Mandy Kaplan turned off Sinners a few minutes in, the same week everyone she knew was calling it the best movie of the year. She has been apologizing for that ever since, and this episode is the formal version. Her guide is Rhonda Smith, an Atlanta actress and IT professional who runs the ATL Movie Club and has now seen the film four times, the fourth one the night before recording so she could be fresh. Rhonda brought details. Smoke always wears blue and Stack always wears red, and one of them is left-handed, which Mandy had not clocked despite taking notes. There’s a man on a white horse outside the church at the end. The beams in that church are, according to Rhonda’s research, arranged as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, which lands a little differently on a host who has never seen Black Panther.
They argue about whether Sinners counts as a musical (Mandy: basically yes; Rhonda: no) and agree completely about the cut from Remmick leaving the ground to the dance floor, which Mandy calls the best filmmaking decision in the movie. Mandy reads a prepared fun fact about Al Capone’s hiring practices and demands a sting for it. Hailee Steinfeld gets a full defense that starts at Pitch Perfect. And Rhonda closes with a theory about vampire eye colors that she found online and then went back to the film to confirm, which is the whole ATL Movie Club philosophy in one move. Press play.
Guest Spotlight
Rhonda Smith is an actress and voiceover performer based in Atlanta, originally from Detroit, with a day career in information technology. She started going to movies alone in Houston, started a movie club with friends after moving back to Detroit, and restarted it in Atlanta when her friends there asked why they couldn’t have one too. The ATL Movie Club now has more than 200 members across Facebook and Instagram and still meets in person about once a quarter to go through one film at a time.
Reference Links
Films
- Sinners (2025)
- Get Out (2017)
- Us (2019)
- Black Panther (2018)
- Fruitvale Station (2013)
- Pitch Perfect (2012)
- True Grit (2010)
- Interview with the Vampire (1994)
People
- Ryan Coogler
- Michael B. Jordan
- Hailee Steinfeld
- Miles Caton
- Jack O’Connell
- Wunmi Mosaku
- Delroy Lindo
- Ludwig Göransson
- Robert Johnson
Concepts and Background
- Choctaw
- Hoodoo
- Cross Road Blues (the Robert Johnson “deal with the devil” legend)
- Chicago Outfit
- List of accolades received by Sinners
Music
Make Me a Nerd Episodes Mentioned
- Second Breakfast for Mandy: A Lord of the Rings Rundown with Richard Hellstern
- Sensual Creatures: Vampires, Frilly Shirts, and Interview with a Vampire with Jonny Lee Jr.
- Dracula with Lester Ryan Clark
- Twilight with Ben Raffle
- A Supernatural Crash Course with Krissy Lenz
Fact-Check Corner
Flags on what was said on air. Nothing here changes the transcript.
- “It won for cinematography and music. It won Oscars.” True, and there were two more. Sinners won four Oscars at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026: Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Best Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the first woman to win that category), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson). It went in with a record 16 nominations.
- “She says her father was African American.” / “Or grandfather or something.” Neither. At least one source describes Mary as one-eighth Black, which would make it a great-grandparent.
- “Ryan Coogler made the film in like six different formats.” The release did include unusual formats: IMAX 70mm (15-perf) in about ten U.S. theaters and a separate 70mm 5-perf run, plus standard IMAX and digital. Rhonda’s “panoramic one where it was all the way around you” is referring to Regal’s “Screen X” format which includes screens on the left and right walls of the theater with extra wide footage. And the format with “blood spraying on you” was not actually blood, but water — along with wind and movement — in the 4DX format. Which was ABSOLUTELY CRAZY — ed.
- Vampire eye colors (red for Remmick, yellow for the hive, sapphire for Stack and later Mary). The makeup department confirmed custom lenses for Remmick, Stack, and Mary, with Coogler’s only stipulation being red for the villain. The rank-based system Rhonda describes is a fan reading; the makeup interview neither confirms nor denies it.
- “Sammie’s character is loosely based off of a blues player named Robert Johnson.” Supported. Several reviews, including The Independent’s, connect Sammie to the Robert Johnson crossroads legend. Rhonda’s “I don’t know if that’s true or not” about the legend itself is the correct hedge. But the coolest addition to this story which they didn’t talk about on the show was in the post-credits scene introducing the elderly Sammie Moore character playing a show in a small blues club. The actor portraying Sammie in that scene was the absolutely legendary blues musician, Buddy Guy. For blues fans like your fair editor here, that was a stand up and cheer moment.
Make Me a Nerd is a production of TruStory FM. Engineering by Pete Wright. Theme song “Wonderstruck” by Jane and the Boy.
Find Mandy on Instagram at @Mandy_Kaplan_Klavens and on TikTok at @MandyMiscast.
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