Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. It’s another day for our Whatcha series. This week is Whatcha Watching. Even though we’ve watched Superman earlier this week, we won’t be including it with any of our write-ups. You’ll have to wait for our review this Friday. With that announcement out of the way, I guess I’ll begin this post with what I’ve been watching this past month.
Kyra’s Movies
I finally watched Sinners on HBO Max, back when the streaming service was still called Max (don’t get me started on the name change), and I’m kicking myself for not watching Sinners on the big screen. The scene where Sammy plays at the Juke Joint and summons generations of musicians is a marvel. That would’ve been fantastic to see in the theater. Despite watching on a smaller screen, the scene still slaps.
Sinners is easily one of 2025’s best films. I’d be surprised if it doesn’t take home a few awards. It does a great job of depicting the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s. I like how the twin brothers (a double role for Michael B. Jordan) say that Chicago was like the South, but with taller buildings, and they’d rather dance with the devil they knew. While the South was brutal to black people during this time, the North wasn’t much better. The North was subtler. I live outside of Omaha, Nebraska, which is still one of the most segregated cities in the United States. Sinners shows the United States’ sordid past but manages not to get too preachy.
Horror as allegory for racism and social injustice is in vogue right now, and I’m all for it. Horror is a great vehicle for forcing people to face their fears and their past. Horror allows for reflection. Sinners does this well. But I could see someone viewing Sinners through various lenses, and that’s the mark of a great baseline story.
I’ll try to avoid spoilers here; I highly recommend watching Sinners if you have the chance. Religion plays a large role in plenty of Sinners‘ scenes. One of Sammy’s many nicknames is Preacher’s Son on account that he is a preacher’s son. The film even opens with strong religious overtones, with a bloodied Sammy interrupting his father’s church service. Sammy’s at a crossroads, and we get the vampire backstory that precedes this crossroads scene. Not gonna lie, I thought of Robert Johnson, a blues guitarist and singer who died in the late 1930s while watching Sammy. Robert Johnson, the blues guitarist who met the devil at the crossroads, spoke to generations of musicians he would never know. Sammy’s scene at the Juke Joint was awesome.
Honestly, one could choose a couple of other themes besides the ones already mentioned, and it would work for Sinners: regret, income inequality, or the loss of innocence. Sinners‘ layers keep it from being another allegory for racism. But I do have one small nitpick. Sinners didn’t leave enough breadcrumbs for the link between the vampire white couple (at the beginning) and the man who sold the twins the old mill. It’s a small nitpick, and I may need to rewatch Sinners to see if I missed something. Like I need an excuse to rewatch Sinners. Outside of that, I like how the Ku Klux Klan’s motives mirror the vampires’. I’ll be rooting for Sinners this award season.
Kyra’s Shows
I didn’t watch too many new-to-me shows this past month. One of my rewatched highlights is The Book of Queer. You can also find this series on HBO Max. It’s not very long, but if you’re a member of the LGBT+ community, I challenge you not to feel empowered after watching this series. The Book of Queer proves that all letters of the LGBT+ community existed for millennia. This isn’t a new fad. It isn’t a phase. We’ve always been here. History has a way of sweeping the LGBT+ community into the closet like Sappho and her “friend.” Note: one of The Book of Queer’s episodes features Sappho.
The Book of Queer keeps things light. I appreciate how the series takes what could be a touchy subject and adds enough comedic relief to keep it from getting too overwhelming. But The Book of Queer manages to bring on the waterworks. Some of these historical figures are tragic. Rest assured, each episode of The Book of Queer ends with a fabulous music video. Get ready to “Sashay to the Top.”
That’s all I have for this month. Let’s check in with Season and see what she’s been watching.
Season’s Shows
I already mentioned K-Pop Demon Hunters in my Whatcha Listening to, and our Superman review is underway, so I won’t be including those. I know. I struggle with watching movies, but I can sit through six-hour-plus episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. My own logic doesn’t make sense to me.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is in no way historically accurate. It takes several liberties for the sake of drama, which I was craving when I watched it. There’s no proof that King George III struggled with his mental health when he was younger in real life, as was portrayed in the show. He definitely did in his later life. I didn’t care for this aspect of the story, but I knew what I was getting into.
My main reason for watching Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is because I fell in love with Golda Rosheuvel’s performance in Bridgerton as Queen Charlotte. Her delivery and facial expressions made her steal each scene she was in. That said, India Amarteifio did an amazing job as young Queen Charlotte and mirrored Golda Rosheuvel’s older Queen Charlotte’s personality to a T. I’m not one for re-watching shows, but I’d re-watch Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. That wraps up what our Geekly writers have been watching this past month. Let us know what you’ve been watching, too, because you’re part of the Geekly Gang, too. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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