Bad Times at the El Royale DVD 2018

     Six strangers check into the El Royale Hotel in Lake Tahoe on the same day.  They each have their own secrets and their stay takes place over one night.  The El Royale is based on the famous Cal Neva Resort and Casino once owned by Frank Sinatra.  The setting of this film is January 27, 1969 if a Nixon press conference that is being shown on TV is live or earlier that day?  The hotel was built with one side on the California border and the other side on the Nevada border.  This affects rules on serving alcohol in the hotel and there are both motel and hotel rooms.  An internal hallway leads to through hotel rooms and the motel rooms are accessed from the outside.

     I did not like this film, it’s too long and there is a LOT of violence!!  I did like the singing of Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet.  There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot but over a short amount of time, I just did not care??  There is not one person that can be trusted?  You don’t know if you can believe any story they tell or are they all made up and full of lies?  If I had been staying at this hotel, I would have checked out right away!!  1 1/2* (I really didn't like this movie)   

        

141 min, Crime directed by Drew Goddard with Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman, Zavier Dolan, Shea Whigham, Mark O’Brien.

Note:  Imdb 7.1 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes, 75% critic 73% audience, Roger Ebert 1 ½* Glenn Kenny, Washington Post 3* out of 4* Michael O’Sullivan, Metacritic 60 out of 100 with 43 critics 7.1 out of 10 with 214 user scores (155 positive, 46 mixed, 13 negative), RollingStone 3* out of 5* Peter Travers, Common Sense Media age 17+ 3* out of 5* Jeffrey M. Anderson, (Positive 1*, violence 5, sex 2*, language 4*, drinking, drugs & smoking 3*), The Independent 2* out of 5* Geoffrey Macnab.

Special Note:  Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Ravenna, Hidden Valley, Oxnard, Heritage Valley, California.  The El Royale was built on a sound stage with much of the furniture and décor custom made.  The color selection was meticulously chosen with the California side using yellows and oranges.  The Nevada side has purples and blues.  Red was reserved for the borderline, jukebox and chandelier, green is almost entirely absent until the end.  Chris Hemsworth had to lose 25-30 pounds of muscle weight immediately after filming Avengers: Infinity War 2018.  Russell Crowe was cast but he was replaced by Jon Hamm.  Tom Holland turned down the role of Miles Miller played by Lewis Pullman.