Review: “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”

4.5 out of 5 stars. “You can’t hate a place unless you love it.” Those words, spoken by Jimmie Fails toward the end of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” perfectly sum up the film as a portrait of gentrification in a rapidly changing city. Fails plays himself in this semi-autobiographical story that was […]

Review: “Cold War”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Many of the greatest film romances of all time are sweeping epics, in runtime and scale but also in the way they probe into so many aspects of their characters’ lives and relationships. Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski does almost the opposite of this with his romantic drama “Cold War.” The […]

Review: “Eighth Grade”

5 out of 5 stars. “Eighth Grade” is the story of an average girl’s last week of middle school. But there’s nothing average about this film, which is the debut feature from writer/director Bo Burnham. Rather than a quirky and sugar-coated teen comedy, it’s about as honest and unflinching as a portrayal of middle school […]