Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

There's also a disparity in the quality of performances on view here, with the brilliance of O'Neill and Susan Lynch as a sociopathic gangster balanced by some amateurish supporting performances, a reminder that it's a film pulling from a limited talent pool. Review

White casts himself here as a Hollywood star living the dream in an expensive Hollywood home, which reminds the audience that while Brad's Status is telling us to appreciate what we have, its simplistic message is being delivered by someone who has more than most of us can ever dream of. Review

Masanobu Takayanagi's cinematography captures the American west in all its rugged glory, its natural beauty driving home the reasons men of opposing creeds would kill to own a piece of it. Hostiles is lumbered with too many issues for me to place it among the best of contemporary westerns, but it's certainly one of the most striking. Review

All the Money in the World is a win for octogenarian filmmaking. Review

In terms of rewriting history, The Greatest Showman is a toxic spectacle, a morally reprehensible piece of work, one that's as offensive to a modern enlightened audience as Barnum's show was to cultured theatre-goers of the 19th century. Yet while its ignorant lack of self-awareness makes it one of the most problematic movies to come out of Hollywood in recent times, such innocence gives it an undeniable appeal. Review

There's a great movie to be made about how white supremacy is cultivated in America's prisons, but Shot Caller isn't it. Review

The result is an enjoyable, 15 minute high school comedy sandwiching a dull, comically inert, 105 minute action movie. Review

Here we simply get an insight into the fears of Bustillo and Maury, who seem to share an innate dread of head trauma. Review

Three movies in and this new Star Wars franchise has become the cinematic equivalent of city centre Christmas lights - soulless, cynical and obligatory, it simply hangs there, making you wish the money had been spent more wisely. Review

In spite of herself, we grow to love Harding, making her ultimate comeuppance close to unbearable to watch. Whether Harding deserves such sympathy makes for a perfect post-screening debate. Review

The scenes shared between Lustig and Niborski have a lot of charm, the father and son adorably resembling differing layers of a Matroska doll as they walk side by side in their traditional garb. Review

There's no bag of cash, no femme fatale, and no guns are brandished, but Bloody Milk is as tense as any neon lit urban thriller. Review

If Asensio's goal was to gain notice as an actress by creating a plum role for herself, she's succeeded, but it's behind the camera that she really shines, making Most Beautiful Island one of the most confident directorial debuts of recent years. Review

While Garrel leaves the dramatic heavy lifting to his female stars, visually he captures Paris at its best, cinematographer Renato Berta's glorious monochrome and the ambivalent fashions sported by the cast giving Lover for a Day a timeless feel, a reminder that at the age of 16, Garrel made his debut at the height of the French New Wave. Review

You can tell a lot of money has been pumped into Darkest Hour, and every penny is on the screen, but its best moments are minute masterclasses in how to convey something big with a small gesture. Review

Like Michael Bay's Pain & Gain with biceps swapped out for cleavage, Molly's Game is a hollow void of a movie, one that dresses up an uninteresting tale with verbal fireworks. Review

Half of the audience at the press screening I attended was in stitches throughout, while the rest sat in telling silence. Do your homework for this one, and you'll be richly rewarded. Review

There's far more interesting stuff going on in the background and on the periphery of this film... Review

Three Billboards... is at its best in its quieter moments. Sadly, Three Billboards... falls apart elsewhere. Review

The Shape of Water's most glaring issue is its uneven tone. Its potential to become a classic family film (one ideal for any parents wishing to introduce their kids to the joys of the monster movie) is overturned by del Toro's obsession with graphic violence and, most jarringly, graphic nudity. Review

If at times Mysius' inexperience is betrayed by film school pretensions, it's rendered forgivable by the youthful, punkish energy she brings to her tale. Review

Guediguian fashions a feeling that these are characters we've met before, but never really gotten to know until this moment in time. By its climax, we still don't really know a huge amount about his film's protagonists, but we've seen enough to wish them well, whatever path they may take. Review

The most entertaining biopic of a filmmaker since Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Redoubtable is a committedly unserious look at an artist's desperate quest to be taken seriously. Now that Hazanavicius isn't so desperate himself to be taken seriously, we can take him seriously again, as Redoubtable is seriously good, without being very serious. Have I lost you? Review

This is a gripping ensemble drama that tackles a timely social issue in a nuanced manner, never straying into the movie of the week path its subject could so easily have diverted it down. Review