Mike Tyrkus

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

Interview with Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, the writers, directors, and stars of Hell Baby

Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon are perhaps best known to the public as Deputy Travis Junior (Garant) and Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Lennon) from the comedy series Reno 911!  (2003-2009). But they’ve also been working steadily behind the camera as writers, having written numerous big budget screenplays including Night at the Museum and Balls of Fury (they also created Reno 911!). Altogether, their...[Read More]

The Ten Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2013

The summer passed by quickly didn’t it? Remember when we were wondering whether Star Trek Into Darkness would be any good? Spoiler: It was. Or whether The Lone Ranger would be an uncontested box office champion? Another spoiler: It wasn’t. Or whether a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters would appeal to audiences made up of more than just nerds? And how would Iron Man 3 perform as the...[Read More]

The Five Greatest Pre-J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movie Scenes

With the release of the second Star Trek feature from director J.J. Abrams, Star Trek Into Darkness, earlier this summer it seems like as good a time as any to have some fun and remember the best Star Trek movie scenes from earlier films that are, well, just plain fun. I would assume that by now, you’ve at the very least seen one of the Abrams-helmed Star Trek films. Critical reaction for Star Tre...[Read More]

Interview with Paul Feig and Joey McIntyre, the Director and co-star of The Heat

The new Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat arrives in theaters this Friday. The film is a feminine take on the buddy cop genre, which isn’t all that odd considering the film’s director is Paul Feig, the man who made the female-driven comedy Bridesmaids in 2011. Feig was recently in town promoting The Heat, along with actor Joey McIntyre, who is perhaps best known as a member of Ne...[Read More]

Four of the Funniest Star Trek Film Lines

One of the greatest things about Star Trek has always been its humor. The ability to never take itself too seriously yet still convey a serious message at times is one of the reasons fans are so drawn to it. The various Star Trek films have been ripe with quotes that fans have repeated ad nauseam to anyone within earshot. While an authoritative list of all of these would more than likely number in...[Read More]

Interview with Sacha Gervasi, director of Hitchcock

Sacha Gervasi (pronounced Jur-VAH-zee), the director of the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, made his feature film directing debut this year with the film Hitchcock. He’s also made a name for himself as a successful screenwriter, penning such entries as the Steven Spielberg-helmed film The Terminal. Based on the Stephen Rebello book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Gervasi’s new f...[Read More]

Interview with Josh Peck, star of Red Dawn

Back in 2008, actor Josh Peck established himself as a talent to take notice of with his star turn alongside Sir Ben Kingsley in The Wackness, in which he played a troubled young man who sells pot from an ice cream pushcart. This year, he’s back in the action film Red Dawn – a remake of the much-adored film from 1984 about a fictional Russian invasion and occupation of the United States and the sm...[Read More]

The 10 Best Zombie Movies Ever Made

Is there anyone out there that doesn’t enjoy a good zombie movie? The infiltration of zombies into our popular culture and continued success of the cinema of the undead suggests that there isn’t. While zombie cinema is a genre that owes its beginning to the seminal Night of the Living Dead in the late 1960s, it’s also one that has shown remarkable growth over the last few years as renewed interest...[Read More]

Cinema Revisited: The Films of the Beatles

Since Beatlemania seems to be going stronger than ever these days, and interest in the films the band made has peaked yet again (the Magical Mystery Tour film joins Yellow Submarine as a new DVD release from the band’s catalog this year), it’s easy for a film-obsessed Beatlefan to to get a little nostalgic regarding the film career of the Fab Four (you know, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Har...[Read More]

Five Remakes That Suck and Five That Don’t

The disturbingly more frequent trend of remaking or recycling classic or popular films and/or properties into vehicles designed to appeal solely to a target demographic without any consideration given to quality or whether a remake is actually warranted or needed has really got me annoyed. Witness the recent release of Dredd, the remake of Judge Dredd which starred Sylvester Stallone or this year’...[Read More]

CinemaLinks: A Prometheus Primer

So, you’re planning to see Ridley Scott’s return to science fiction, Prometheus this weekend? You say you’re wondering if you’ll be able to enjoy it without having a deep profound knowledge of the other Alien films? Well, we here at CinemaNerdz are here to help and this week we’ve found a couple exquisite primers on the Alien saga to aid you in deciding whether Prometheusis right for you. Enjoy. _...[Read More]

The Ten Best Baseball Movies Ever Made

There’s a speech given by James Earl Jones as writer Terence Mann in Field of Dreams that perfectly sums up the American love affair with the game of baseball. As Mann tries to convince Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, that a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield is a surefire money-making business venture and not the byproduct of a midlife crisis, he hits upon why we love the ...[Read More]

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