Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Had The Equalizer 2 focussed on such small scale human dramas, rather than rehashing the plot of every other action movie, it would have been a far more satisfying watch. Oh, and Stewart Copeland's theme wouldn't have gone amiss either. Review

DJing is one of those cultures that's never been portrayed in any realistic fashion on screen, and with Elba himself heavily involved in the world of turntablism, it feels like a missed opportunity to shine a light on a misunderstood craft. Review

The Meg is at its best when it acknowledges how silly it really is and plays up to the clichés of the genre. It boasts a handful of gags that made me laugh out loud and a final irresistible Dad joke coda tells you everyone involved has their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. As milque toast as the filmmaking here is, I'll take this over mopey men in tights every day. Review

Thanks to the huge profit margin on relatively miniscule budgets, the Unfriended series will likely live on past its sell by date, but two instalments in, it's the most innovative and effective horror franchise since Final Destination. Review

Steinþórsson is particularly impressive as the put upon victim of his own indiscretions who comes closest to the film's lead character, with Björgvinsdóttir scarily convincing as a woman retreating into the darkness as she uses her neighbourly dispute as a means of coping with the heartbreak of her son's disappearance. Review

Cousins' passion for his subject is undeniable and infectious, but at times his film feels intrusive and presumptuous. Review

Films like The Children Act are as single-minded in their liberal atheist viewpoint as those conservative Christian movies that usually star washed up former TV stars like Kevin Sorbo or Melissa Joan Hart. For a more nuanced take on the subject of Jehovah's Witnesses and their controversial beliefs regarding blood transfusions, I recommend checking out the recently released British drama Apostasy instead. Review

If ever a movie was suitable for screening in schools as part of some 'scared straight' programme, it's Layton's, which deglamourises the crime genre to focus on the tragic aftermath of the young men's actions. Review

The overall sense here isn't so much of characters conversing as simply waiting for their turn to deliver a line of expository technobabble. Review

The film's treatment of Miles' sexuality is at times confusing, and his homosexuality doesn't really factor into the narrative in any meaningful way. Review

And what set-pieces they are. Personally, I wish the franchise would return to the more intimate, Hitchcockian set-pieces De Palma gave us 22 years ago, but director Christopher McQuarrie imbues his action scenes with the same philosophy as his protagonist, never losing focus of the individual amid the chaos. Review

The mundane modern setting adds to this sense of outdated dogma clashing with contemporary western life. Review

While it's difficult to buy the film's odd critique of London, as this is a story that could have been set in any city on any continent, it certainly adds fuel to the debate around how society treats immigrants and sex-workers. It's just a shame that it frequently resorts to soapy theatrics in order to do so. Review

The story is paper thin, which is fine if de Fontenay favoured character over plot, but that doesn't appear to be the case, as he never allows us to spend any quality time with his protagonists. Review

Unlike last year's Get Out, which made liberal white audiences laugh while also making them examine their own brand of bigotry, BlacKkKlansman is unlikely to make any white viewers leave the cinema questioning their prejudice, as its villains are unrelatable cartoon figures, and it ends on a scene that pushes the dubious idea that racist cops are a minority that the rest of the boys in blue are committed to flushing out. Review

Artigas might be the acting find of the year. Review

As dumb as a bag of cement, Skyscraper is nevertheless undeniably watchable, thanks chiefly to Johnson's presence and his unrivalled skill at acting against greenscreen backdrops. Review

The First Purge, which takes us back to the origins of Purge Night, is the very definition of a pointless prequel, one that gives fans of this franchise nothing they haven't seen already in the previous three films. Review

The performances of said amateurs vary in quality, and some come across as a little self-conscious, but this only serves to add to the almost docu-drama, travelogue realism of Granik's film. Review

In Sollima's hands, Sicario 2: Soldado is a scaled down sequel that ups the action quota and reduces the dialogue while still getting its anti-authoritarian message across. Review

In spite of its shallowness and superficial approach to taboo subjects like pedophilia and teen suicide, Flower is admittedly never dull, thanks largely to a performance from Deutch that demands you sit up and take notice of her talents. Review

While Ready Player One goes easy on its primary audience of pop culture obsessives, Sequence Break is far more scornful, like Rod Serling has come back from the grave to tell the young men of today to get a life, put the joypad down and call up that nice girl you like. Or as the film tells it, look between the ones and zeros. Review

There are brief glimpses of J.A. Bayona's brilliance to be found as he employs light and shadow to good effect and pulls off a 'how did they do that?' single take underwater sequence, but the script is a turd no filmmaker could successfully polish. Review

Lynch is a real find, but perhaps the most impressive performance comes from Roberts as his father, a financially successful but bitterly unhappy man who gives the impression that he knows something awful lies ahead for his son. Review