Filmrecensies van Eric Hillis

The Calling ultimately feels like a pilot for a TV show that wasn't considered worthy of greenlighting. Recensie

As with The Conjuring and the Insidious movies, the filmmaker is denied the chance to create tension and suspense through imagery alone. Leonetti sets up some great shock images, but they're consistently ruined by being telegraphed with a loud bang. Recensie

Like many of Hitchcock's films, it's the supporting characters that leave the greatest mark here. Recensie

As is customary in modern Hollywood, this is an origin story, which of course means it ends at the point a more interesting story might begin. Recensie

If you knew nothing of Leduc's work before, you'll be just as ignorant by the end of Violette's mind and ass numbing 139 minutes, as the appeal of her writing is never conveyed. Recensie

This movie is yet more proof that the zom-com is a genre that needs a headshot to put it out of its misery. Recensie

In Demange's hands, the story plays out like a John Carpenter homage. Recensie

Working on his home turf has produced his first worthwhile effort, and the positive international response to Ida may give Polish cinema the shot in the arm it needs. Recensie

Throwing a bunch of characters into a pot and slowly bringing them to the boil, Virzí has effortlessly crafted the sort of ensemble drama the likes of Soderbergh, PT Anderson and Paul Haggis have struggled with in the past, and delivered one of the key films of 2014. Recensie

What we have here is a classic example of Hollywood execs wanting to have their cake and eat it, all too happy to cash in on the name recognition of an existing property, but too embarrassed by the source material to remain true to it. Recensie

A Walk Among the Tombstones is far from ground-breaking, nor is it particularly original, but there's enough here to satisfy fans of the gumshoe genre. Recensie

The ensemble cast is great, with Firth stealing the show with a performance reminiscent of Alvy Singer and Basil Fawlty trapped in the one body. Recensie

The premise of Maps to the Stars might be somewhat timeworn, but there's an undeniable pleasure in watching its cast essay such a rogues gallery with relish. Recensie

The ensuing mayhem resembles something from a 70s horror movie, and manipulative though it may be, it's impossible not to feel your blood boiling at the antics of these self-entitled gits. Recensie

As with Garden State, Braff fills the movie with "feel now!" moments accompanied by middle of the road indie folk and even recited poetry, borrowing emotion that, like everything else about this project, will never be reciprocated. Recensie

Remove the comedy and In Order of Disappearance could have been a satisfying grym film, but sadly it's just the latest crime caper to fall somewhere below Tarantino and somewhere above Guy Ritchie. Recensie

If you're after a high octane spy thriller, you won't find it here. What you will find is an immaculately constructed and realistic look at the workings of Western intelligence, with a signature Hoffman performance that serves as a worthy bookend to his cinematic legacy. Recensie

Little details like this quickly pile up, so by the midpoint of the story we've lost all faith in the script. When the end credits roll, you'll wish you could temporarily suffer amnesia, so you can wipe the memory of this headache inducer. Recensie

The setting of Paris's famous catacombs, built to house the city's dead and now home to six million corpses, automatically adds a creepy atmosphere, and the movie succeeds initially by leaving things to our imagination and allowing us to half-glimpse images in the shadows. Towards the end, however, we enter crash, bang and wallop territory, and the movie begins to feel like a Youtube walk-through of a horror themed video game. Recensie

Reichardt removes all the usual tropes of the suspense thriller, and the result is a film that will test the patience of many a viewer. Stick with it though and you'll find it's an effective character drama, with a trio of cracking central performances. Recensie

While The Guest feels like a product of a more innocent era, it never explicitly references any earlier works, and never winks knowingly at its audience. This is a film that's unashamedly proud to be a genre movie, and so it should be, as it's the best thriller we've seen in a long, long time. Recensie

The film is comprised of three storylines, but I use that term loosely. They're really just jokes with no punchlines, and are so uninspired they would have been rejected by the producers of the worst of those many anthology series that clogged up Cable TV schedules in the 80s. Recensie

As it is, we'll have to file it under flawed, almost-masterpiece. Recensie

For a movie from the writer of The Station Agent and the director of Lars and the Real Girl, this is as safe and sugary as they come, but the charisma of Hamm, Bell and Arkin, combined with that indefinable romance of the featured sport, make it watchable for baseball novices. Recensie