Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

If Eastwood was trying to push my political and philosophical buttons here, he succeeded. I regularly found myself fuming at some of the Christian fundamentalist, anti-science, anti-authoritarian sentiment on display, but I'd rather a movie made me angry than simply put me to sleep, which is what Eastwood's dramatically inert second half threatened to. Review

When Coogler is given a chance to flex his directorial muscles, and when its women take centre stage, Black Panther is a cut above the average superhero movie, but too much of its lengthy running time drags it down to the level of mediocrity the genre is synonymous with, leaving us to endure the sort of half-baked political drama George Lucas inflicted on Star Wars fans with his first two prequel films. Review

The central premise of The Cloverfield Paradox may have worked better as a Star Trek instalment, ironic given Abrams' involvement in both franchises. At least then we would have had some recognisable and charismatic characters to carry us through the techno-babble heavy plot. Review

The magnum opus of Perry's still relatively burgeoning career, Golden Exits is a film about ordinary people who don't really do anything, and watching their inaction is as beguiling as cinema gets. Review

When the pasty, sub J-horror ghouls aren't jumping out of nooks and crannies like the underpaid employees of a Halloween attraction, we're forced to endure snooze-inducing scenes in which Mirren makes up the plot as she goes along over cups of tea with Clarke, who looks like he's struggling to stay awake. I know how he feels, and so will you if you if you take a dose of this cinematic Xanax. Review

With Nightcrawler, Gilroy made a seamless transition from scriptwriter to director, arriving as a fully formed filmmaker. His followup however resembles exactly the sort of movie you might expect a screenwriter to make, an overwritten slog with flashy and distracting camerawork in place of effective visual storytelling. Gilroy has squandered a lot of talent on this project, not least his own. Review

Atching him carry a film on his own shoulders is enough to make up for The Hero's lack of stakes and reliance on clichés. Review

The trouble with Ball's trilogy is that, despite being played by some very talented young stars, the central characters are a bunch of dullards, so it's impossible to emotionally invest in the dazzling sequences Ball constructs. Review

Structured as a series of short, snappy vignettes, which often play like three panel comic strips in their immediacy, Gerwig's film captures the superficial nature of teenage life, with all its transitory obsessions and relationships. Review

It might be the most brutally honest movie about romantic relationships to come out of mainstream American cinema since Eyes Wide Shut, but despite such a heady exploration of how awful people can be for each other, Phantom Thread is an undeniably romantic yarn, one which never judges its protagonists for their extreme behaviour towards each other, and ultimately it leaves us content in the knowledge that two difficult but fasci... Review

His fans will point to exquisite visual storytelling here that makes a mockery of the televisual blandness of most modern Hollywood productions. His critics will highlight the didactic speechifying and seeming lack of faith in the intelligence of his audience. Both are valid stances, but the former swings this one for me. Review

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