantly going

8:57

like, no, no, no, no, no, no,

8:59

no, no. Don't go outside. Go back

9:01

inside. Got the body outside. Go back

9:03

inside now. And that's a

9:05

really fun communal experience. So that was something

9:07

I enjoyed as well. And I would

9:10

say even before it becomes this, you know,

9:12

from Dust Till Dawn, Ask Vampire Movie,

9:14

it's a really fascinating. a portrait

9:16

of just Jim Crow America in the

9:18

South. And the time and place of

9:20

this movie is so specific and so

9:22

textured. Before the vampires even get here, it

9:25

could have been a Walter Moseley story with

9:27

like Easy Rollins and Mouse going back down south

9:29

and getting into some shenanigans. And this might

9:31

be a hot take, but I almost wish the

9:33

vampires didn't show up. I'd watch that movie.

9:35

The communal stuff and the interplay between the characters

9:37

and the lore it's building and the history

9:39

it's building with the characters is so

9:42

interesting and so unlike what we normally get

9:44

on screen, I could have just been stuck

9:46

in that. I don't even think I needed

9:48

the vampires. Honestly, they spoil the party in

9:50

more ways than one, even before they start

9:52

biting people. I'd watch that movie because I'm

9:54

sitting there watching. I'm like, wow, they did

9:56

enough here that I'm very interested in the

9:58

prequel to this movie or some sort of

10:01

one shot where the twins escape Chicago. For

10:03

me, the heart of this movie, there is

10:05

a scene that involves music that I will

10:07

not going to spoil for anyone. Oh, my

10:09

God. Yes. Yes. And they do this thing

10:11

where they start. a blues song and it

10:13

starts breaking out into other things more and

10:15

more gradually and I think visually and sonically

10:17

at that point to your point mark I

10:20

didn't care about anything else that was happening

10:22

plot -wise in this movie I just wanted

10:24

to live there yeah they could have done

10:26

that for three hours and just kept breaking

10:28

out different forms of things and I would

10:30

have been perfectly fine with that they apparently

10:32

recorded the music and not seeing live. And

10:34

then they like, you know, they fixed it

10:36

in post a little bit, but like they

10:39

were performing this live. And there's just so

10:41

much to chew on that I know I'm

10:43

going to need to go back. And the

10:45

music was a big part of it. This

10:47

idea, as Linda said, of like, you

10:49

build this safe haven, this place where

10:51

people are supposed to be able to

10:53

like get away from all their problems.

10:56

And then like the white problems don't

10:58

just become white problems, become they become

11:00

other problems. They inevitably show up at

11:02

their doorstep. That is a big part

11:04

of it too. There's a interesting thread

11:06

between the Remic character played by Jack

11:08

O 'Connell who is like the lead

11:10

vampire and the fact that he's Irish.

11:13

There are several jigs. Like there's a

11:15

weird kind of like push and pull

11:17

between both black American. history

11:19

and culture and in music. These

11:21

like twin oppressed classes. Yes, yes,

11:23

yes. But of course, like, yes,

11:25

they're both oppressed, but then the

11:28

oppression manifested in different ways. Totally.

11:30

But then on top of all

11:32

that, you also have like just

11:34

these really, really interesting relationships between

11:36

the women and the men and

11:38

this past and this idea of

11:41

Mary, the Hailey Steinfeld character being

11:43

a woman who can pass for

11:45

white and is passing for white.

11:47

in certain spaces, but necessarily

11:49

want to be doing that. So there's all

11:51

these different layers going on, but it's hard to

11:54

wrap my head around completely. But

11:56

the big swing for me, when you have all

11:58

that and then you add vampires to it,

12:00

Honestly, I think it's more interesting. And I say

12:02

this as someone who's not a big supernatural

12:04

person. I did not like Lovecraft

12:06

Country, the HBO show, which I feel

12:08

in a way... This movie kind of

12:10

evokes that a little bit. It does

12:12

evoke it. But also, yes, one me,

12:14

Musaku, she was in that show. So

12:17

that automatically brought things up for me.

