Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Mid90s doesn't entirely hold together, but while some of its narrative beats feel forced, it has a raw charm that's undeniable. Review

Sadly this middle section only constitutes half of the running time of Foxtrot, but it more than makes up for the unconvincing grief-driven segments it's bracketed by. Maoz's talents suggest he might be working in Hollywood were that town not so tied to the interests of his home country's government. Review

Much praise has been heaped on the make-up work that gives Tina and Vore their distinctive features, but I have to say I found it distractingly false, less convincing than the prosthetics worn by actors playing alien races in '90s era Star Trek shows. Review

Landon's script for the sequel is such a convoluted and contradictory mess that by the movie's climax you'll find yourself nursing a worse migraine that the one Tree wakes up with every recurring morning. Review

The great thing about a good folk tale is that you can extract a message of contemporary relevance from it while also finding it a ripping good yarn. The Kid Who Would Be King is all yawn and no yarn. Review

Does Labaki genuinely care about the plight of the poor or is she simply exploiting their predicament? One has to assume the former, but her film's central hook of questioning whether poor people should be allowed to raise children positions Capernaum uncomfortably close to the realm of classist, fascist propaganda. Review

Too simplistic for seasoned sci-fi fans and too grim for kids, I'm not sure who Cameron and Rodriguez think this film is for. Review

Gilroy lazily gives us a crop of cheaply rendered art-meets-commerce stereotypes and pins his hopes on us finding entertainment value in their bloody demises, but with nobody we actually care for to carry this narrative forward, we're left yawning as a series of cardboard characters are offed in unremarkable ways. Review

Viewers primarily seeking a unique premise may find The Hole in the Ground disappointingly derivative, but for horror fans weary of movies that favour heavy plotting over the sort of brooding atmosphere and chills on offer here, Cronin's debut suggests he's a filmmaker who understands what truly makes this genre tick. Review

We meet Sacha first as a timid, vacuous airhead, but by the end of this striking film, we realise we've just witnessed the origin story of a super-villainess. Review

Unlike the letters that made Israel initially rich and ultimately a wanted criminal, Heller's film is the real deal. Review

Both in theme and aesthetic, Destroyer plays like a mash-up of Bigelow's cop thrillers Point Break and Blue Steel, but it only momentarily captures the surface thrills of either. Review

After a few recent duds, Eastwood has returned with both his most entertaining and most well observed movie since 2004's Million Dollar Baby. Review

Ultimately, watching Escape Room isn't a whole lot different from watching a Saturday teatime game show. Review

The Miseducation of Cameron Post was by no means the definitive take on this topic, but it wisely recognised the absurdity within the practice and played its drama as a black comedy. Not so Boy Erased, which is serious with a capital S and devoid of humanity save for a warm performance by Nicole Kidman... Review

Though largely listless and at times positively coma-inducing, if you can keep yourself awake there are a few worthwhile moments in All is True. Review

McKay clearly made this movie for a liberal audience, but unless you spent the past two decades living in a cave, you're not going to learn anything new about Cheney and the Bush administration. Shouldn't this movie have come out a decade ago? Oh wait, it did. It was directed by Oliver Stone and called W. Review

What little plot there is builds inevitably to yet another of Shyamalan's trademark twists, but this one is underwhelming and makes little sense, contradicting evidence the film has previously presented. Review

Josie draws us in, but its ludicrous climax has the effect of a turning a few mellow beers on a balmy porch into an overbearing keg party attended by uninvited frat boys. Review

Bird Box is essentially a monster movie, but it continuously gives the impression that it's embarrassed by such a label. Review

Hogancamp's retreat from reality into a misogynistic fantasy world is simply impossible to get behind... Review

CAM isn't the definitive take on the horrors that lurk in the shadows of the online world, but it may have you checking the strength of your email password. Review

Yet while it's a fun ride, Bumblebee is by no means a classic of its genre. Once again we have a Transformers movie that fails to do anything interesting with its robots' ability to transform and blend in with earth, and the plot, while commendably economic, is essentially a knockoff of every boy/girl meets robot/alien movie spewed out by Hollywood in the wake of E.T's box office success. Review

It's refreshingly lacking in the brooding, emo atmosphere of its YA contemporaries, but it's also devoid of humour, and its cast are forced go through the motions and deliver stiff performances, spouting functional dialogue. Review