The best the Bay Area has to offer, from the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture.

Critics' PicksCritics' Picks

‘Eephus’ Is the Best Baseball Movie Since ‘Moneyball’

Pie with a pi symbol in the center made of crust, on a marble countertop.

A Tiny Takeout Window Sells Some of the Tastiest Pies in San Jose

Woman and man lean towards each other to kiss

Steven Soderbergh’s Sleek Spy Thriller ‘Black Bag’ Crackles

three men in soccer jerseys in parking lot outside stadium

How Rising Rapper Dee Dot Jones Made the Oakland Roots’ New Anthem

person peeks over large clapperboard in field of wildflowers

Eclectic, Newly Unearthed Films to Be Screened for the First Time in Decades

A Selena Look-Alike Contest in the Mission Pays Homage to the Tejano Queen

two men in suits shake hands

‘Democracy Noir’ Depicts Hungary’s Dark Slide — and Foretells Ours

black-and-white image of man with shaved head in all white in front of detailed figurative artwork

Esteban Samayoa Paints the Art of Surviving

Two Bay Area Memelords Take on Gentrification in a New Doc

A yellow background with a book cover showing balloons and a woman in sunglasses

‘All the Other Mothers Hate Me’ Is a Breezy Read from Sarah Harman

Woman leans over covered body on ground, touches it gingerly

Surreal, Riveting ‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’ Centers on a Family Reckoning

two identical men with "18" and "17" on their chests stand in cold landscape

Bong Joon Ho Slips Us a ‘Mickey 17’