Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

Jake Johnson, clad in an original Jurassic Park t-shirt, riffs about how he preferred the old version of the park. It's as though the movie knows it's a pale shadow of the original, and it's correct in believing so. Review

Azais and Haenal make for a great straight man / wacky girl combo, winning us over instantly as they share their awkward adventure. The ambiguous ending sets their characters off on an uncertain path of discovery, and it's impossible not to wish them well. Review

Too many subplots are interwoven for us to fully invest in any of them. In constructing their drama, the Schwochows have thrown a lot of balls in the air. I'm still waiting for one of them to land. Review

As a director, Yinan is certainly one to watch, but if he's to deliver a fully satisfying narrative he needs to find a screenplay collaborator. Review

The darkness of the movie's climactic scenes makes it considerably difficult to check your watch, which is just downright inconsiderate on the filmmakers' part. Review

On the few occasions when Listen Up Philip falls silent, it's quietly sublime, but for a movie about writers, its words, of which there are many, fail to ring true. Review

With Jovovich fleeing from Brosnan's silver haired terminator there's no reason Survivor couldn't be a perfectly enjoyable chase thriller, but every aspect of the film suggests nobody involved cares about constructing a worthwhile movie. Review

"Let Us Prey tries hard to shock us without ever engaging our senses, but once we realise how little it has to offer, boredom quickly sets in. Let us prey we don't get a sequel. Review

Unlike the 'grey pound' movies, which usually take a very patronising view of old people, Mr Holmes isn't afraid to present a realistic look at the aging process, and the result is the best portrait of an OAP since The Straight Story. Review

Pearce and Smulders aren't a natural fit for this material and there's a lack of heat in their scenes together that makes you wonder if there's an unseen plate glass window separating them. It's difficult to care about their relationship. Review

As disaster movies go, San Andreas isn't a complete disaster, but you'll have to sift through a lot of rubble to find anything worthwhile here. Review

Timbuktu won't change anyone's mind on this issue - Jihad isn't something you sit on the fence over - but it adds a host of human faces to the statistics on the six o'clock news. Review

If you're a fan of the crop of cheap straight to video Conan knockoffs that proliferated during the mid-80s, this might win you over with nostalgia for incompetent action; The Dead Lands is more hack than haka. Review

Spring is a movie you'll fall in love with, one that leaves you with butterflies in your tummy; now adults can experience the effect Twilight has on teenage girls. Review

It's long been debated whether Poltergeist was directed by its credited director Tobe Hooper or its producer Steven Spielberg, but this pathetic and pointless remake confirms that whoever was indeed responsible was certainly working at the top of their game. Review

As a movie, Tomorrowland is a mess, and as a commercial for Tomorrowland the theme park, it's a complete failure. There are far more enticing rides at the multiplex this summer. Review

Like a teenager spending hours on her makeup to get the 'natural' look, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night expounds an awful lot of energy in its quest for effortless cool, but it left this reviewer decidedly lukewarm. Review

The Gallic setting adds a certain amount of novelty value to this sort of tale, but in narrative terms we're on all too familiar ground, with Jimenez happy to trade in the clichés of the gangster epic. Review

An AC/DC concert on wheels, Mad Max: Fury Road may not live up to the first part of its title (the title character barely registers and is far from mad, though was he ever really?), but it's certainly a furious road trip, one a certain other vehicular based blockbuster franchise would do well to study. Review

Cynics may brand A Fuller Life little more than an extended infomercial for Fuller's autobiography A Third Face, but if this is the case, it achieves its goal in some style. Review

There's something exploitative about The Tribe's use of sign language as a narrative device, but if it's a gimmick, I can't deny it's one I thoroughly appreciated. Review

When the action moves to the confines of the prison, and the movie becomes for the most part a two-hander between Bahari and Javadi, the film stalls, with Stewart unable to find a cinematic way of conveying the verisimilitude of Bahari's experience. Review

On the evidence of the ramshackle Top Five, I'm not entirely convinced that being taken seriously is something Rock really cares about. Like the protagonist of his film, Rock seems eager to create a movie with a message, but doesn't seem to know himself what that message is. Review

Simon Blake's Still delivers all the grit you might expect from a London crime drama, and establishes Aidan Gillen as one of the most interesting and undersung actors to emerge from the British Isles in recent years. Review