Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Director Sun-dong struggles to establish any atmosphere, and the various stalking/kill sequences are rendered with little to no visual flair or imagination. There's literally nothing here that you haven't seen in countless low budget teen horrors. Review

A shame that the movie never quite makes the most of what should be a unique and fascinating antagonist. Review

Hen Sigurdsson is allowed take centre stage, and particularly in Ingimundur's sweet interactions with his precocious granddaughter, A White, White Day is a well observed, intimate human drama. But too often Pálmason takes us away from this duo, instead playing out wide shots for what can seem an interminable amount of time. Review

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan feels an awful lot like a doomed screen treatment of some acclaimed yet unfilmable novel. Review

Dreamland is just trying too damn hard, constantly poking us in the ribs and begging us to find it all so crazy. Review

The Sharks has its moments of humour too, often arising from the idea that Rosina is clearly functioning on an intellectual level unmatched by her family and friends. Review

The Room boasts the sort of intriguing hook that will lure in horror fans, but in this case you might want to be careful what you wish for. Review

There's just about enough here to engage b-movie fans, and it's certainly a level above its recent big budget Hollywood rival, the Kristen Stewart vehicle Underwater, but there's just not enough monster in its mash. Review

Its eventual audience will likely be small enough to fit in its protagonist's cramped apartment, but give yourself over to its grimy aesthetic and absurdist humour and you'll find it a charming piece of punk filmmaking. You might even find some of its lo-fi images quite beautiful, and if nothing else, its recreation of the Carrie prom scene with a bewildered tiara-clad tabby is worth the rental price alone. Review

Dogs Don't Wear Pants isn't in the same league as Johannes Nyholm's Koko-Di Koko-Da or Isabella Eklöf's Holiday, but it would slot in nicely to a double bill with either of those films, the ideal cinematic sub to their doms. Review

Bloodshot fails because it believes it's better than the sort of movies it's condescendingly dismissing as inferior. Personally, I'll take a brain dead action movie with nothing but entertainment on its mind over one that thinks it's above such fare yet doesn't have any idea how to execute its lofty postmodern notions. Review

As played by the incredible Zengel, Benni is one of those characters who commands your attention. Review

It seems strange to say this about a film concerned with child neglect, but Rocks is one of the feelgood movies of the year. Review

A curious cross between Barry Lyndon and one of those old FIFA World Cup films, Martin Eden is for a long while, one of the most intoxicating films of the year. But after every rise must come a fall, and Martin Eden's downfall is unfortunately reflected in how hollow and empty Marcello's film eventually becomes. Review

The effectiveness of The County is dependent on your own political baggage and whether you view Inga vs the Co-op as a David vs Goliath battle or a case of a narcissistic farmer who refuses to stick to a communal agreement. Review

Banks Griffin gets value for his low budget, but without a compelling central performance it would all collapse. Review

Its scorched cinematography, courtesy of Sébastien Goepfert, captures the feel of a part of the world where the merest of movements can wear you out under its baking sun. Coupled with the measured pace of Abu Alala's storytelling, the result is one of those curious films that will have you yawning even though you're fully invested. Review

Koko-di Koko-da is an unsettling, profoundly sad, but ultimately uplifting exploration of grief and fate through a folk-horror lens. Review

Moran's story has the potential for an extremely interesting screen translation, an example of something that simply couldn't happen today for a variety of economic, cultural and societal reasons. But the movie never delves into her experience in any depth, and it particularly glosses over the fact that she was technically a child who was sleeping in the hotel rooms of adult male rockstars. Review

The Truth doesn't quite have the emotional heft of Kore-eda's best work but it's nonetheless a seamless shift to European filmmaking for a director whose work had seemed distinctly Japanese, if global in its themes. Review

The Most Dangerous Game entered the public domain in 2020, so expect a lost of opportunist reworkings of its premise over the next few years. The Hunt is a worthy standout addition to its canon, a movie for our time for those of us who are sick to death of movies for our time. Review

Unlike Anna's pupil, Weisse has the technique down pat, but in failing to bring her own personality through, she's simply hitting the notes in the right order. Review

As an actress, Mulligan continues to fulfil her promise of becoming one of the most talented performers of her generation, but on the evidence of this ramshackle debut, I'll need more convincing regarding her director's potential for greatness. Review

In the hands of a director more comfortable with action, VFW might become a modern cult classic. But for now it's worth a watch for the moments in between the action, when its cast of veteran supporting players grasp the opportunity to take centre stage. Review