After the mind numbing emptiness of The First Man, I was ready for Bad Times at the El Royale to be good.

And I was a little skeptical. It is two hours and 20 minutes and reviewers made Tarantino like references about it. Now I like Tarantino movies but you can always count on five minute hamburger discussions or other drawn out scenes to slow things down.

Never fear.

Royale goes on my best movies of the year list. Surprising, clever, great dialogue, I was never bored and for me that ain’t easy.

I would say Jeff Bridges was great except an unknown actress named Cynthia Erivo is so good she was award nomination good.

Love this movie.