Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Anyone over the age of 12 will struggle to endure its insufferable, soulless cavalcade of colour and commercial culture, while anyone younger will struggle to make sense of references aimed at their parents. Review

Had Soderbergh remained focussed on his film's initial theme, Unsane might have created a wider Get Out style conversation around the ethics of commercialising the care industry. As it is, most viewers will leave Soderbergh's film asking questions about minor unexplained plot points. Review

This Tomb Raider has a compelling figure at its centre, played by an actress who throws herself into the role with an infectious glee, but aside from a couple of bouts of exciting action, it struggles to find anything of interest for her to do, and the script is sorely lacking in some much needed humour. Still, there's enough to suggest that with a more cogent story, the Nordic duo of Uthaug and Vikander may have laid the founda... Review

For now it's simply an endurance test that had me constantly checking my watch and wishing I could time travel to its closing credits. Review

Halfway through Mary Magdalene I began wishing I had some algebra to distract me from the dramatically inert, plodding story unspooling on screen. Review

Gringo however has a lot more in common with a Netflix original, boasting an impressive cast in a blandly shot and misfiring drama, and if Amazon had sent it straight to their streaming service, nobody would be calling it cinema's loss. Review

Wonder Wheel isn't the worst movie Allen has ever made, but it might be the worst he's ever written. Thank Italian cinematography God Vittorio Storaro then that it's one of the best looking movies Allen has delivered in years. Review

It's a film that inspires outrage from its audience at the treatment of its protagonist, but it never asks us to pity her. Strong and defiant throughout, if brittle within, Marina is a figure of inspiration, and you don't leave the film feeling sorry for her, rather you exit wishing you had an ounce of her fortitude. Review

While its probably too light on action and explicit thrills to fully sate fans of more bombastic sci-fi, and lacking enough originality to earn classic status within the genre, Annihilation does enough with its melting pot premise to please an audience somewhere in the middle-ground, and hopefully Netflix's recommendation algorithm will lead its viewers on a path of sci-fi discovery of their own. Review

Each viewer will have their own opinion on what's best for the young man, but thanks to Jandreau's endearingly captivating performance and Zhao's compassionate approach, you'll be rooting for him all the way regardless of his decision. Review

The Cured plays best when it's dealing with the relationship between Senan and Abbie, the latter torn between her liberal, accepting nature and her need to keep her son safe. Keely effectively evokes sympathy as he conveys his character's self-doubt regarding the effectiveness of his cure and his fear of regressing to his infected state. Review

While it may be a damning indictment of the regressive gender politics of her country, Surya's film is a visually splendid tribute to its natural beauty. Review

The more plot twists it throws up, the more we find ourselves scratching our heads at how it consistently contradicts itself and appears to be making up its plot on the fly. Review

The contemporary audience for Schrader's work may be a fraction of that of his '70s prime, but his words still affect us, perhaps now more than ever. As long as he keeps penning sermons, we'll keep listening. Review

Unlike most thrillers, with their wooden stock characters, the people Shigemori encounters over the course of his investigation are just that - people. No matter how small a role they play, Kore-eda makes every single character feel like a living, breathing person with their own story playing out offscreen... Review

Less successful is the mute aspect of Leo's character, which does little but add running time to an already snail-paced narrative, as our hero communicates by writing down notes and asking strangers to speak into voice recognition devices. Review

Sweet Country is so blunt in its depiction of racial bigotry that it hammers home just how safe most modern American movies depicting racism play their drama. Review

For hardcore devotees of gothic horror, The Lodgers' effectively gloomy aesthetic, period setting, and Vega's tortured, romantically doomed heroine may prove enough of a surface diversion, but for more general horror fans, O'Malley's film fails to bring enough originality to an increasingly crowded genre table. Review

The movie's most successful scenes are those shared between the brother/sister dynamic when the past is kept ambiguous, yet I can't help think they would have been far more rewarding if we didn't know from the off why so much anger exists between them. Review

Largely devoid of human warmth for long periods, Journeyman too often feels like an exercise in exploitative misery porn, and while its manipulative moments are undoubtedly affecting, there's a sense that Considine is simply pressing emotional buttons for a reaction. Review

Fifty Shades Freed goes out of its way to infuriate its target female audience with a neat line in outdated misogyny. Review

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