Drew Goddard

Project Hail Mary

by
Ryan Gosling

Dry and wry and suited to the talents of all involved, Project Hail Mary’s gets a serious attack of the cutes midway through. That apart, it’s a rip-roaring space adventure of the old school whose good bits are so good that its tweeness can be overlooked. I think. It’s an adaptation of an Andy Weir book, the guy who did The Martian, and is again deeply procedural. This time, instead of Matt Damon growing potatoes in human shit after being accidentally left behind on Mars, we have Ryan Gosling waking up on board a space ship light years away from Earth. His job is not to save his own skin but to work … Read more

Bad Times at the El Royale

by
Chris Hemsworth as Billy Lee

The “who’s zooming who” thriller of the 1990s rides again in 2018’s Bad Times at the El Royale, one of those epics where, by the end, almost everyone is dead and a building is in flames yet barely a spark of emotion has been generated. That is probably the intention. Instead writer/director Drew Goddard wants us to admire the spectacle, and gasp as he piles dialogue on top of plot on top of wayward characters and vainglorious allegory, switching timelines, digressing, flashing back, hopping from one “lead” protagonist to another as he goes – oh no, he’s dead – and generally having a fun old time in a big, kitsch, faintly ridiculous but very enjoyable … Read more