Bad Times at the El Royale
Written and Directed by Drew Goddard
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Chris Hemsworth, Manny Jacinto, Jim O’Heir, Alvina August, Nick Offerman, Mark O’Brien, Xavier Dolan
Soundtrack: Michael Giacchino
Bad Times at the El Royale is not the worst movie ever, nor would I even say, “It sucks.” However, it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is (or as most people seem to think it is).
The biggest and most glaring issue is that for a film that’s nearly two-and-a-half hours long, the amount of information you receive is borderline shockingly low, which I could abide if it was super-stylized (a la Mandy, or something more Tarantino-esque like Inglourious Basterds), but it’s really not. It’s more plot-driven than character-driven, and dare I say neither the characters nor the performances are all that special.
It’s a shame because I like Drew Goddard for his work on The Cabin in the Woods and The Martian, but something just didn’t quite jell here. Maybe trimming some of the fat to reduce the runtime and quicken the pace would have been an improvement unto itself, but I’m really just spit-balling here; who knows what would have worked?
Again, I didn’t hate it, and if you’re still really curious it might be worth a Redbox rental down the line, but that’s about as much of a recommendation as I can give it.
Rating: ★★½ (out of five)
Original Release Date: November 16, 1984
Written and Directed by Larry Cohen
Cast: Zoë Lund, Eric Bogosian, Brad Rijn, Kevin O’Connor, Bill Oland, H. Richard Greene, Steven Pudenz
Soundtrack: Michael Minard
In our [hopefully continuing] little series on the life and works of Larry Cohen, Special Effects has decidedly been the biggest disappointment.
Much like Bad Times at the El Royale, I didn’t hate it. It at least has the trademark Larry Cohen (and vintage New York City) energy to keep you going, but it suffers from a lack of a strong lead performance (or supporting performance for that matter), and a lack of just plain old verisimilitude. As talented a screenwriter as he is, and as much as I appreciate the influences from, say, Vertigo, there’s an uncanny valley effect to the story here that not even Cohen can overcome, and it’s difficult to not realize how insane and unrealistic it all is.
Again, it’s a shame, because obviously I like Larry Cohen, and I don’t think Zoë Lund and Eric Bogosian are untalented, but the film is a misfire, plain and simple.
Rating: ★★½ (out of five)