Bad Times At The El Royale

Holy shit that was a good movie!

I feel like a complete ass not seeing this earlier, Bad Times At The El Royale came out in early October of last year and I didn't hear about it. Not a trailer, or poster, maybe one little ad while scrolling through my Facebook and I kinda feel betrayed, because it was damn good! Set in the late 60s several people from different walks of life ranging from a singer on her way to Reno, a priest with a faulty memory, and a household appliance salesman all check into the El Royale, a hotel set literally on the border of California and Nevada where they all slowly learn of the hotel's less than known tendencies and everything spirals into crime, blood, and drama. And I gotta admit, it was interesting just about from the word go, the movie is actually kinda split into these vignettes that are all connected to the story and that's a storytelling format not often used, hell the last time I saw it was in Pulp Fiction so it had my attention and kept it. But the characters are what really had me invested to end credits, I mean come on we got Jeff Bridges as a priest who shares the last name of Flynn how do you expect me to say no to that? But Cynthia Erivo who plays the singer Darlene was amazing, and in fact she shares a scene with Jeff that I swear to God makes the whole movie worth watching. It's so hard to explain but they're just two very likable characters and they just sit down and talk during a stormy night and I was completely blown away by that scene. Yes, I'm a sucker for more quiet, intimate, and life discussing scenes it shows real heart and good writing. Just, ugh guys this was such a good scene! It stole the movie for me and it ends the way I wanted it which gets you 2 stars already but you add this mystery intrigue of the hotel's shady doings, and you learn about these characters, and though I have to admit this is the first thing I've ever truly seen Dakota Johnson in and trust me we'll be getting to her soon and yeah she rides a pretty screwed up line in this movie too, it didn't hinder my enjoyment. But whatever, it's damn good. It's what I like to call the Hotel Artemis Effect, a movie that you go into with no expectations but come out of incredibly happy that you saw it and will gladly see again. I'm honestly not sure if I saw this movie it would replace Hotel Artemis on my top 10 list, hell it may have even taken Solo's spot to be truthful. It....it wowed me. So yeah, two big thumbs up, 4 stars, by all means check it out!

I'm honestly not sure what to do tomorrow, I wanted to do Venom cause honestly that is a movie worth talking about more and deserves a second viewing but I also kinda want to browse the rentals and see if there's anything of note to watch. So I guess we'll know tomorrow!