Bad Times At The El Royale -2018- -bluray- -720... 99%

Drew Goddard loves to play with frame composition. In the 720p BluRay format, you can appreciate how McGarvey uses the rule of thirds to isolate characters in doorways and across the state line.

Seven individuals converge at the El Royale, which is run by a lone, drug-addicted employee named Miles Miller. The initial guests include:

Darlene Sweet’s storyline provides the film’s emotional heartbeat. As the only character without a violent agenda, she is the audience’s surrogate. Her repeated performances of "This Old Heart of Mine" (The Isley Brothers) are not diegetic filler; they are acts of survival. Singing is the one pure, uncorrupted action she can take in a building designed for voyeurism. When she sings into the motel’s vintage microphone, the sound is piped through the entire building. For a few minutes, the thieves, the ex-priest, and the kidnapper all pause and listen. Goddard suggests that art—raw, human expression—is the only thing that can momentarily puncture the haze of paranoia and violence.

The physical Blu-ray includes a making-of documentary, featurettes, trailers, and an image gallery. Quick Movie Guide Feature Director Drew Goddard Lead Cast

Every character wears a mask. The priest is a criminal. The salesman is a cop. The singer pretends to be confident. The El Royale’s two-way mirrors (one-way glass in every room) literalize the theme of surveillance and performance. Goddard asks: Who are you when no one is watching?