Filmrecensies van Eric Hillis

John Wick 3 trades the style, wit and sophistication of its predecessors for garish lighting, sub Takashi Miike edgelord violence and a postmodern takedown of the Walter Hill inspired world it so meticulously constructed. Recensie

Beautifully shot by cinematographer David Gallego and with a rousingly evocative score by Leonardo Heiblum, Birds of Passage adds a touch of South American magic realism to a gritty crime drama, making it the freshest take on the gangster narrative to arrive in decades. Recensie

Late Night seems to exist in both an alternate future where women host late night talk shows and in a past, more conservative era of comedy. It's a mess. Recensie

Science fiction for adults is rarely seen on this technical level, and with its confounding themes and focus on bodily fluids, Denis' film is Adult Sci-Fi in every sense of the term. Recensie

For all its rigid formulaic filmmaking, the movie plays laughably loose with the rules of its mythos. La Llorona is essentially a spirit who can materialise out of thin air, yet in the silliest climax yet seen in this very silly franchise, characters thwart the ghoul by closing doors and windows on her. Recensie

But when we have such access to the real-life footage, is there any point to all of this? Does Extremely Wicked... serve to further condemn an awful human being or simply add to his legend? Recensie

It has enough scuzzy thrills to keep gorehounds content, and in Zahler's writing it offers more nuanced characters than you might expect from the 13th entry in a low budget horror franchise. Recensie

Hellboy is bollocks, but it's bollocks in a refreshingly British way, probably the closest we'll ever get to a Fleetway Publications Cinematic Universe. Recensie

The sincere tone of The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot seems too often to be battling its pulp title. Krzykowski's film is surprisingly bereft of the humour that viewers enticed by its moniker may be expecting, but we've seen past examples of how genre silliness and emotional sincerity can make great bedfellows. Recensie

Zahler shoots action like nobody else working outside Asia, but foremost his movies are character studies. Recensie

In Hancock's journeyman hands, The Highwaymen lacks the energy and insight the story requires. It relies too heavily on the broken down charisma of its leads, but it must be said, Costner and Harrelson are as good here as they've ever been. Recensie

The bulk of The Hurricane Heist's audience will likely discover it while browsing at home on their set-top box, and it's arguably a movie best enjoyed from a couch, with easy access to a six-pack. Recensie

While rejigging some of the classic tropes of the teen comedy, Love, Simon isn't quite as tight and well structured as the superior examples of the genre. Recensie

It's a shame, as up to that point, this Pet Sematary deviates sufficiently and effectively enough to stand on its own, but ultimately it's another pointless resurrection of a horror favourite. Sometimes dead really is better. Recensie

If you're unfamiliar with the events it's depicting, Lords of Chaos will probably have you gripped, if confused, but ultimately it's little more than a diverting advert for the Wikipedia page labelled 'Early Norwegian black metal scene'. Recensie

Farrands plainly has a lot of sympathy for Tate, and his film is an odd case of a filmmaker attempting to rescue a real-life victim and rewrite the past. Noble, perhaps, but the general shoddy execution of his film does this concept no favours. Recensie

Like many of today's genre filmmakers, Peele could benefit from a co-writer to help iron out his storytelling. He's in danger of becoming the next M. Night Shyamalan, a horror auteur whose ingenious concepts fail to fit organically into his movies. Recensie

It all gets a bit silly by the end, and its portrayal of the world of drug addicts suggests nobody involved has ever encountered a real life addict, but Ben is Back does boast two outstanding central performances, which may prove enough to keep viewers engaged. Recensie

Despite the potential in Greta's scenario to explore such themes as urban isolation, the loneliness of our elder citizens and the divide between millenials and previous generations, Greta is as shallow a thriller as any of its made for TV or straight to VOD cousins. Recensie

There's an effectively atmospheric 45 minute episode of a TV horror anthology that might be extracted from The Wind, but in its current state the flashback padding results in little more than a light bluster. Tammi does enough to hint at more rewarding horror work to come, but The Wind fails to register high on the BOO-fort scale. Recensie

I have a feeling I may return to Under the Silver Lake in a decade or so and smack myself for not recognising its true genius, but today, in 2019, it's merely a commendable failure, probably the best bad movie you'll see all year. Recensie

Alpha: The Right to Kill is aesthetically very much a graduate of the Michael Mann school of crime drama, but thematically it's political in a way Mann's films rarely are. Recensie

Queer cinema has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Yet we still get movies like Tell It to the Bees, movies more interested in superficially critiquing homophobia than in celebrating sexual freedom. Recensie

Where Alex Ross Perry's Her Smell, which similarly charts the career of a troubled female singer, sends you out on a high with its climactic stage show, Vox Lux leaves you contemplating the movie that might have been. Recensie