12:19

But what I think is really interesting

12:21

to think about here is just the

12:23

way that Kugler is using all of

12:25

these different... of the gumbo to, like,

12:27

in service of something. I want to

12:29

go back for more. Like, I want

12:31

to see this again because there's always

12:33

so much I could say here in

12:35

fully process. You know, there's one other

12:37

thing I want to point out about

12:40

the music is that the scene that

12:42

we're talking about, the big beautiful one,

12:44

that there's such a juxtaposition to a

12:46

music scene that happens later that involves

12:48

the vampires and black folks as opposed

12:50

to when black folks are in the

12:52

juke joint. And the differences in even

12:54

how they're dancing and how they're moving,

12:56

which means their relationship to the music

12:58

has changed. Like, I was

13:00

thinking about that at, like, probably 11

13:02

p .m. last night where I was

13:05

like, whoa! To think that Ryan

13:07

Coogler is thinking about that while making

13:09

this film is interesting to me

13:11

in terms of black filmmaking for the

13:13

future, to say that the types

13:15

of conversations we're having now are so

13:17

much more nuanced than before. I

13:20

don't know, I could feast off

13:22

this movie for weeks, man. I also

13:24

think it's one of the most

13:26

resonant movies about music and creativity in

13:28

general that I have seen in

13:30

a really long time because, and I

13:32

think it's okay to talk about

13:34

this because it sort of opens with

13:36

this, is this voiceover that explains

13:38

this idea that there are some people

13:40

whose musical talent, they create music

13:42

so powerful that it kind of invites

13:44

spirits. It's like a conduit. And

13:46

it's like a conduit and that that

13:48

can be really wonderful and magical

13:50

or it can invite evil. And

13:52

I think the idea

13:54

that highly creatively talented people

13:56

perhaps have a vulnerability

13:58

even as their are,

14:00

you know, really, really magnetic

14:03

is a very interesting idea to

14:05

me. And I think this

14:07

film centers music and creativity in

14:09

a way that I thought

14:11

was very evocative. I also just

14:13

want to say, we haven't

14:15

talked about this yet, but the

14:17

way that Michael B. Jordan

14:19

is shot as these two brothers,

14:21

I really, really admire how

14:24

seamless it is at the very

14:26

beginning of the movie. The

14:28

first time you see these two

14:30

guys, they're basically leaning against

14:32

a car. You see them,

14:34

both Michael B. Jordan's handing a cigarette

14:36

back and forth. And what I

14:38

said to Ronald is, I think that's

14:41

the moment where Coogler wants you

14:43

to see that happen, sort

14:45

of absorb it, have your moment where

14:47

you go, I don't know how in the

14:49

heck they're doing that. And then never

14:51

think about it again. And I thought it

14:53

was a very effective way to do

14:56

that because when I saw that, I was

14:58

like, that's really convincing. That's, huh. Can

15:00

we also talk about Sammy, AKA

15:02

Preacher Boy, who's played by Miles

15:04

Caton? So Sammy is

15:06

their younger cousin. And he

15:08

is the son of a pastor. And

15:11

Miles Kayton, he is just so

15:13

good in this role. He was

15:16

apparently a child prodigy. He's around

15:18

19 or 20 years old. This

15:20

is his first film like acting

15:22

performance. And he is just

15:24

so magnetic and perfect in this

15:26

role. His voice.

15:29

Oh, my goodness. It's like. molasses.

15:31

He's so young, but he sounds

15:34

like he's 80 years old. And it's

15:36

just like, he just does such

15:38

a good job for this being his

15:40

first real role in a film.

15:42

I totally bought him and his struggle

15:44

as the son of a pastor

15:46

of the music. Like it's like a

15:48

very old trope. And it's a

15:50

very common trope. It's like, oh, like,

15:52

you know, how you the devil's

15:54

music and blah, blah, blah. But like,

15:56

I think the movie. services it

15:58

so well and he brings out that

16:00

struggle so well and I just

16:02

love. I loved everything about him.

16:04

He was, he was just fun to discover.

16:06

He has one of those voices and when

16:08

he's singing it sounds like he's like conjuring

16:10

the spirits, you know, or he's conjuring the

16:12

past with his voice. You get a sense

16:14

of it through his character, how much research,

16:16

like history that Cougars riffing on. Cause I

16:18

definitely thought about how, howlin wolf with this

16:20

guy and howin wolf, you know, famous Delta

16:22

blue singer and this singer coming down from

16:24

the South up into the North and also

16:26

smokestack lightning is one of like howin wolf's

16:28

notable songs, you know, smokestack. So there's just

16:30

so much that Cougars riffing on with Sammy.

16:32

character, I think without him, the

16:34

movie doesn't really work. Like he's kind of the

16:37

linchpin of the movie. He's kind of the linchpin

16:39

of all that Kugler's trying to say about music

16:41

and about this history that he's tapping into. And

16:43

I hope we see him in more things because

16:45

he brings a lot to this. If we're going

16:47

to talk about Sammy, we also got to talk

16:49

about Slim. Don't worry, Lindo. Don't worry,

16:51

Lindo. Always happy to see him. I saw him

16:53

into Five Bloods. I felt like he got snubbed for

16:55

an Oscar. Let's not talk about that, please. It

16:58

still hurts. I really hope that he somehow

17:00

loops back on this one because I really enjoyed

17:02

him. It was a great character performance. And

17:04

actually, while I sit there, I realized the one

17:06

thing that I appreciated about Dale Roy Lindo

17:08

is he is a man that can lead a

17:10

movie, but he's also very comfortable being like

17:13

in supporting roles and adding his gravitas as seasoning

17:15

to a film, which is something that I

17:17

wish like I could get more of. And I

17:19

know I'm going to get pushed back on

17:21

this from like someone like Denzel Washington, where I'm

17:23

like, you know, it'd be nice to see

17:25

you show up in a movie and be Denzel.

