No Scrubs, No Skips: "CrazySexyCool," reviewed for CityCast DC

Holli’ Gabrielle Conway, Jade Milan and Stoney B. Woods as T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli in CrazySexyCool. (Julieta Cervantes)

My review of CrazySexyCool is my first for CityCast DC, where I’ll be contributing regularly, I’m glad to say. The TL:DR on the new TLC show is that music and dancing are great, while director / book writer Kwame Kwei-Armah deploys his artistic license to compress and dramatize the pioneering Atlanta girl-group’s saga in some confounding ways. Considering that all of this history has been told not just in documentaries like 2024’s TLC Forever, but in name-naming dramatizations like the 2013 TV movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, I didn’t get why so many easily identified figures get pseudonyms here — including longtime TLC manager Bill Diggins, who produced the musical!

As the end of the opening-night performance June 26, Diggins joined TLC’s two surviving members, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, on-stage to congratulate the cast and crew. In show, Diggins is called “Danny.” He’s played by DC actor Aaron Bliden, whose castmates turned to salute him after the real Chilli quipped to Diggins during their post-show remarks, “I didn’t know you could sing.”

Weird! But those two-dozen TLC bangers still bang.

Movie Death Match: "Inception" v. "Interstellar"

With just a week until the release of The Odyssey, two time-dilating Christopher Nolan joints go cowl-to-cowl in an IMAX melee so epic Homer could’ve written it. New York magazine / Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri rides for 2010’s Inception while Pop Culture Scientist (and University of Oxford scientist) Abigail James reps 2014’s Interstellar in an all-new, mostly-different Movie Death Match!

Welcome to the Planet(s): "Supergirl," reviewed.

Supergirl is unique in that it’s a largely faithful adaptation of one specific comic book story, and a recent one at that. But it never reaches the heights of inspiration ascended by its source material, Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It doesn’t even come close. My Washington City Paper review is here.

You've Got a Friend in These: "Toy Story 5," reviewed.

It’s the best fifth chapter of a film franchise since Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation! My Washington City Paper review is here.

Movie Death Match: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" v. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"

New pod! We took the critical insight of Filmspotting and added the primal thrill of bloodsport to create Movie Death Match!

In our Disclosure Day themed debut episode, two "passionate and highly credentialed advocates" argue the relative merits of Steven Spielberg's two friendly-visitor classics. Representing 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind is Margaret Weitekamp, curator nonpareil! Pounding the table for 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is Jen Chaney, critic extraordinaire!

I'm grateful to them both for their game participation and to Filmspotter-in-Chief Adam Kempenaar for the opportunity to administer firm-but-fair cinematic jurisprudence.

I Love "I Love Boosters!"

I Am Curious (Yellow): Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, and Kiki Palmer are The Velvet Gang. (Jennifer Nguyen/NEON)

Walking out of Boots Riley’s sophomore feature I Love Boosters! a month ago, I wrote that the movie “features a device called a Situational Accelerator, and you’ll need one to keep up with this hilariously unhinged but incisive mashup of Brazil, Set It Off, and Norma Rae. (If you asked me again in five minutes I’d probably name three different movies). It’s a big step forward in ambition & execution from Sorry to Bother You, and the best stuff in it isn’t in the trailers. I can’t wait to spend the rest of the year arguing with you about it.”

I don’t think I improved upon that much in my Washington City Paper review, but it’s here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu."

The trio from the Baby, Secret of the Lost Legend episode of A Degree Absolute! — Jordan Morris, Glen Weldon, and yours truly — reunite to work through our extremely mild enthusiasm for the latest Star War, The Mandalorian and Grogu. My Washington City Paper review of the same is here.

(More) Bitch, Please: "The Devil Wears Prada 2," reviewed.

Stanley Tucci and Anne Hathaway quarrel on threads.

For a much later follow-up of the type that has recently become somewhat common, The Devil Wears Prada 2 is more reminiscent of the comedy sequel model of the 1980s: Simply remake the first film after an interval of no less than 18 months or more than five years, reprising every beat and every gag. From its episodic plot to its shrugging title, DWP2 has big ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ / ‘Crocodile Dundee II’ / ‘Ghostbusters II’ energy. And because this is a glossy Hollywood movie about characters who fully expect to be judged on their appearance, the principal cast members don’t even look much older than they did in 2006. It’s strange.

My Washington CIty Paper review of The Devil Wears Prada 2 is here.