Mike Tyrkus

For what initially looks like a slightly above average tearjerker of a slog through a castoff Lifetime movie of the week, the new dramedy, The High Note, from Focus Features proves to be a surprisingly delightful tale that showcases the talents of its two leads, Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross, and makes for a refreshing change of pace from the action and/or adventure films that have traditio...[Read More]

Director D.W. Young’s documentary, The Booksellers, began streaming on various virtual cinema screens back on Friday, April 17 and has finally made its Detroit debut via the same medium at the Detroit Institute of Arts and those who seek it out will find it to be a thought-provoking treatise on the decline of the eclectic world of rare book dealers and the effects that could have on the material y...[Read More]

The new film, Slay the Dragon, from directors Chris Durrance and Barak Goodman, may prove to be one of the more pivotal, and possibly important films of the year when all is said and done. The film is a mediation and analysis of the political process and effects of gerrymandering—the practice of creating boundaries for electoral districts that ostensibly favor certain political interests within le...[Read More]

The timeless story of Peter Pan is reimagined in the wildly inventive and engrossing Wendy from director Benh Zeitlin. But the real treasure of the film is young star Devin France who bedazzles and electrifies the screen as the titular character. Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, the fabled Wendy must fight to save her brothers, gain her freedom, and retain the jo...[Read More]

Believe it or not, the film I Still Believe from Lionsgate is ostensibly the true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp. But, this allegedly “inspiring” love story from the directors of the similarly-themed I Can Only Imagine (2018) is pretty much a copy of their earlier film and that’s about the loftiest praise you can bestow upon it. Camp is played by J.J. Apa (Archie from television’s ...[Read More]

Stop me if you’ve know this one, twelve strangers wake up in deserted clearing with no idea of how they arrived there and aClear cachere then systematically hunted for sport by more affluent members of society. If you haven’t heard that story, morality play, joke, or whatever you would like to call it, before, that may be because it is none of those things. It is, in fact, the plot of the new horr...[Read More]

The latest comic-book to be adapted as a film, Bloodshot, stars Vin Diesel as a recently murdered soldier named Ray Garrison who is resurrected and bestowed with super strength and healing abilities thanks to nanotechnology coursing through his veins. Now, of course, he’s hell bent on exacting revenge on those that not only caused his early demise, but robbed him of the love of his life. Or is he?...[Read More]

The latest offering from the pairing of Disney/Pixar, Onward, asks audience to imagine a world without wizards or magic. At first, you may think that wouldn’t be so hard to do, but there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye (there always is in cases such as this). Onward ponders this existential question and balances a heartfelt message along with some exquisite lead performances from Chris Pratt...[Read More]

The new film, The Way Back, is and often frustrating, yet occasionally inspiring tale of redemption that meanders its way through a typical, yet clumsily told comeback story. The saving grace of the whole endeavor though is the solid work done by Ben Affleck. His work transcends the film’s shortcomings to give the film a reason to exist. The film tells the story of former high basketball phenom Ja...[Read More]

There’s an underlying message in Michael Winterbottom’s new film Greed that feels like it was tailor-made commentary on the current era in American politics, not directly, but rather the environment that created and actively fosters it right now. But, the outside vantage point afford by this import is not only oddly incomplete, but it is also a tad condescending in its condemnation of the state of...[Read More]