Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

The initially intriguing setup gives way to a crude 'bad behaviour' comedy, trading on the gimmick that we don't see women indulge in such filthy antics too often in American cinema. Greer will have to wait a little longer for that breakout role. Review

The sight of Tom Hardy attempting to out-act himself is just about enough to hold your attention for a good portion of the film, but after a while the lack of substance begins to weigh heavy and the strings become all too visible. East End? More like dead end! Review

Dope attempts to open a narrative on racial politics, but in unconvincing fashion, with Fumiyawa preaching tolerance while populating his story with the crudest of racial stereotypes. Review

If you thought his showy but soulless direction of last year's remake of The Town That Dreaded Sundown was irritating, then strap yourself in as Gomez-Rejon takes you for another ride on his ever wandering camera dolly. Just don't expect the ride to take you anywhere. Review

The movie's second half plays out in mundane fashion. It's far from entertaining, but it certainly hammers home the cultural castration imposed on the filmmaker by those who insist on living in the dark ages. Review

Abel Ferrara may not be the greatest Italian-American filmmaker, but he's arguably the most Italian-American filmmaker. His latest work, a tribute to Italy's most controversial filmmaker, is film as funeral mass. Review

Ken Kwapis's film is more of a casual stroll than an exhausting hike, and he struggles to visually convey the wonder of the geographical setting (the heavy use of green-screen backdrops doesn't help), but the real landscape of this film isn't that of the Appalachians; rather, it's the leathered faces of two screen greats. Review

Filmmakers and viewers may disagree on whether Ricki should be celebrated as a free spirit or frowned upon as a sociopath, but if one person fully understands the character, it's Streep, who turns Cody's rough toilet tissue script into graded parchment. Review

What saves the movie is the performance of Efron, who just may be the natural heir to Tom Cruise. Like all great movie stars, he has a knack of papering over the film's many cracks, forcing us to invest in his character in a way both his director and the script fail to. Review

The dialogue is simply atrocious, so bad it probably wouldn't make it into the cut scenes of the video game. The lack of effort on the page however isn't mirrored in the visuals; this is a simply stunning movie to behold. Review

Relentlessly grim, and delivered at a cracking pace, No Escape's spiritual home is the drive-in, but it's worth catching at the multiplex too. Review

Sinister 2 opts for horror's lowest common denominators - jump scares and gore - but the genre has moved on. No more cattle-prod cinema! Snuff's enough! Review

Ullmann shoots her cast like the director of a football match during an extended timeout for injury. At 130 minutes, this will test the patience of all but the most enthusiastic theatre buffs. Review

Like a nap in a Normandy field on an August afternoon, Gemma Bovery is a serene but ultimately empty experience. It will, however, be interesting to see how Arterton's burgeoning sideline in Gallic cinema develops. Review

Chen gives a committed performance, and certainly generates sympathy, but the hysterical, menopausal heroine is becoming something of an arthouse cliché. Review

At one point Mistress America morphs into an almost self-contained one-act play. It's in this sequence that Gerwig takes over the movie, prowling around like the love-child of Carole Lombard and Katherine Hepburn, and it's all the better for it. Review

Whatever intentions Schumer and Apatow had for Trainwreck, they've delivered a numbingly mainstream comedy. The woman may be on top, but the position hasn't changed. Review

If you're a fan of the original show, there's much to infuriate about this new interpretation. I understand the movie has to appeal to as large an audience as possible, and rightly so, but the film seems to go out of its way to distance itself from its source. Review

Cub is clearly made by a horror fan, for horror fans, who I think will appreciate the many tropes in the film that are associated with the genre. Unfortunately, the film as a whole just doesn’t seem to fit together. Review

It's interesting that in Pixels, nostalgia literally comes back to destroy us - pop eating itself like Pac-Man chewing down pellets - but I'd probably be giving the film too much credit should I suggest this is an intended subtext. Review

A common complaint about comic book adaptations is how visually uninteresting they are, and with 90% of the movie set in a laboratory, Fantastic Four leads us to wonder in bemusement at where its $122 million budget was spent. Review

It's a rare movie that will appeal as much to teenage girls as adults. A teenage audience may well nod along to Minnie's words and actions, but the rest of us will frown, chuckle, and worry. In our own ways, we'll both be correct. Review

I'm struggling to recall a thriller so content to display a lack of originality on the scale of Marshland. If you've seen Twin Peaks, The Killing, or any of the many Nordic Noirs that have gained prominence in the culture lately, none of the plot beats here will come as a surprise. Review

David Gordon Green has dabbled in magic realism before, but never to this degree. It's an aspect that will likely prove frustrating for viewers expecting a standard character drama, but it adds a fascinating extra dimension to an otherwise mundane slice of working class Americana. Review