Movie reviews of Eric Hillis

The 16mm photography of Thodoros Mihopoulos simultaneously creates a vibrant immediacy while giving To a Land Unknown a timeless quality. Review

Rebellious Iranian writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof opens his latest incendiary work with an analogy that correlates to how the youth of his country (specifically young women) are strangled by the oppression of their elders... Review

Bring Them Down might be described as a contemporary western, and Abbott's Michael is exactly the sort of taciturn protagonist with a shady past you might find strapping on their old pistol for one last duel at dawn. Review

We know how all this ultimately plays out, but the thrill comes from seeing Mason, Arledge and their crew comes up with technical solutions on the fly while grappling with the morality of sticking a camera in the face of tragedy. Review

These are messy and very human characters of the sort that Sang-soo has mastered in his prolific career. But By the Stream is one of his more humorous films, and its breezy tone means we don't really think about the depth of it all until it's over. Review

Such minor gripes aside, Companion is a highly entertaining and original take on the robot goes rogue trope. Review

That's ultimately the biggest problem with Dark Match: for a movie that features so much action in the ring, its staging doesn't do enough to make it stand out from what the WWE and other franchises offer audiences on a near nightly basis. Review

Maybe it's a sign of my age, but I found myself intensely irritated by the antics of the young group of so-called comedians we're forced to spend time with here. Review

As great as Herisse and Wilson are in portraying Elwood and Turner on screen, the camera plays an integral role in fleshing out their characters. Review

For the most part this is an assured and highly promising debut from Rainbow, who lends a woman's touch to a previously male-dominated horror sub-genre. Review

Flight Risk is essentially a low budget variation of the old "the stewardess has to land the plane" disaster movie trope, with Madelyn given instructions by an improbably flirty pilot... Review

There are some wonderful visual moments, as you might expect, with a beautifully composed shot involving a model of the cruise ship passing an island that would have Wes Anderson fawning over its doll's house detail. Review

In its best moments Inheritance reminds us just how thrilling the espionage genre can be when a filmmaker takes it seriously. Review

For all its epic expanse, The Brutalist keeps us in its thrall thanks to the performances of Brody and Pearce. Review

Gatt fails to convince as a writer but impresses somewhat as a director, constantly finding new ways to visually enliven his film's barren setting, and the 35mm cinematography of Aurélien Marra captures the heat and dust of the location. Review

For all its attempts to tackle heavy themes, Wolf Man is ultimately just as silly as Joe Johnston's more faithful 2010 take. Review

Chalamet's portrayal is magnetic but the script never lets him be anything more than a mumbling enigma. Thankfully we have Dylan's songs to fill in the blanks, performed in a surprisingly convincing manner here by Chalamet. Review

The lack of technical creativity is somewhat disappointing but perhaps if Soderbergh had chosen to dazzle us with his camera moves we might have become too focussed on the spirit rather than the human drama it observes and so badly wishes to be a part of. Review

It's all a big mess, which is frustrating as there are moments that hint at the affecting look at the passage of time this might have been in the hands of a filmmaker more interested in humans than gadgets. Review

For at least its first half, Get Away is an amusing send-up of the tone deaf ignorance of Brits who naively decide to holiday in parts of the world once ravaged by their ancestors, oblivious to how their presence might be received by the natives. Review

Larrain, Knight and Jolie take us beyond the well manicured, stiff postured presentation of Callas to get to the heartbreaking turmoil that exists within her in these twilight days. Review

You get the sense Sharpe and Merlant are using their roles to audition for the next Bond movie - Sharpe flops but Merlant should have Barbara Broccoli sitting up and paying attention. Review

This comedy, with its sunny lighting and witty repartee, just might make you think about the Holocaust and its echoes in more profound ways than any well-intentioned black and white concentration camp drama. Review

Dickinson and Kidman have a scorching chemistry that sucks us into their thrilling relationship. Review