Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Along with the standard biopic storytelling, Smoczyńska integrates elements of the various fantastical stories the girls conjured up, giving us magic realist images like that of a teenage boy drowning in a pool of Pepsi. Review

It's that absence of humour that proves Christmas Bloody Christmas's greatest folly. After the satirical opening sequence it's played relatively straight, but with no characters we care for there's a lack of stakes. Review

There's a lot of grimness in Rimini, but it's mostly a case of punching up, as Seidl mocks middle-class Europeans and their milquetoast taste in entertainment. Review

Nocebo review Finnegan puts us in the uncomfortable position of feeling contemptuous towards a villain whose actions we're entirely complicit with. He also takes a wry jab at capitalism's current hypocritical obsession with... Review

For all its flaws and the bitter taste it leaves, Summering is eminently watchable. This is solely down to how engaging its young leads are. Review

Arseni Khachaturan's naturalistic cinematography and Guadagnino's refusal to indulge in showy visuals greatly add to the gritty texture of Bones and All. Review

While you may not believe much of what you see in Armageddon Time, it may leave you impressed in parts. Review

At best, Confess, Fletch plays like a serviceable pilot for a TV show, and Slattery's Frank would make for a welcome recurring character. As a standalone movie, there just isn't enough substance to this endeavour. Review

Mescal and Corio have such a wonderful and believable chemistry that it's easy to forget they're being filmed. But Aftersun is the work of a new master filmmaker, an instant expert in pure cinema. Review

The Menu comes off as a comedy roast, a self-effacing but entirely unscathing in-joke among elites. Review

Madden and Laidlaw are always watchable as they perform their unsettling dance around one another, and Mandrake works best when it's examining the dark lengths mothers can go to when it comes to protecting their own children. When it later expands into the surrounding forest and loses sight of this simple dynamic, Mandrake gets a little lost in the woods. Review

It's a very smart film, but also a very thrilling movie, a rollercoaster that can be relished in the moment and contemplated weeks later. Review

It's difficult not to view Causeway as a piece of US government propaganda. Review

The relationship between the two plays out like a "nicecore" alternative to Phantom Thread, and it's a pleasure to spend time in their company. Review

The bland cenobite designs aside, there are some interesting visual ideas at play here. Much of the action takes place in a decrepit mansion designed to be something of a puzzle box itself, an idea Bruckner ports over from his previous movie The Night House. Review

Parker and Kohli's empathetic performances go a long way to winning us over. They share a remarkable chemistry, convincing as two lost souls who might just have found something worth living for. Review

Byers is a bright spark, managing to add some humanity to a character that likely read as one-dimensional on the page. Review

Barbarian similarly does its most memorable work in its first half, but even if you struggle to follow it into the grindhouse territory it navigates in its back half, you have to admit you're watching the work of a potentially very special filmmaker. Review

Running at a brisk 63 minutes, today's filmmakers could learn a lot from this movie's pacing. There's not an ounce of fat on this script and it still holds up as the definitive version of this oft-told and copied tale. Review

The first two chapters of Ostlund's film are peppered with hilarious vignettes, but things do grind to something of a halt in the final sequence. Ostlund never quite mines this scenario for the sort of insight it might provide. Review

Do Not Disturb is dogged by its inability to figure out whether it's a satirical comedy or something more…well, disturbing. Review

Played with relish by Thorp, Signe is a fascinating protagonist, a millennial Larry David on speed. Review

It works best when mining a particularly dark strand of humour, not so much when it resorts to Troma-esque silliness in its final act. But there's enough here to suggest that with a slightly more consistent vision, the directing and writing duo of August and Kiesche have enough distinctive talent to eke out a place in the crowded field of indie horror. Review

Kudos to Greene and screenwriter Jonathan Buchanan for trying something different in terms of storytelling structure, but you may be left wondering if 8 Found Dead might have been more successful working within the traditional parameters of its stagey setup. Review