Benz Eye View: Easter Sunday

Pros:

1.) The one saving grace is the Filipino family; I found them to be likable, funny, and easily the biggest stand-outs of the entire movie. The actors all have chemistry with each other like an actual Filipino family, their culture is decently shown, and their interactions have the best jokes. They easily hold this movie on their own…

Cons:

1.) …Despite that, the comedy is hit-or-miss here. Joe Valencia’s (played by Jo Koy) family is the funniest thing in the movie, but everything else does not always land well. Jokes including Jo’s former girlfriend, Vanessa (played by Tiffany Haddish), someone commenting on a guy getting shot on the penis hole, and one character not getting cast in Braveheart are not exactly the best jokes ever. Even Jo Koy does not do well with his comedy, and there is even a forced moment in a church where it is clearly an excuse for him to do a mini comedy special. For a supposed comedy movie starring a comedian, it is barely funny.

2.) This movie is full of amateur filmmaking/editing. The editing is pretty dodgy with examples including an old friend of Jo (disguised as a bunny mascot) reuniting with him and it quickly cuts to them happily hugging instead of a surprise reaction from Jo first, a car chase sequence that is so poorly edited that it is easy to get lost what is happening despite how simple it is, and plenty of cuts from shot-to-shot that makes a scene look boring to any film language people. Also, the car driving/chasing scenes have pretty bad green screen effects when the background does not blend in with the cars and characters well. Add that the filmmaking is bad enough to make it similar to a typical bad Christian movie filmmaking, then this movie certainly does not have a good film crew.

3.) I expected this movie to be stupid, but not this stupid. The writing is not strong here with many events being overexaggerated at best and completely unoriginal at worst. Many bad writing issues include certain plot points getting resolved easily, one plot point involves one family member having money problems with a gang that feels out of place, Jo’s son has a love interest that feels forced and barely adds anything and so many other convenient moments. Jo has a famous catchphrase, “Let’s get the party started!” that he uses so much despite that every surfer dude character stereotype has used that line, so it easily gets tiring. Finally, despite the movie being called Easter Sunday, it barely feels like Easter at all: the family is Catholic, they go to church at one point, and there is a creepy statue of young Jesus; that is as much acknowledgment of the holiday.

Overall:

An Easter movie about a Filipino family trying to get along during that celebration starring Jo Koy sounds like a decent idea for a comedy, but the execution leaves so much to be desired. There are so many dumb things that do not help the movie from its poor writing to the bad filmmaking. The only saving grace is the Filipino family and cast chemistry, but not enough to clear the movie’s obvious issues. This is an easy skip and a family reunion not worth going to even on Easter Sunday.

3/10

Benz Eye View: I Am Groot

Honestly, there may be no point in reviewing this since the show is just five shorts about Groot, but since this is part of the MCU, I might as well review them. Welcome back to MCU Marathon, and we are now going to take a look at a series of shorts involving the young and adorable Groot called I Am Groot.

Pros:

1.) If you love Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) as a child, you are definitely going to love this series of shorts. He is just as adorable as you have seen him in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and he reacts to many shenanigans as it happens to him. He is already a good appeal to family and children due to his cute appearance, so if you love child Groot, you can see more of him here.

2.) Occasionally, these shorts will have some funny moments here and there. It is not the most impressive comedy, but I do like that many of the comedic moments are just visual instead of dialogue since there are little to no lines (besides “I am Groot”). It may be Groot just accidentally doing some damage or intentionally causing it. Either way, Groot can be pretty funny at times.

3.) The CG animation is not too bad. As far as I can tell, there is no live action at all with maybe one small exception, so the VFX artists have full control here, and they did a good job. Realistic interior and exterior areas alongside Groot and other alien wildlife make the CG look great…

Cons:

1.) …There is one exception to the CG animation, and just in case, I am putting a SPOILER WARNING here. Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) appears in the last episode, and he looks a little off. His appearance is fine, but his movement seems robotic. He does not move as naturally as he does in other appearances, so I do not know why he is like that here. Maybe the CG animators ran out of time, but regardless, Rocket moves a bit unnaturally.

