Bad Times At The El Royale (Drew Goddard, October 12, 2018) Movie • Page 2

I thought it was great that both the film reel and the bag of money were really just macguffins.

 

I thought this was Not Great - characters were underdeveloped, the narrative structure did more harm than good especially w/r/t pacing, and there wasn't enough of a through-line to get me to care about any of the various storylines. My partner left before Hemsworth even got to the hotel, I stuck it out hoping that last act would turn it around, but it wasn't worth it.

Pulp Fiction meets The Hateful Eight with a dash of the Voyeur doc sounds good on paper, it just didn't come together for me. The twist/subversion in Cabin in the Woods was strong enough that it let Goddard get away with letting the first half be hack-y/tropey, but there was nothing in Bad Times to similarly elevate the material.

It's maybe not the best comparison, but it reminded me of American Hustle - a solid cast, a solid premise, a decent director reaching for something that was maybe too ambitious, and the results left a lot to be desired.

Cynthia Erivo delivered a great performance, and her scenes with Jeff Bridges were strong. The 6/10 from IMBD and the 5.9/10 from RT Top Critics seems right on the money to me. Style over substance, with tighter editing and stronger first and third acts there could have at least been something memorable here.

 

Pretty sure the film was suppose to be JFK, though, right?

 

That was who I thought, since there was a photo of Marilyn on the wall, but idk.

 

I also saw speculation it was RFK or MLK

 

Yeah Rosie saying I know that guy he died implied it

 

I really enjoyed this. Went in not really knowing much, having only seen the trailer.

 

this was.... super duper.....okay. Like it can't be a more 7.5/10 kind of movie. It seemed a little amateurish and the direction was very uninspired and scattered. Not amazing, not terrible, there's definitely a very good movie here but i dont think it ever reached the full potential.

kinda forgettable but not bad

 

Totally agree. This wasn't bad but it felt like a half assed Tarantino clone.

 

this is a good and apt review. My feelings to a T

 

I went into this knowing very little about it, only seeing the trailer once, but somehow it still failed to meet my expectations. I must have misinterpreted what I saw in the trailer because I was expecting something completely different. I said "this is getting so good" to myself during the first part but then never it went the direction I thought/wanted it would go. I still enjoyed it but I guess I was expecting more of a psychological thriller that touches on horror so I was kinda let down.

 

I loved this despite a couple of issues but still a solid 9/10, far better than The Cabin in the Woods.

 

No way is this better than Cabin In The Woods

 

I haven't seen this yet but fuck that Cabin In The Woods take, perfect film

 

Cabin in the Woods is one of the most rewatchable movies ever

 

Cabin in the Woods was original and unexpected. This was derivative and cliche.

 

Guess I don't hold the popular opinion, oh well. Doesn't take away from how much I enjoyed this over what the director previously did.

 

It's been at least a few years since I've seen Cabin in the Woods, but I enjoyed Bad Times way more on my first watch.

 

Hah I was wondering why we were comparing those two movies and then realized it was same director.

I mean no way in bloody hell was this anywhere close to cabin in the woods. On first watch I thought cabin in the woods was like .. the last movie I ever needed to see. After years of bad horror movies, this was the movie that tied it all together.

El royale was the most forgettable uninspired movie I've seen in a long time. Long uninteresting dialogue, bleh characters, bleh plot... I mean to me as soon as hamm dies the movie took a huge nose dive. The way the movie was chopped up into different "chapters" was not only cliche...it was unnecessary and proved how little of an idea he really had.

But that's one man's opinion

 

I saw this Sunday and still don't know exactly how I feel. I think I was bored at certain points and I wanted way more but I don't think it was bad. From the comments in here sounds like I need to see Cabin in the Woods.

 

I’ve stayed away from all press regarding this movie and only watched the first trailer once as I wanted to go into this as blind as possible. I didn’t have too much invested but I’m a big fan of Cabin In The Woods and man, this was such a disappointment. Just so fucking boring and the pacing is absolutely awful. It’s not even slow burn it’s just bad storytelling. Then, while I did appreciate that they weren’t afraid to kill off anyone, Jon Hamm’s character was easily the most interesting part of the film and once his story was cut it was all downhill from there. I couldn’t wait for it to be over tbh. Maybe would have worked better as an episode of TV I dunno.

All I wanted was to be able to turn my brain off and have dumb fun and it wasn’t even that.


Edit: also, there are so many elements about this movie that I love on paper but the execution fell flat

 

yeesh this was a mess

 

while i ultimately enjoyed this i can easily see its flaws. always felt it was on the cusp of becoming a great movie but just ended up good.

 

It’s like an Apatow movie, would have been better if 30 minutes shorter.

 

Just finished watching this. I liked it a lot! Agree it could have been greater though.