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Reviews
I Love Trouble (1948)
A soundtrack can make or break a film.
This is a perfect example of how a loud, overbearing, and sappy soundtrack can ruin an otherwise decent detective noir yarn. This blasting soundtrack tries waaay too hard to be the star of the film - creating whimsy and romance when none is necessary. So corny, and directionless, the soundtrack sounds more fitting for a two reel theater serial than for a complex and dark gumshoe adventure. This makes the film unwatchable, for me.
I don't see (or feel) Franchot Tone is right for a 40s noir detective. Shemp Howard could have done a more convincing job of it! All the sweeping fedoras and dangling cigarettes in the world can't make Tone fit into this role.
The ladies do a competent job here, but the involved (convoluted) writing and roles make the film a little hard to follow beyond the surface antics. But seeing beyond the awful, turn-on-a-dime soundtrack blasting in your face is near impossible, and brings this film down to a sad, subpar failure that can't make its mind up on what it wants to be - and ends up being a sappy, confused mess.
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
A must see and decide for yourself roller-coaster film!
It's sad, but understandable, that so many can only reference Tarantino with this film, but the opening is pulled directly from his bag of tricks. There are also shades of Scorsese, De Palma, Godard, and Coen Bros. in this film - and yes, that's impressive. Some fine writing here too, and yet some room for improvement, in a perfect world. But the film is impressive, on nearly every front.
Outstanding performances from all, but Bridges and Hamm stand out in my mind. The bountiful twists and turns would keep you on the edge of your seat, but for the sluggish editing in the second half. Tighten this back-end up and you could be brushing with greatness!
Unfortunately, director Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) failed to rise above the popular politically correct mistake of making the sole black character a noble and lily pure caricature with bold pretenses, whose only flaw is to be trapped in her own feminine victim role, making her ultimately useless when the chips were down and push came to shove (I thought she was street tough!? The bottle?). Which is a real shame. Blacks are blacks, and women are women - and both cartoon points of view need to be moved beyond! But Ms. Erivo does an exceptional job of her character of limited scope, but ample (too much!) screen time.
The other characters in this film are wonderfully rich, flawed, textured, and unpredictable, and the impressive writing gave plenty of room to explore these delicious personality faults.
This is a roller-coaster ride of a film that must be experienced, and each viewer decide on all they have experienced. It's worth the watch, and may be solid gold for some, but a near miss for others, like me. And yet, a second viewing may be necessary. Yes, it does have cult-classic written all over it!