END SPOILER WARNING

2.) If you are hoping for some creativity here, then I am sad to say that this show will not fit into Pixar’s more clever shorts. Not much happens here other than Groot has to deal with some shenanigans (i.e., encountering a small civilization, bathing in a hot tub that makes him grow leaves) and that is it. Honestly, the best episode in my opinion is episode 3, “Groot’s Pursuit,” because he has a foe to face despite it being an odd enemy. There is not much appealing plot in these episodes…

3.) …What hurts it a bit more is that it is over soon as it begins. These shorts last around three minutes each. I know these are supposed to be shorts but combined with less-than-compelling plots in each episode, it feels shorter than usual. Let’s compare that with a Pixar short, Luxo Jr. That short is only two minutes long, and despite a simple narrative that only has one shot, it was more interesting than any of the I Am Groot shorts. With weak narratives or stories that are delivered better in other shorts, the runtime kind of hurts this show.

Overall:

I wonder who has been asking for this: a series of shorts involving child Groot. I really do not have much to say about this other than it exists. It is not offensive nor does it really stand out that much unless you are a huge fan of child Groot, which I know he has so many fans. That is the only recommendation I can make for this series of shorts: if you love Groot as a child, you will definitely love this series (and apparently more of it is coming as the MCU progresses). Otherwise, I cannot really see what this adds to the MCU other than fluff, which is probably what it is in the end.

Occasional Viewing

Benz Eye View: Bullet Train

Pros:

1.) While I have seen better comedies, this movie does a decent job with its comedy. Ladybug (played by Brad Pitt) tends to be unlucky but wants to change into something better after his mercenary job, and he gets dragged into a mess that he did not want to get involved in; that in itself invites some comedy. It also has Tangerine and Lemon (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry respectively) constantly arguing with each other (especially with Lemon’s obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine), and a weird Japanese mascot is somehow involved in this “simple” job. From violent comedy to funny arguments, this movie may not hit all of its jokes, but the ones that do does a good job on it.

2.) If I had to pick the two best characters in the movie, it is Tangerine and Lemon. Honestly, the two get more screen time than Ladybug, and they constantly bicker at each other despite clearly caring for each other like brothers. They are in charge of transporting a couple of things, and it becomes a huge mess they have to deal with despite not knowing what is happening. I am not going to say they are the deepest characters you have seen, but they are the most interesting characters to me at least.

3.) The movie uses action sparingly, but when it is used, it is done well. It is utilized decently in the first two acts, but by the third act, it goes over-the-top and bloody at the same time. Considering that this movie was directed by David Leitch from Deadpool 2, he goes all out here and it is well earned despite some ridiculous moments. The action itself makes the whole movie worth a watch.

Cons:

1.) Brad Pitt’s Ladybug is the least interesting character out of all of the other major characters. He gets dragged into a conflict that has little to do with him despite his bad luck, making the other characters more interesting in comparison. His own arc does little for his character, and it is certainly not one of Brad Pitt’s best characters despite the actor trying.

2.) There are a couple of characters that I thought would have a bigger role in this movie, but they left as soon as they are introduced. I am not going to spoil who they are, and there is a reason for their small roles, but it is disappointing to see that they have not much to do after they are presented. They could have at least had some run time before their pass is over.

3.) This movie goes on a bit too long due to some slow pacing. The reasons for that are as follows: some of the comedic moments go on for a bit too long, there is a little too much exposition, and plenty of characters to follow. Some of this can be mitigated with some editing, while the character issue is problematic due to the fact that some characters are more interesting than others, and even the interesting characters are just slightly better versions of generic stereotypes. It does not make the movie bad, but it does not help it that much.

Overall:

Based on a Japanese novel called Maria Beetle, Bullet Train is just a dumb fun movie. It is what I expected when I saw the trailers: a fun action movie with some over-the-top moments, especially by the third act. It does have its issues and I doubt this will be anyone’s best action film of all time, but it is a good movie to watch if you cannot find anything entertaining in the movie theaters right now. It does its job, so you can enjoy a distracting action movie that can take you for a ride.

7/10