Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Rose Byrne may have lost the Best Actress Oscar race last Sunday, but I’m guessing she’ll have another chance a year from now. She delivers a similarly fierce and exceptional performance in Tow, and the movie itself is already shortlisted for my 2026 Top Ten.
Regular readers of Spinning Platters may have noticed that I’m partial to coming of age films; The Way, Way Back is a personal favorite, and I had both The Edge of Seventeen and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl on my Top 10 lists for their respective years. But all three of those have now been pushed aside in favor of a new genre champion: writer/director Bo Burnham’s feature debut Eighth Grade sets a new standard for all future coming of age pictures. Filmmakers may as well concede now, because no other film will ever come close to measuring up to this exquisite masterpiece.