Pop Culture Diary: This Week's Reviews, Reads and Roundups: 'I Love Boosters,' R.I.P. Sonny Rollins, More

What I've Been Into...

"I Love Boosters" (2026). If you saw Boots Riley's weird, funny, weirdly funny "Sorry to Bother You" (2018), you'll know to buckle your seatbelt for this one: A farce set in a not completely parallel universe where fashion is the primary focus of culture, with elite designers on TV 24/7 and crews of "boosters" working to liberate expensive, trendy clothes for the masses by stealing them from retail outlets and re-selling them at discounted prices.

Corvette (Keke Palmer), Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige) are the Velvet Crew, a trio of thieves that catch the attention of designer Christie Smith (Demi Moore) because they keep stealing her stuff.

The Velvets steal mainly because they enjoy it, and because they love the clothing and the money it brings. But Corvette also is a big fan of Christie, having memorized her memoir, and is an aspiring designer herself. Another conflict arises when Corvette learns that her idol is exploiting workers in China, making them work in dangerous conditions for low wages.

Here, things take a surreal, sci-fi twist with the arrival of Jianhu (Poppy Liu), a worker from Christie's factory in China, who's armed with a teleportation device and is intent on bringing Christie down. Much weirdness, a lot of it involving Marxism, ensues, complete with a wild car chase through the streets of San Francisco.

I couldn't explain the rest if I wanted to, but it's great and hilarious. Palmer is magnetic, Moore is fabulous and the always welcome LaKeith Stanfield is on the scene as a man of mystery. Still thinking about it all...

"Blue Heron" (2025). Also still with me, this quiet, moving study of a family living with a dangerous, mentally disturbed teen and struggling with how to help him while keeping themselves and their younger children safe.

Most films tacking this topic would ratchet up the drama and peril and be full of yelling and crying. Here, the parents and siblings struggle with the problem internally. Love runs up against uncertainty and no easy solutions are at hand.

Director Sophy Romvari, sharing a personal experience, details the heartbreaking story beautifully and creatively, with an artful twist in time and perspective that allows us to feel the characters' shared plight even more deeply.

Reads:

Vermont's Waterbury Roundabout chats with comics artist Stephen Bissette (Swamp Thing, Tyrant), who was recently named the state's Cartoonist Laureate.

Bissette said he hopes to shed light on many of the state’s forgotten cartoonists. “No one has ever done a history of Vermont cartoonists, ever. I want that to be the outcome of my three years,” he said.

To Bissette, cartoons are everywhere. “Comics is a lot of things. To even use ‘is’ is a little deceitful there. Comics are everywhere,” he said. “Americans tend not to recognize how all-pervasive comics are.”