When’s the last time you saw a good movie? There are important movies, Oscar winning movies, important biopics, large ensemble dramas about important issues of our day. There are superhero movies, huge Marvel universe movies, Batman movies, Superman Wonder Woman Batman crossover movies. Then there are standard comedies, indie comedies and dramas, and whatever the hell Wes Anderson movies are.

But when’s the last time you saw a movie that was just plain good? You don’t really know what it’s about going in but it draws you in immediately and is satisfying throughout.

I’ve seen two recently. The first is A Simple Favor. It was a good dark comedy that had a lot of twists and turns. Blake Lively was really compelling and Anna Kendrick was as watchable as ever. In the end there were a few too many twists and turns at the end but it was still a good movie from start to finish.

Tonight I watched Bad Times at the El Royale and just really liked it. It wasn’t an important work by an Important Director (though, writer director Drew Goddard created Daredevil for Netflix, wrote the screenplay for The Martian, and wrote for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not exactly a lightweight) but it was just good.

Half Hitchcock, half Tarantino, with a dash of James Ellroy’s Underworld USA Trilogy, Bad Times takes place in the late sixties or early seventies and is about a bunch of guests in a hotel on the border of California and Nevada, none of whom is as they seem.

Jon Hamm and Jeff Bridges are great but it’s Cynthia Erivo’s movie. I didn’t even know who she was before this movie but I guess she won a tony for The Color Purple. She plays a Supremes-esque singer who doesn’t make a deal with the devil and is banished to a career in Reno.

I don’t want to say much more because not knowing much about it makes for the best viewing experience. And it’s a good viewing experience. Not amazing, not groundbreaking, just worth seeing. The kind of movie you walk out of thinking, “I’m glad I saw that.” You know. Good.

I have one spoiler thought. Don’t read it if you’re going to see the movie.

Ready?

Okay.

Just for all filmmakers, take a page from this one and don’t be afraid to kill your characters early and often. Offing a couple of important characters before the halfway point of the movie kept me on my toes and made the movie so much less predictable.