Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

[Clayton]

This movie was properly named. I had a very bad time watching this.

I hate the script. I hate the pacing. This should be a cautionary tale in film school.

D+

 

[MilkSpiller22]

This movie was properly named. I had a very bad time watching this.

I hate the script. I hate the pacing. This should be a cautionary tale in film school.

D+

'

i didn't think it was THAT bad... But i agree, a little... I didn't like how a subplot became the MAIN plot... and then it just became a bloodshed escape movie...

 

[Sgt Brutus]

I liked it until Hemsworth showed up. Then it completely jumped the shark.

 

[Clayton]

'

i didn't think it was THAT bad... But i agree, a little... I didn't like how a subplot became the MAIN plot... and then it just became a bloodshed escape movie...

My main beef is that the movie hinges on about 7-10 moments where a character gets ambushed. About four of the moments are completely absurd.

I have more issues with it but I realize that the majority of people like this movie so I'll just let them enjoy it

 

[BigFin]

I loved it

 

[moxie]

This movie was properly named. I had a very bad time watching this.

I hate the script. I hate the pacing. This should be a cautionary tale in film school.

D+

Goddammit. I just saw that this is on Prime and had been looking forward to watching it from when it was released. That sucks if it really sucks. Guess I can wait until it's free.

 

[Clayton]

Goddammit. I just saw that this is on Prime and had been looking forward to watching it from when it was released. That sucks if it really sucks. Guess I can wait until it's free.

Like I said, there are people who like it.

I personally would recommend Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Identity, or Clue over this depending on your mood.

 

[Omar 382]

Like I said in the Last Movie thread, this is the third film I've given 0/5 stars.

Bad Times is horrible, shallow, and trite in every way imaginable. I was legitimately angry after I finished it. I haven't been angry after finishing a movie since Vanilla Sky (1.5/5 stars) this past November.

Basically, if you like this movie, while we probably can still share some opinions; more than likely we will fundamentally disagree with each other about films and life in general.

Bad Times at the El Royale: Fuck you

 

[Omar 382]

I liked it a lot. One online reviewer went on about not getting the line down the middle of the hotel. Really dude? What was hard about the imagery there?

Two sides to the hotel. Two sides to all the people staying there.

Two chf thumbs up.

Wow. Duality of human nature/human morality. If properly exccuted, that's heady stuff, for like a 1934 film. Of course, it wasn't properly executed in Bad Times, and I disliked or purely hated every single fucking character in the movie and was completely indifferent if any of them made it out of the hotel or if they all just burned alive at the end.

Usually, a movie has 0 characters that I hate. Usually, when there is 1 character I hate in a movie, I don't like the movie (usually). I don't know if before today I've ever seen a movie where I hated 2 characters. This movie had 3 people I hated with every essence of my being. There was only like 9 people who got any more than two minutes of screen time in the entire goddamn 140 minute runtime?!

 

[Duffman]

Goddammit. I just saw that this is on Prime and had been looking forward to watching it from when it was released. That sucks if it really sucks. Guess I can wait until it's free.

Don’t listen to him, the move is really good. I usually hate slow paced movies but this one was the exception. Was never board and while the Hemsworth character is very Jim Jones-esque it works.

 

[Omar 382]

Don’t listen to him, the move is really good. I usually hate slow paced movies but this one was the exception. Was never board and while the Hemsworth character is very Jim Jones-esque it works.

Yep, checks out.

 

[Duffman]

Yep, checks out.

Why, because I spelt bored wrong? You’re right I should’ve checked over it since I’m using voice text on my phone but that doesn’t mean the movie wasn’t entertaining. If you didn’t think so that’s fine I’m sure we differ on movie opinions but people are allowed to think differently than you.

 

[Clayton]

Wow. Duality of human nature/human morality. If properly exccuted, that's heady stuff, for like a 1934 film. Of course, it wasn't properly executed in Bad Times, and I disliked or purely hated every single fucking character in the movie and was completely indifferent if any of them made it out of the hotel or if they all just burned alive at the end.

Usually, a movie has 0 characters that I hate. Usually, when there is 1 character I hate in a movie, I don't like the movie (usually). I don't know if before today I've ever seen a movie where I hated 2 characters. This movie had 3 people I hated with every essence of my being. There was only like 9 people who got any more than two minutes of screen time in the entire goddamn 140 minute runtime?!

