Jon Harvey's Pocket Reviews

There's a magical feeling that you get every time you walk into the IMAX theater and see the six-story high 80 ft wide screen. The IMAX theater is a unique way of watching movies that everyone should experience at least once in their life. One of my first IMAX viewings was the 2009 Star Trek reboot. It blew my mind with how massive everything looked and how loud and clear the surround-sound speakers were. Nothing's changed, and I still love sitting in those fancy leather seats with my over-sized 3D glasses and popcorn, ready to be transported to another world. The crew of the Enterprise take a much needed pit stop after 3 years into their 5 year deep-space mission at the brand new Yorktown space station. A distress call ends their vacation and they encounter a foe like none they've ever faced which leaves them stranded on a strange planet. Star Trek: Beyond did a great job continuing the continuity of this alternate universe that J.J. Abrams began seven years ago....

"Who you gonna call?" This line along with many others from the original Ghostbusters is arguably as quotable as "Live long and prosper" or "May the Force be with you." Ghostbusters (1984) is a pop-culture phenomenon. The characters, the monsters, the effects, the gadgets, the car, the humor, and the one-liners are all easily recognizable. But, while I was in the theater watching this film, I lost some faith in mankind and some brain cells. At least I had a chocolate milkshake, which my wife graciously bought for me, to keep up my spirits ... Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is a paranormal expert who joins her scientist friend Abby (Melissa McCarthy) on a ghost hunt along with Abby's eccentric colleague named Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Once they discover the quickly rising threat of dangerous paranormal entities, the decision is made to form a team and protect New York City with their advanced ghost-catching gadgetry, sassy new sidekick Patty (Lesli...

Hooray for Hollywood! I've seen a few Cohen Brothers movies, such as Fargo , Blood Simple , O Brother Where Art Thou? , The Big Lebowski , and half of True Grit . One thing you can always count on the brothers for is quality filmmaking. Certain directors have a recognizable style, and they're no different. Yet, this one doesn't quite hit the right marks to make another Cohen Brothers classic. Hail, Caesar! is a story about the waning studio system during the 1950's, the Golden Years of Hollywood. Josh Brolin plays Eddie Manix, a fixer whose job it is to make sure the positive public image of the stars remains intact at a fictional studio named Capitol Pictures. Things get radically more complicated when their biggest star, Baird Whitlock, (George Clooney) goes missing. This is a star-studded affair, which isn't always a good thing (Movie 43 anyone?). This has George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, T...

You know what Disney's been lacking recently? Subtle lessons in racism. I'm kidding, of course. This was just released for rent and I scooped it up not really knowing what to expect, except that I heard some things about it being about racism or something. The story is that animals evolved and now are anthropomorphic and live their lives like us. They live in a world divided into climate controlled districts based on the various ecosystems they inhabit. Judy Hopps is a bunny from a small farming town who dreams of being a cop, regardless of her size. No one believes she can do it, even her own parents (mostly because they fear for her safety). When she does manage to become a cop, she is sent to Zootopia where everyone thinks she's a joke. But when a legit investigation begins on some missing animals, she thinks this is her big break to prove to everyone she's the real deal. Zootopia is a beautifully animated film with some decent voice acting and a smart scri...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in July! I was hyped when I saw the trailer but never got the chance to see this when it came out in theaters. My wife and I saw it at redbox and we settled in for some good ol' fashioned scary fun. For anyone who doesn't know the story of Krampus, it's pretty simple: an evil goat-like anthropomorphic creature punishes the naughty children around Christmas time, an evil St. Nicholas if you will. The popularity around Krampus has been growing over the past few years in the U.S., so Universal took it upon themselves to cash in on it. Want to see how the Europeans celebrate Krampus in his homeland of Austria? Look up the Krampusnecht Festival...nightmare fuel. This film was directed by Michael Dougherty, whose only other directing credit is Trick 'r Treat , another lovely over-the-top horror that you should see if you haven't already. His writing credits include X2 , Superman Returns , and X-Men: Apocalypse . This ...

What do you get when you combine young Stargate Roland Emerich with old-aged 2012 Roland Emerich? Independence Day: Resurgence . It's a fun premise with some fun ideas, but it falls flat on its face...hard. Honestly, if it wasn't for my wife being there, the amazing food, and the pre-teen girls behind us enjoying the movie so much, I would've been miserable. I went with my wife to the Studio Movie Grill in Rocklin. It's kind of become the only theater I want to experience my movies at, besides IMAX. I saw Independence Day when it first came out in 1996. I'm sure my family still has the VHS tape somewhere. I have every line, every sound effect, and every shot burned into the deep recesses of my brain. The original Independence Day is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasure movies. It's dumb popcorn summer fun. I think the only thing this movie had to be was fun, and it failed.   Independence Day: Resurgence  takes place 20 years after the first f...

Holy...wow. This movie. If anyone has ever been to a Trash Film Orgy and loved it, this is the film for you. Being a fan of “so-bad-it’s-good” movies myself, I was immediately tempted to watch I after seeing RedLetterMedia’s review for it. Within an 87 minute run-time, I enjoyed myself so much that I laughed harder than I had in a long time. It’s a film that, at its core, is about friendship for eternity, loyalty, honesty, and sticking together through thick or thin…as the film’s rock band Dragon Sound so eloquently sings. The film's story boils down to this: A group of college students who are black belts in karate and play in a band called Dragon Sound get hired to play at a local night club in Orlando. The girl in the band is dating the bass player, and she is the sister of a gang leader. Her brother the gang leader, his ninja friend gang leader, and a band that Dragon Sound replaced at the club are all out to kill them. What transpires is nothing short of "WTF"....

A few months ago I had the distinct and honorable pleasure of watching one of the funniest and creative (ironic) films ever. This film combines every great 80's pop culture reference into a 30-minute short film that currently has over 25 million views on YouTube, is available on Netflix, and is now being distributed on Blu-ray for infinite amounts of orgasmic synth-neon-buddy-cop-sci-fi-fantasy glory. As the film's YouTube description says: "Kung Fury is an over-the-top 80’s action comedy that was crowd funded through Kickstarter. It features Kung Fury, a Kung Fu renegade cop who travels back in time to kill his Nemesis, Hitler. The film features nazis, dinosaurs, vikings and cheesy one-liners.  The campaign that was launched in December 2013 was backed by more than 17,000 people who together gave more than $630 000. " This is the first movie directed by Swedish filmmaker David Sandberg. He has directed television commercials and music videos. Perhaps feel...