Boots Riley Stays On Brand While Trying Pretty Much Everything with ‘I Love Boosters’

May 18, 2026

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Give these ladies a Boost! (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Demi Moore, Don Cheadle, Jason Ritter, Kara Young, Jermaine Fowler

Director: Boots Riley

Running Time: 113 Minutes

Rating: R for Creative Nudity and Language

Release Date: May 22, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Corvette (Keke Palmer), Sade (Naomi Ackie), and Mariah (Taylour Paige) are making ends meet in the San Francisco area by shoplifting (aka “boosting”) clothes and reselling them at a discount. But they’re aspiring to quite a bit more than that. Trouble is, though, it’s pretty much impossible to get ahead in fashion when an influential billionaire like Christie Smith (Demi Moore) steals your designs. So the boosters have revenge on their mind, and their tenacity leads them to uncover a patronizing conspiracy and some reality-altering technology. Meanwhile, Corvette might have some romance brewing with a mysterious individual played by LaKeith Stanfield, but that could be much more bizarrely troublesome than it’s worth.

What Made an Impression?: It’s a Surprise: I don’t want to spoil I Love Boosters, but even if I told you everything that happens in precisely minute detail, you still wouldn’t know anything. You must actually witness it to believe it. That’s how Boots Riley lures us in: grounding us in what initially appears to be a fairly accurate recreation of the real world, only to overturn it all with a reveal that makes you cry out, “How did I get here?!” After all, his unapologetic message of expansive workers’ rights goes down easier that way.
There’s a Lot Going On: If my previous paragraph makes it sound like Riley is employing a similar strategy as he did in his directorial debut Sorry to Bother You, that’s because he certainly is. But the key difference is that whereas StBY hinged on one major twist, I Love Boosters offers up a handful of them. The chaotically overwhelming approach of the latter is not quite as successful as the easier-to-map former. But even though the whole of ILB is tricky to handle, pretty much every individual piece sparkles, and I’m glad that it didn’t hold back any of its big swings, despite the messiness.
I’m Warped: If this all sounds way too dizzying, well, rest assured that I actually found I Love Boosters to be kind of gentle. Although maybe that’s just because I enjoy watching reality get bent more than the average comrade. I wouldn’t recommend this freakishly fascinating flick to everybody, but I would absolutely approve of its consumption for anyone with an amicably deranged sensibility. If that doesn’t describe you, it might still be worth the risk, though. After all, it’s splattered with a whole lot more primary colors than eat-the-rich fairy tales typically are.

I Love Boosters is Recommended If You Like: They Live, Skittles, Dialectics

Grade: 4 out of 5 Runways

‘Is God Is’ is an Awfully Discomforting Revenge Thriller

May 11, 2026

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Well… IS God is? (PHOTO CREDIT: Patti Perret
© 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.)

Starring: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Cross

Director: Aleshea Harris

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Rating: R for Extreme Violence and Unfettered Language

Release Date: May 15, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Twins Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) have only had themselves to rely on ever since their dad (Sterling K. Brown) set their mom Ruby (Vivica A. Fox) on fire in a bathtub when they were little girls. The attack left burn marks up and down Rachine’s arm and all over Anaia’s face, leading the rest of the world to look down upon them as ugly outcasts. It also left their mom dead… or so they thought until one day when Ruby summons them and gives them a mission: kill their daddy. So they head out on their odyssey of revenge, encountering a colorfully alarming cast of new wives (Erika Alexander, Janelle Monáe) and half-siblings along the way. They’re frequently warned that their vengeance is just not worth it, but the pull to finally eliminate this monster is hard to resist.

What Made an Impression?: How Did It Get This Evil?: I thought Is God Is was going to be more stylized. The trailer certainly made it seem that way, and it’s a common tactic for making a premise like this more palatable. But instead, it’s a much, much more difficult watch. I wouldn’t exactly call it as realistic as possible, but it does force you to confront an environment where domestic violence is inescapable.
What’s the Takeaway?: With its unflinching approach to the subject matter, one would hope (or at least I would hope) that there could be an effort towards profundity. So what is the overarching message of Is God Is? Is it that vengeance destroys everyone caught in its trail? Is it that it’s better to escape the cycle of violence when you have the chance? Or is it that sometimes you inexplicably can’t escape even if you want to? There are elements of all of that here, but I’d be hard-pressed to tell you exactly what writer/director Aleshea Harris (adapting her play of the same name) wants to send us off with. Perhaps that confusion is the point. If so, it might be more frightening than she reckoned for.
Like They’re Going to Explode: So when I bemoaned this movie’s lack of stylization, I kind of lied. Or rather, I omitted just how over-the-top some of the performances are. Although maybe that’s not stylization, but instead just how some people would really behave in this scenario. Either way, watching the likes of Vivica A. Fox, Mykelti Williamson, and Janelle Monáe chew up the set like we know they can is easily the most enjoyable element of this movie. As the leads, Young and Johnson are required to be a little subdued, though they do have fun with their telepathic twin communication. Sterling K. Brown has quite a time biting into a rare opportunity to play the villain, but it’s Erika Alexander as a God-fearing jilted wife who leaves the biggest impression of “What the heck is going on here?” It’s what I’ll choose to remember more than the utter despair.

Is God Is is Recommended If You Like: Lifetime movies and ’70s revenge flicks

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Burn Scars