At its core, Bad Times is a film about duality. California, Nevada. Glamour, abandonment. The song, the food. The money, the film. The sins of the past, the consequences of the present.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 18, 2024

It’s almost like Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorcese doped up on Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock’s contained storytelling before picking up Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” to remix.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 9, 2024

Jeff Bridges as Father Daniel Flynn was outstanding and will go down as one of my favorites from him.

| Original Score: B+ | May 9, 2024

Phenomenal cast, with outstanding performances from everyone. A lost narrative structure is brought back to elevate a brilliant R-rated mystery, filled with memorable scenes and a fantastic score.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 24, 2023

Bad Times at the El Royale is a movie best seen cold, without foreknowledge of its major reveals...

| Jun 7, 2023

[Bad Times at the El Royale] delivers from start to finish and will have you wanting more once it ends.

| Jan 22, 2023

Goddard deftly maneuvers his unconventional narrative while playing with time, tinkering with points of view, and tossing in a MacGuffin or two.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

Goddard;s script, which on the surface could be accused of selling an angle more than a narrative, nonetheless allows the actors several leisurely moments to chew scenery or simply inhabit their roles.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 11, 2022

It's a mystery, it's a thriller, it's Bad Times at the El Royale!

| Oct 29, 2021

Episode 12: Away We Go

| Original Score: 70/100 | Sep 1, 2021

It all looks phony and sounds artificial from side to side.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 23, 2021

[Cynthia Erivo's] talent is completely mismanaged by this movie.

| Jun 16, 2021

A good movie filled with bad people. It asks you to care about people who do terrible things and by the end, thanks to inventive storytelling and good performances - Erivo is s standout - you just might.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 1, 2021

The cast is terrific across the board, hopefully making a star out of Cynthia Erivo and telling the world that Jeff Bridges has a lot of enthusiasm left in him yet.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 2, 2021

[It] finally takes itself far too seriously for something so short on depth-let alone the wit and suspense it more urgently needs.

| Oct 21, 2020

Even if El Royale isn't a game changer for whodunit thrillers, it still manages to be pleasing for fans of such films.

| Oct 2, 2020

There's no denying El Royale's secret weapon. No, not all the smuggled guns everyone's packing, but the stunning vocals and magnetic delivery of Tony Award-wining British singer-songwriter, Cynthia Erivo.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 19, 2020

Bad Times at the El Royale holds a Western mirror to the musings seen in Japanese films of its own time period, making for a stylish -- if surface-level -- shapeshifter.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2020

It's a square film that relates many things at the same time, but does not know how to unite the set or make its characters interesting. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 15, 2020

Far too long, far too slow, and not nearly as engaging or clever as it wants to be.

| Original Score: C- | Jun 30, 2020