Fwiw, i didn't think every character was unlikable. There were some decent characters in this movie. Notably the two main characters.

 

[Omar 382]

Why, because I spelt bored wrong? You’re right I should’ve checked over it since I’m using voice text on my phone but that doesn’t mean the movie wasn’t entertaining. If you didn’t think so that’s fine I’m sure we differ on movie opinions but people are allowed to think differently than you.

Your grammar had nothing to do with my comment; but I certainly agree that people are allowed to think differently than me.

 

[chf]

Wow. Duality of human nature/human morality. If properly exccuted, that's heady stuff, for like a 1934 film. Of course, it wasn't properly executed in Bad Times, and I disliked or purely hated every single fucking character in the movie and was completely indifferent if any of them made it out of the hotel or if they all just burned alive at the end.

Usually, a movie has 0 characters that I hate. Usually, when there is 1 character I hate in a movie, I don't like the movie (usually). I don't know if before today I've ever seen a movie where I hated 2 characters. This movie had 3 people I hated with every essence of my being. There was only like 9 people who got any more than two minutes of screen time in the entire goddamn 140 minute runtime?!

Surprise, surprise.

No details on WHY you hated them... and here's an idea, I don't think you were supposed to 'like' most of them.

 

[chf]

Like I said, there are people who like it.

I personally would recommend Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Identity, or Clue over this depending on your mood.

See, it depends on what you were expecting. No, it's not even in Fargo's or NCFOM's league. But it's still got really good visuals, has some stunning acting, and was, imo, thoroughly enjoyable. If I have to recomend it OVER those two, can't do it.

Haven't seen Clue or Identity.

 

[calsnowskier]

See, it depends on what you were expecting. No, it's not even in Fargo's or NCFOM's league. But it's still got really good visuals, has some stunning acting, and was, imo, thoroughly enjoyable. If I have to recomend it OVER those two, can't do it.

Haven't seen Clue or Identity.

You haven’t seen Clue? How is that even possible?

 

[calsnowskier]

And it has been a while since I have seen identity, but the concept was interesting.

 

[chf]

You haven’t seen Clue? How is that even possible?

Miss Scarlet in the Dining Room with the 'candlestick' if you know what I mean.

 

[Clayton]

See, it depends on what you were expecting. No, it's not even in Fargo's or NCFOM's league. But it's still got really good visuals, has some stunning acting, and was, imo, thoroughly enjoyable. If I have to recomend it OVER those two, can't do it.

Haven't seen Clue or Identity.

Clue is purely a comedy and I wouldn't put it in the same league, either, but the start of Bad Times is set up in the same way. They're totally different movies, though.

Anyways, I was expecting a complex puzzle that fits together in a satisfying way with some funny or crazy dialogue peppered in somewhere. The problem is that it isn't a complex puzzle. Its a MacGuffin movie. Its about the individual character motivations and they're all totally different and 2 of the 3 MacGuffin's end up getting completely steamrolled by the plot.

Spoiler

What you're left with is one meaningful character arc: Darlene Sweet, the singer. Her major problem is racism. She has talent. She can sing. She lets the movie know this for long stretches. Her duality is that she wears a wig? But she is still attractive but it shows that she is willing to play the game for success. Her major choice is to figure out if she is going to shoot the only guy thats been kind to her and take the money. She gets talked out of it because she wouldn't get away with it. So not really a moral choice. She then gets tied up like everyone else because thats what this movie does. She then escapes because she was really, really lucky. She gets her money and gets to sing because she now knows that she doesn't need the money. The end.

Not the most satisfying arc ever in a movie about morality but we get a happy ending. All of the other arcs were butchered. The Cop and the Military Guy's arc were so small that they probably should've been the same character. The movie really wanted the scene where Hamm gets the shotgun blast at the same time as the Military Guy. Its a dumb scene. The cop breaks into the room, disposes of the threat, unties the victim, the threat while in the same room gets up and kills him. Thats just daft. Not only is it ridiculous for Hamm to not notice the threat moving around but its ridiculous that the movie needs the victim untied to continue the plot.

I could go into more of the movie but the movie is so long that its really difficult to break down why I didn't like it. I just wanted to show that I've seen the movie. Omar's criticism seems very vague.