Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

The movie's editing is such a mess that you'll struggle to figure out the timeline. It either takes place across two days or two weeks. Review

It's easy to see why it was popular as it offers something for everyone: sex, violence, psychologically and physically tortured characters, some light comedy and even a musical number or two. That it all flows so smoothly is testament to an era of Hollywood filmmaking when such disparate elements could combine so easily for an evening's entertainment. Review

Moloch's scares are most effective when the threats are kept in the shadows and fog. When we get a proper look at the titular demon it looks a little too much like the desiccated space vampires of Tobe Hooper's much maligned Lifeforce, an unwelcome interjection of CG in an otherwise practical movie. Review

Jones' doe-eyed performance goes some way to distracting us from how nonsensical the whole affair is, and she really is a star in the making. Review

As it plays out to an obvious conclusion, The Silent Party wastes its early interrogation of the nature of revenge and begins to resemble a dozen other films of its type. Review

Joyride is an unwelcome return to the dark days when Irish movies were made not for Irish audiences but for tourists with misty-eyed misconceptions about the Emerald Isle. Stop the car, I want to get out. Review

Brian describes his creation as ending up with a blancmange when he was aiming for a sponge cake, but he claims to also enjoy blancmange. That's a fitting allegory for Brian and Charles. With a bit more polish it may have been a more satisfying sponge cake, but blancmange is good enough in this case. Review

Of course, this is an MCU movie, and no amount of Waititi's Mel Brooks influenced escapades can cover how visually bland the movie looks. Like most of these movies, it has the look of a TV with the motion smoothing setting left on. Review

Like a bad love affair, Both Sides of the Blade seduces us early on, but 90 minutes later you'll be looking for a way out of the relationship. Review

While McDonagh's worst proclivities are still on display, avoiding his latest would do a grave disservice to Fiennes, Kanater and Taghmaoui, whose rescuing of the film from their director is almost conspiratorial. Review

Thanks largely to Danielle's charming performance - going from uptight, unhappy soccer mom to embracing the California hippy lifestyle in her own awkward way – it's fun to hang out with Fiona and Freya, but that notable lack of conflict means we never quite get pulled into the drama. Review

Together, the three find kinship and comfort in each other's company. It's a shame the movie is so uncomfortable at portraying the ice hockey world it seems to have thoughtlessly chosen as a backdrop for its central drama. Review

Acknowledging the influence of the Greek Weird Wave movement through the casting of Suntan's Papadimitriou and Attenberg's Labed, Strickland has assembled a knockout cast of current European cult faves, all of whom are fully in sync with his unique brand of filmmaking. It's Mohamed however who stands out as always. Is there a more entertaining comic performer working today? Review

Dickey and Studi are two actors that have been specifically typecast, she for her rugged looks, he for his ethnicity, so it's a delight to see them play two very everyday people. They look like Americans rather than American movie stars, their faces weather beaten but beautiful, much like the land around them. Review

We're never quite sure who the real victim of the story is, or who's the antagonist, as this is a complex tale of humans trying to do their best for one another, even if it's in a manner that seems counterproductive to others. Review

Aase and Schrooten display enough chemistry to suggest that had they been gifted a better script, Revealer could have been a winning horror-comedy. Review

If you can trust the filmmaker at the wheel, Roving Woman takes you on a charming journey through that most cinematic corner of the US. Review

While Billy plays a large role in the narrative, Peace in the Valley is ultimately Ashley's story. We watch as she copes with her loss in a very human, very messy way. Review

After a tense first half grounded in real-life fears, A Wounded Fawn becomes a tedious supernatural horror desperate to hammer home a point the movie made far more effectively in its earlier scenes. Review

I expected You Can Live Forever to be an angry film, one that would leave me feeling furious against religion and its narrow-mindedness. I didn't expect it to be such a warm and romantic tale whose primary agenda is to inspire tolerance from both sides of its central debate. Review

There's an effective and occasionally charming drama in Blaze, but it's buried beneath a layer of unnecessary glitter. Review

Viewers' mileage will vary, but Crawford is such a fascinating screen presence that his tortured face should be enough to hold the attention of most. Review

It's a shame that there's so much nonsensical clutter in The Black Phone, as in its best moments, Derrickson displays a talent for crafting a tense sequence. Review

In his movie debut, Smallwood, previously a jobbing TV actor, is quite the find. He's somewhat let down however by a film that resorts to "elevated horror" gimmicks to portray his psychological state. Rather than simply letting his leading man use his acting skills, Thompson throws in hallucinations and a needless bit of body horror, which momentarily take us out of what is really a grounded human drama. Review