Michael Sobczak

Roofman is a heartfelt movie that entertains the old fashioned way, with interesting characters and winning performances.  Channing Tatum and Kristen Dunst are engaging in the leading roles, and Tatum’s performance represents a career best.  It’s movie magic rendered at human scale.  Recommended. detroitcineaste

Blue Moon is an engrossing snapshot of the artist in free-fall, with a delightful performance by Ethan Hawke at its center. Its insistence on shrinky-dinking Hawke down to size is a humorous distraction, but not a fatal one. Margaret Qualley radiates glamour as his potential love interest and lifeline. Recommended. detroitcineaste

Good Boy takes its novel premise–a horror story told from the point of view of a dog–and uses it to deliver a surprisingly compassionate ghost story.  Although the movie is scary enough, its insight into the relationship between humans and dogs is haunting and memorable.   Recommended. detroitcineaste

Brimming with expertly-staged, gripping action sequences, One Battle After Another is a funny, sexy and insightful look at revolutions and the people who fight in them.  A bold and confident throwback to the political thrillers of the Sixties and Seventies, it speaks directly to the dangers of our currently hyper-polarized political climate.  Recommended. detroitcineaste

A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey fails because its story is neither cohesive nor captivating.  However, if you’re curious and have time on your hands, the movie creates a beautiful world for Margo Robbie and Colin Farrell to wander through at their peak handsomeness.  Not Recommended. detroitcineaste

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is precisely that, a joyful celebration of the characters who've been part of our lives for the past fourteen years.  Funny, nostalgic and sentimental, it’s a perfect farewell to the franchise.  Recommended. detroitcineaste

An effective if unsurprising concluding entry to this highly successful horror franchise.  It follows the demonic possession playbook to the letter and manages to be creepy, if not scary.  If anything, it sets the table for the upcoming Halloween season.  Mildly Recommended. detroitcineaste

There’s nothing funnier than watching a married couple toss viscous barbs at each other.  Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman are exquisitely acerbic as British love birds who transform into scorpions.  This is a big screen comedy that deserves to be seen with a crowd.  Recommended. detroitcineaste

Nobody 2 is an okay continuation of the original, content with leaning heavily on Bob Odenkirk and his grueling fight scenes. The family scenes help to balance things, and there should have been more of those. The movie is entertaining, but nothing special. Mildly recommended. detroitcineaste

Writer-director Zach Cregger is firing on all cylinders with Weapons, a thoroughly creepy and scary horror movie with a dark sense of humor.  The movie's layered, nonlinear plot structure, haunting imagery and memorable performances make for a spellbinding experience.  Highly recommended. detroitcineaste