Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Remove Moore's performance however and you're left with little more than a slightly more nuanced 'disease of the week' movie... Review

The crazy scenario doesn't always hold together. Like last year's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, its human characters aren't half as interesting as their animal counterparts, but for having the courage to run with its singular vision, and the exceptionally nuanced performance of its slobbering star, White God is a rare doggy treat. Review

The Boy Next Door is the sort of B-thriller that once filled the bottom shelves of video stores, but thanks to the presence of Jennifer Lopez, it's instead playing on cinema screens across the world. Review

Remove these two elements and you're left with a movie that treats its audience in particularly patronising fashion, saved from turkey status by the presence of one of the few genuine movie stars Hollywood can boast today. Review

Catch Me Daddy is essentially a chase movie, and it's a particularly tense one. As a piece of social realism, it's not quite so successful. Review

Blackhat is more a case of a filmmaker paying homage to his own past, with Mann practically rewriting scenes from earlier works (a speech delivered by Hemsworth about surviving prison time is straight out of Thief). Review

If Project Almanac has one saving grace, then it has to be its charismatic young cast. Review

Without straying into the realms of cheap cynicism, The Duke of Burgundy is bluntly honest about the strains of keeping a relationship fresh, and particularly nails the unique demands placed upon those involved in May to December romances. Review

Despite our awareness of her suffering, it's difficult to care about Claire, and the movie's more likeable supporting characters are given such short shrift that you wonder why they were written into the film in the first place. Review

Kikuchi is heart-breaking in the lead role, but the film itself is several rungs below her on the ladder of melancholy she ascends throughout, and the film's ending isn't quite as depressing and impactful as it really should be. Ultimately Kumiko is a character in search of both treasure and a movie that will do justice to her plight. I'm not sure she belongs in this one. Review

Vincent Lannoo's movie has a very promising setup. A beleaguered elegy writer seems the perfect foil for some blackly comic existential angst, and the idea of a believed deceased husband throwing a spanner in the works of a new relationship should be a comedic goldmine. But Paper Souls frosts over at the point it should really be heating up. Review

As with most South American movies, the acting here is top-notch. Review

If you can ignore the film's undeveloped mystical subplot and its misjudged romance, The Water Diviner makes for a perfectly fine watch for those who pine for the lost days of the Sunday afternoon epic. Review

While It Follows nods to its lineage, the movie never winks at the audience. Mitchell clearly knows he's making a horror movie, but his protagonists don't know they're taking part in one - Kevin Williamson he ain't! Review

It's clear how much Anderson wanted to bring Pynchon's novel to the screen, but perhaps he should follow Altman's lead and adopt a Robert Benton / Alan Rudolph type protege that he could have farmed this out to while working on something more befitting his talents. Inherent Vice is more Late Show than Long Goodbye. Review

It takes balls of steel to title your movie Trash, and in this case it's an all too apt description of the film's content. Review

Kingsman seems designed to appeal to that faction of society that lies a few layers beneath the lowest common denominator. Review

Ultimately there are a few too many predictable double-crosses and more false endings than a Peter Jackson trilogy, but Avery's confident and ballsy direction will surely mean his future lies in making Hollywood movies as opposed to imitating them. Review

Though the film ultimately falls short, there are undoubtedly signs of progress from McMahon. Review

Cooper delivers a career best performance in the role of Kyle, beautifully under-playing the part and effectively capturing the frustration of balancing a sense of duty with a belief that no end game is in sight. Review

The film's early ambiguity is delicious and allows us to step into Strayed's hiking boots, but the more answers Wild gives us, the further we drift behind Strayed, until ultimately she's a distant speck on the California landscape. Review

Writer/director Chazelle was previously best known for some unremarkable genre screenplays but his own background in music means we're in safe and confident hands here as he immerses us in the backstabbing milieu of the conservatory, where being told you're not good enough hurts like few other truths, a blow to both your planned career and your greatest love. Review

Valdivia's film is clearly a comment on his country's political situation, but where most state of the nation movies are overblown and grand-standing, he keeps things confined to one house, one family, one mother, his drama quietly bubbling like an unattended pot of chili. Review

This is one remake I can't recommend, but we're all the masters of our own fates. If you're considering seeing The Gambler, maybe a coin toss should decide yours. Review