17:27

and then disappear without the whole movie having

17:29

to be a themselves movie now. And I feel

17:31

like Del War Lindo does a very good

17:33

job with that. And I really enjoyed it. Yeah,

17:35

he takes what's a scent was kind of

17:37

a stock kind of character, you know, the kind

17:39

of drunken kind of rabble rouser kind of

17:41

kind of guy. But he fills him

17:43

with such particularities, you know, in eccentricities, so where he

17:45

can just take this kind of stock role that

17:47

doesn't get lost screen time and just fill it

17:50

up with a sense of history, you know, fill it

17:52

up with a sense of a life actually lived.

17:54

And I think that's such a value to a

17:56

movie like this that is kind of juggling so many

17:58

things at once. You can need actors who can

18:00

just make immediate quick impressions. Yeah. And

18:02

I think he's also part of

18:04

one of the other things I appreciated

18:06

about this so much, which is

18:08

sometimes this movie is really funny, which

18:11

is true of most good horror

18:13

films. There are moments in this where

18:15

the fear that people feel or

18:17

the realization of their situation has a

18:19

note of humor and he is

18:21

often part of that. And I was

18:23

very grateful for that. I

18:25

also, we haven't talked very much

18:28

about the character of Annie played by

18:30

Wanmin Musaku, a character that could

18:32

be a stock character because she's kind

18:34

of a healer and a conjurer.

18:36

And I think her relationship with smoke

18:38

is established very economically. but it

18:40

becomes very... very weighty over the course

18:42

of the film. And you come

18:44

to understand what their relationship is and

18:46

that they love each other and

18:48

have this bond. There is so much

18:50

here that we cannot possibly get

18:52

to. But I think the package here

18:54

is not only well worth seeing,

18:56

but well worth seeing in a theater

18:58

with a big crowd on an

19:00

IMAX screen if you have access to

19:02

one. And I just hope that

19:04

other people enjoy it as much as

19:06

I did because I had a

19:08

great time despite not really always being

19:10

a vampire person. So yeah.

19:12

But we wanna know what you

19:14

think about centers. Find us at

19:16

facebook.com slash pchn on letterboxed at

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letterboxed.com slash NPR pop culture. We'll

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have a link in our episode

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description. Up next, what's making us

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happy this week? This

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it is time for our favorite segment of

21:21

this week and every week. What's making us

21:23

happy this week? Mark Rivers, what is making

21:25

you happy this week? So I've been trying

21:27

to kind of go back to see a

21:29

number of acclaimed movies from the 2020s that

21:31

I may have missed. A movie that I

21:34

saw recently that really kind of blew me

21:36

away from 2022 was the documentary All That

21:38

Breeds from Shannak, from director Shannak Sen. It

21:40

follows these two brothers in Delhi, India who

21:42

are who've devoted their lives to

21:44

saving these birds called black kites, these

21:47

birds that are literally falling out of the sky

21:49

because of the toxicity in the air, you know,

21:51

the pollution that's in the air. And these two

21:53

brothers are trying to save these birds that are

21:55

not really well -liked. They're kind of ugly. And

21:57

some people in the community don't like them. These

22:00

birds are ultimately integral to

22:02

the ecosystem in India. And the

22:04

movie becomes this kind of

22:06

cinematic poem about just the interconnectivity

22:08

of life. And then

22:10

it also the scope expands to to

22:12

kind of encompass the rise in

22:14

Muslim persecution under India's Indian nationalist government.

22:16

And, you know, it gets into

22:18

the tensions that that the brother's job

22:20

causes amongst their family. And it

22:22

does all this without. poking you prodding

22:24

you into thinking a certain way. So

22:26

again, that's all that breeze is streaming

22:28

now on max. I highly recommend it

22:30

only 90 minutes also. So it's a

22:33

quick watch. I enjoyed that film too.

22:35

Thank you very much, Mark. Ronald Young

22:37

Jr. What is making you happy this

22:39

week? Okay. So the short answer is

22:41

what is making me happy is the

22:43

return of the rehearsal, which you should

22:45

be come out on the 20th, but

22:47

I'm very excited about it. Obviously, I've

22:49

talked about Nathan for you and being

22:52

a big Nathan Fielder fan on this

22:54

show before Nathan for you rehearsal season

22:56

one. Really enjoy all of his especially

22:58

really deep thinking kind of fourth wall

23:00

breaking work. But that really is to

23:02

say that right now television feels like

23:04

it's back. Maybe all a sudden in

23:06

the past, like I want to say

23:09

eight to 12 weeks, we've had white

23:11

lotus. We've had the pit. We've had

23:13

all of this television. And I feel

23:15

like that really is genuinely making me

23:17

happy because I can only watch the

23:19

office. So many

23:21

times before I need some new television.

