{"id":2869,"date":"2018-10-12T21:44:02","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T21:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=2869"},"modified":"2018-10-12T22:48:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T22:48:14","slug":"bad-times-at-the-el-royale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/bad-times-at-the-el-royale\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Times at the El Royale"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This film is a hoot! There is surprise after surprise as you get sucked into this curiously clever, crime misadventure. One by one, characters show up at Lake Tahoe\u2019s El Royale hotel that\u2019s a trip in itself. Half of it is in Nevada, and the other half in California. Each half is furnished with seedy old decor of the state it\u2019s in. It\u2019s supposedly based on the Cal Neva resort which was once owned by Frank Sinatra.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, The Martian, Lost<\/i>) claims to have finally written and directed the movie he\u2019s always wanted to see. We didn\u2019t know we<\/i> wanted to see it, but now we want to see it again! He was even secretive about sending his script to prospective studios.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The cast of this fun-loving mystery must have been scratching their heads when they read this script. The nature of every guest along with the hotel manager are revealed very slowly. Then there\u2019s the true nature. Are they who or what you think they are?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a murder at the get go, but that\u2019s not the only story line you\u2019ll find yourself following, and willingly. Who are all these weird people showing up in the middle of the night? Each seems to have a secret. They\u2019re all different and don\u2019t seem to be connected in any way.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2876″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2878″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2875″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Twists and turns abound in this drawing room farce that is part Hitchcock mystery, part Tarantino violence, with robbery, murder, kidnapping, and a series of disconnected souls including a Cult leader, a vacuum cleaner salesman, a Motown singer, a nervous hotel manager, and a pastor who drinks a lot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm) plays the shady vacuum cleaner salesman with another agenda. Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo – The color Purple, Widows)<\/i> is the soul singer looking for refuge from something (don\u2019t know what or from whom), Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson) bursts on the scene on the lam hiding someone she\u2019s kidnapped, and Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is the pastor who doesn\u2019t act like one. He\u2019s kind of like a fake Pastor Lubowski who\u2019s got the gift of gab and likes the bar a lot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the hotel manager, Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman). He\u2019s a nervous kind of guy who seems to know what\u2019s going on in the hotel, but is not willing to share it. What\u2019s he up to? Hamm\u2019s character does a little exploring and finds secret passages with a purpose. The long hallway is theatrical, more like a stage than a set, with a way for the person in the passageway to see what\u2019s going on in each room, with or without sound. It\u2019s a useful tool for the filmmaker. Hamm finds an old film that has someone important doing something with someone they shouldn\u2019t. Hmmm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, there are some good tales, and clues to who these people really are, plus some fine music from the late 60\u2019s on the old juke box. You get to hear Darlene Sweet sing some old sweet songs. Her voice is so soothing and her innocence and sadness make her the most appealing of the lot. Goddard had her sing live to make it more effective and she\u2019s a standout, both acting and singing.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2873″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2872″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2870″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Goddard packs in everything. Humor, pathos, love, distrust, disrespect and violence come bubbling up as we follow each stranger. All to a soundtrack that\u2019s just as important because it reflects a time when there was a big period of transition for the country politically. There had been assassination after assassination. That changed the country\u2019s outlook from optimism to something darker and more insecure shown in this character-driven adventure. And the music becomes another character in the film. The film is rich in detail and color. It\u2019s very theatrical, but certain scenes are exceptional, especially those shot in the rain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Hemsworth pops on the scene late in the film as a cult leader. He lost 35 pounds after wrapping The Avengers<\/i> to play this role. Of course, his shirt comes off to show his 12 pack. Goddard says he\u2019d tell him to put it back on but he\u2019d just \u201cwhip it off\u201d on each take. Hemsworth as Billy Lee, is a charming bad ass and takes the film out to left field\u2026.with humor. There\u2019s a lot of humor in the film from several of the characters. And many twists. Wait till you see Hotel Manager Miles in action.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, this film gets violent, and when least expected. Those are the bad times. But there are also a lot of fun times, also unexpected. This is one uniquely fun romp with surprise after surprise.<\/p>\n

20th Century Fox \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0140 minutes \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>R[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=y7wzBVARwaU” el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This film is a hoot! There is surprise after surprise as you get sucked into this curiously clever, crime misadventure. One by one, characters show up at Lake Tahoe\u2019s El Royale hotel that\u2019s a trip in itself. Half of it is in Nevada, and the other half in California. Each half is furnished with seedy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[507,509,58,504,510,508,502,503,505,506],"class_list":["post-2869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-bad-times-at-the-el-royale","tag-cal-neva-resort","tag-chris-hemsworth","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-dakota-johnson","tag-dramedy","tag-drew-goddard","tag-jeff-bridges","tag-john-hamm","tag-lewis-pullman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2869"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2882,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2869\/revisions\/2882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}