Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Between Bouzerau's penetrative analysis and Mitchell's vocal cheerleading, Becoming Hitchcock may well have you programming your own Hitchcock season when the credits roll. Review

This lack of passion in the storytelling jars with the soapiness of the plot. For all its sombre seriousness, Conclave is a very silly movie, and it's to its detriment that it refuses to accept that it's really just Dallas in the Vatican with JR (the traditionalists) battling Bobby (the liberals) over who gets to inherit Southfork. Review

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl marks the acting debut of Zambian-British model Chardy, who comes out of the gate with one of the year's most engaging performances. Review

With The Man in the White Van Skeels has created less a love letter to '70s American horror cinema, more a heavy breathing phone call that will unnerve you in how it plays out its terror in an everyday setting. Review

And yet for all its issues, Blitz is never dull. Review

For all Van Dien's gamey performance, Ella just isn't a compelling protagonist, and you might find yourself wishing the film had rejected its Young Adult trappings in favour of something darker ala Species or Cronenberg's Rabid. If you have pangs for a gripping sci-fi thriller, you won't get your fix here. Review

Even in the early scenes before Eric has conceived of his film, it often feels like we're watching the actors rather than their characters, and there are moments where their stifled smirks betray a sense that it's just two bored creative people having a lark. Review

Bustamente is keen to point the finger of blame at the entire adult world that has failed girls like Rita, for whom there is sadly no fairy-tale ending. Review

Your Monster brushes up against some uncomfortable truths regarding relationships, but it ultimately sweeps them aside for a broadly played slay queen fantasy. Review

It lacks awe-inspiring visuals, a commanding central performance, entertaining villains and a narrative we can get behind from the start. Like the real life Coliseum, it's impressive that it got made, but Gladiator II leaves us dreaming about the past. Review

A small miracle of a film, Colin Hickey's intensely personal Perennial Light, with its elegiac musings on existence, death and time, provides a profound cinematic experience. Review

By the time Stockholm Bloodbath decides to make some serious and timely points we've lost interest in its parade of cartoonish stereotypes. Review

Arnold's latest is so filled with exuberant adolescent energy that you can't help but get wrapped up in its messy charms, and in Adams we're witnessing a starling hatch from her shell. Review

The movie is almost single-mindedly interested in Canelli, and it's credit to Robinson's immense screen presence that such a nihilistic figure keeps us engaged. Review

Scanlen and O'Brien are both excellent as two young people haunted by loss and driven to obsession. Review

It's remarkable then that it fluffs its lines so badly and fails to exploit the claustrophobic tension of its initial setup. I'd wait for the next one if I were you. Review

Everyone can enjoy seeing a woman scorned standing up for herself, and this embittered housewife serves her revenge piping hot, straight out of the oven. Review

Despite its fantastical elements, some of which might even be dismissed as silly by less forgiving viewers, Meanwhile on Earth always feels grounded thanks to the relatable and recognisable nature of its tragedy. Review

If Kennedy can create so much tension and mine so many awkward laughs in the limited setting of a country pub, I look forward to seeing what he might be capable of creating if a producer puts more than a pound in his pocket. Review

What's most laudable about Woods and Beck's film is how it may lead some viewers to question their own belief systems, regardless of which side of the fence they're on. Review

Eastwood may waste the opportunity to create a modern transcendental classic, but he has fashioned a highly entertaining thriller. Review

There are brief digressions when Time Cut becomes downright melancholy as it wrestles with such weighty ideas, but it's too concerned with neatly wrapping everything up to really dive into any deep philosophical waters. Review

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point is like the best sort of Christmas present, one you didn't know you needed, wrapped with tender care in traditional tones of red and green. Review

By the end of Armand we've been subjected to so many showy distractions that we've lost sight of the central drama, and as the closing credits unspool we're left wondering what the point of it all was beyond providing a showcase for the formidable talents of rising star Reinsve. Review