Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

As a movie, Tomorrowland is a mess, and as a commercial for Tomorrowland the theme park, it's a complete failure. There are far more enticing rides at the multiplex this summer. Review

Like a teenager spending hours on her makeup to get the 'natural' look, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night expounds an awful lot of energy in its quest for effortless cool, but it left this reviewer decidedly lukewarm. Review

The Gallic setting adds a certain amount of novelty value to this sort of tale, but in narrative terms we're on all too familiar ground, with Jimenez happy to trade in the clichés of the gangster epic. Review

An AC/DC concert on wheels, Mad Max: Fury Road may not live up to the first part of its title (the title character barely registers and is far from mad, though was he ever really?), but it's certainly a furious road trip, one a certain other vehicular based blockbuster franchise would do well to study. Review

Cynics may brand A Fuller Life little more than an extended infomercial for Fuller's autobiography A Third Face, but if this is the case, it achieves its goal in some style. Review

There's something exploitative about The Tribe's use of sign language as a narrative device, but if it's a gimmick, I can't deny it's one I thoroughly appreciated. Review

When the action moves to the confines of the prison, and the movie becomes for the most part a two-hander between Bahari and Javadi, the film stalls, with Stewart unable to find a cinematic way of conveying the verisimilitude of Bahari's experience. Review

On the evidence of the ramshackle Top Five, I'm not entirely convinced that being taken seriously is something Rock really cares about. Like the protagonist of his film, Rock seems eager to create a movie with a message, but doesn't seem to know himself what that message is. Review

Simon Blake's Still delivers all the grit you might expect from a London crime drama, and establishes Aidan Gillen as one of the most interesting and undersung actors to emerge from the British Isles in recent years. Review

The Canal's best moments are its quietest; when characters begin speaking it sadly falls apart. Review

British dramas are known for their grittiness, but grit is an element that's notably absent from Honeytrap, making it best suited for viewing in a school civics class. Review

What's most worrying about all this is how oblivious Nakache and Toledano seem to be with regards to their ignorance. Only France seems capable of producing filmmakers this out of touch with reality. Sacre bleu indeed! Review

Sci-fi fans will feel cheated here, while war movie fans will likely find the monsters an unwanted distraction, but the movie's greatest weakness is that, unlike Edwards' film, we don't care about its characters, who mostly come off as a bunch of obnoxious jerks. Review

Cutting a swathe between stuffy British period drama and the crassness of Baz Luhrman and Joe Wright, Vinterberg has created that rare breed of classic literary adaptation that strikes the perfect balance between respecting the material and delivering cinematic thrills. Review

Before the cash-in hacks spoil its charms, check out Unfriended; to use the vernacular of Facebook, you're bound to 'like' it! Review

The spirit of '80s and '90s action cinema permeates Big Game, and it's easy to imagine Helander and his mates cracking open cans on a sofa while watching Die Hard or First Blood, but the movie it evokes most for me is The Wizard of Oz... Review

There's a lot wrong with Clouds of Sils Maria, but its deficiencies, of which there are many, are overshadowed almost entirely by the enthralling performances of its two leads. Review

There's a pervasiveness laziness to the whole affair, with a poorly researched script that gives us distracting anachronisms like a joke about David Thewlis' character being named Mickey Finn. Review

The Falling is one of the more frustrating watches I've experienced in recent years. There's a great movie in here, and a bit of reediting could restore Morley's tale to an atmospheric, ambiguous gem. Review

Sexual tension, cinematic visuals and heroes directly aiding civilians are all fresh and welcome additions to the Marvel universe, but why oh why can't they find a way to end these movies other than a boring brawl? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Review

The wasted potential here is staggering. With a bit more thought and effort, The Town That Dreaded Sundown could have been a rural companion to David Fincher's Zodiac. Instead it's a shoddily crafted Scream wannabe. Review

It may be a pan-European production shot on location in South Africa, but The Salvation is as thrilling a western as any we've seen from Hollywood recently. Review

There's a good movie waiting to be made on this subject, but Good Kill certainly isn't it. Review

It's certainly flawed, mainly in the acting department, with most of the cast performing as though under the influence of strong sedatives, and the representation of the Billy character borders on misogyny as much as the actions of her predator Dave. But Gosling's film has a tone all of its own, and reminds me of the cult oddities that turned me into a raving cinephile in the early '90s... Review