Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Jason Bourne is a little dumber and a little sillier than its predecessors. It's also nowhere near as engaging, but there's enough to keep fans of the series amused, and it's easily the best major release Hollywood has offered us in this otherwise awful summer. Review

Valley of Love is very much a faith-based movie. Its Christ references are hammered home, but it's a film that doesn't require its audience to share its beliefs, nor does it seek to alienate non-believers or those of other faiths. American Christian cinema could learn a lot from it. Review

The Commune is a gripping piece of drama and social critique, boasting immaculate period detail that never proves distracting. Following The Hunt and his adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd, Vinterberg finds himself enjoying the most confident phase of his career since those dogme days of the '90s. Review

While the title suggests this is another documentary aimed at a hardcore cinephile audience, this is first and foremost a tribute to a man, rather than an Assistant Director. The Man Who Saved Ben Hur is a reminder that, just like Assistant Directors, the elderly often don't get the attention they deserve. Review

All you should need to make a good movie is a girl and a shark, but Serra fails to deliver the basics, instead fashioning a movie that too often resembles a female oriented riff on an '80s Old Spice commercial. The Shallows is a damp squib. Review

For the most part, Star Trek Beyond is a character drama. This should be a good thing, but the characters here simply aren't engaging. If Shatner, Nimoy et al were the weathered marionettes you found at the bottom of a wardrobe in your grandparents' house, Pine, Quinto and co. are action figures fresh off the shelf and still in their packaging. Review

The BFG is a missed opportunity, a drab, lifeless affair, as fun as listening to your Dad read you a chapter from the Barney storybook when you've got a copy of Tales From the Crypt hidden under your pillow. Review

Given the sorry state of the comedy genre in Hollywood, Ghostbusters is about as good as can be expected, but while this is a movie I will never revisit, I'd happily kill another 90 minutes in the company of these characters should a sequel arrive. Review

Sadly, given the names involved, Men & Chicken, a Farrelly Brothers comedy for the arthouse set, has to rank as one of 2016's major disappointments. Review

French cinema has offered us plenty of drab dramas in which pragmatic men fall for hot but crazy women. Summertime may change the gender dynamic, but it's no more interesting. Review

The script is hackneyed, Willis is awful, and the action scenes are on the level of a Walker, Texas Ranger episode, but there's an undeniable innocent charm about this little underdog that makes it far more palatable than the majority of its bigger budgeted action cousins. Review

Darkest Africa has rarely been so dark, and summer blockbuster season has rarely been so dour. Review

The Colony treats its disturbing subject matter in such a superficial manner it often resembles a Women in Prison exploitation movie, albeit one in which none of the inmates ever take a shower. We learn nothing about the real Colonia Dignidad here, and we're left to fill in blanks throughout. Review

Watching Johnson in this role, it's impossible not to grin throughout Central Intelligence, even if it does run a good 20 minutes too long and features two endings too many. As buddy movies go, it's no The Nice Guys, but it's certainly not Ride Along 3. Review

The Neon Demon is pornography without the sex, designed to engorge or moisten the loins of arthouse fans. Refn's past work has merely hinted at his ability to produce something that combines this much substance, style and sleaze. Review

The father/son casting may seem a gimmick, but it adds an extra layer of discomfort to the tension between the two characters, and a late emotional breakdown by John Henry in his father's arms will have the toughest of male viewers reaching for the Kleenex. Review

The cast assembled here is one of the most impressive ensembles you'll see all year, but save for the bubbly Caplan and the always alive Radcliffe, there's a palpable lack of enthusiasm on display. The horsemen share no discernible chemistry, and Eisenberg delivers every line as though his director is pointing a gun at his head out of shot. Review

Independence Day: Resurgence is one of the laziest, most cynical blockbusters to arrive in a year that's had more than its share of such tiresome fare. No doubt this will be huge, and it's set up for an immediate sequel. Anyone know the Mandarin for "Save your money!"? Review

Cruz (and equally her director) makes such little effort to convincingly portray this unfortunate victim of statistics that it's impossible to view the film as anything other than exploitation of the most tasteless kind. Review

Combining the tough, violent crime thrillers of 1970s Italian exploitation cinema with the gloss and sophistication of modern day European TV, Suburra is intelligent but explosive, a feast for the synapses and the adrenaline. Decades after Coppola and Scorsese mined such territory, the Italian crime saga has made a triumphant return to the old country. Review

For most of its running time we're witnessing a protagonist attempt to deconstruct and reassemble a narrative, and while this may test the patience of casual viewers, anyone with a passing interest in the mechanics of storytelling will find Fast's debut a fascinating and immersive watch. Review

English author Helen Walsh's filmmaking debut The Violators is not only one of the best movies made by a novelist, but one of 2016's best British movies, boasting one of the year's finest central performances to boot. Review

On paper, Gods of Egypt's conveyor belt of cinematic insanity should be a winner, but save for a few moments of respite courtesy of Yung and Boseman, the only actors who seem conscious that they're in a trainwreck, it's about as much fun as dragging a sphinx across the desert. Review

Swedish history buffs will likely face-palm at this glossy representation of one of their country's most important and iconic figures, but those less intimately invested will find The Girl King an entertaining, if often exasperating, period romp. Review