23:23

So I'm looking forward to rehearsal and

23:25

just generally happy about all of the

23:27

television we get to watch right now.

23:29

Thank you, Ronald. So that is the

23:31

rehearsal. It is on HBO. So you

23:34

can find it. streaming on Max. Aisha

23:36

Harris, what is making you happy this

23:38

week, my friend? Well, like most people,

23:40

I spend far too much time on

23:42

the internet doom -scrolling. But every once

23:44

in a while, I'm able to land

23:46

on something that just makes me genuinely

23:48

happy and makes me smile. And

23:50

that is currently Charlene

23:52

K. She is a stand

23:54

-up comedian, singer, and musician who

23:56

I follow on Instagram at Charlene

23:59

K. And she has this recurring

24:01

bit that she does in both

24:03

her live shows and on Instagram

24:05

called Every Blank Song, which is

24:07

like every K -pop song, every Taylor

24:10

Swift song, every Chapel Roan song.

24:12

And she does these out of

24:14

pure love. but she taps into

24:16

what makes each of these artists

24:18

or genres or whatever special and

24:20

also repetitive but in a way

24:23

that we all enjoy. One

24:25

of my favorites is a recent one

24:27

that she did of every Lady Gaga

24:29

song. Hopefully you'll understand why I love

24:31

it when you listen to this. But

24:49

yes, she takes these songs and she

24:52

distills them to their essence. And she

24:54

just has a really great way of

24:56

poking fun at both other artists, but

24:58

also herself. She has a show called,

25:00

a solo show called Tiger Daughter. I

25:02

haven't seen, but I imagine it's going

25:04

to be great. And she also has

25:06

a song where she pokes fun at

25:09

the people on the internet who claim

25:11

she looks like the comedian Bobby Lee.

25:14

She's very fun. So that is Charlene Kay. You

25:16

should follow her if you just want to

25:18

have a little bit of joy. And

25:20

it's at Charlene Kay. That's what's making

25:22

me happy. Thank you very

25:24

much, Ayesha. So what is making

25:27

me happy is that sometimes you

25:29

do not want something serious, sometimes

25:31

you want something very diverting, and

25:33

you just want to watch Viola

25:35

Davis play the president. Therefore,

25:38

I was very delighted recently while

25:40

spending some time on a plane. I

25:43

watched the movie

25:45

G20, which is

25:47

on prime, which is basically

25:49

Die Hard at G20. If

25:52

Viola Davis was the president

25:55

and Anthony Anderson was her husband

25:57

is it a great movie. It

26:00

is not a great movie was

26:02

it exactly what I wanted it

26:04

was exactly what I wanted. She

26:06

is a lot of fun to watch

26:08

she is having a great time you

26:10

get to see her do a bunch

26:13

of action hero stuff which I think

26:15

she totally deserves to have the fun

26:17

of doing you know. It is one

26:19

of those things where we have been

26:21

through four million variations of diehard on

26:23

a this, diehard on a that, diehard

26:25

on a whatever. But

26:27

this one to

26:30

me is just the

26:32

perfect non -serious version

26:34

of that idea, getting

26:37

to see her. play

26:39

a president who you know she's

26:41

wearing a gown for this event but

26:43

of course naturally as things heat

26:45

up does she rip off the bottom

26:47

of the gown and make make

26:49

it into a short dress of course

26:51

she makes it into a short

26:53

dress does she end up carrying a

26:55

gun yeah she ends up carrying

26:57

a gun. So that is G20. It

26:59

is on prime. And we should

27:01

note that Amazon supports NPR and pays

27:03

to distribute some of our content.

27:05

If you want links for what we

27:07

recommended, plus some additional recommendations, sign

27:10

up for our newsletter at npr .org slash

27:12

pop culture newsletter. That brings us to

27:14

the end of our show. Mark Rivers, Ronald

27:16

Young Jr. Aisha Harris. Thank you so

27:18

much for being here to talk about sinners.

27:21

Thank you guys. Thanks for having me.

27:23

Sinners. Thank you. This episode was

27:25

produced by HuffSafathima. and edited by Mike

27:27

Katziff. Our supervising producer is Jessica

27:29

Reedy, and Hello! Come In provides our

27:31

theme music. Thank you for listening

27:33

to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

27:36

I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next week.

27:38

Don't get bitten by a vampire. Or maybe do,

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