Josh Board

Josh Board is a member of the San Diego Film Critics Society and has been reviewing movies since 1990.

Recent Articles

  • Dolittle

    Let me say this first. This movie IS NOT as bad as all the critics are saying. The pull-quotes I’ve seen from various critics do crack me up, but it’s not fair. This film isn’t as bad as CATS (yet it’s getting a lower Rotten Tomatoes score than CATS). In fact, it won’t come anywhere near my worst of the year list. Now, don’t take that for a ringing endorsement. The movie is flawed. But it’s a light-hearted kids flick. […]

  • Bad Boys For Life

    Will Smith returns as…yes, Detective Mike Lowry, but also as the same character in almost the same movie we saw a few months ago — Gemini Man. Both films had a person on a motorcycle attacking (even with the bike stopping on its front wheel right before a gunshot). Both movies revealed the killer to be a son (or was it a clone? I can’t remember now). Both movies were utterly ridiculous, and felt like action pictures that were tired […]

  • Critics’ Choice Winners and Oscar Contenders

    The 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards was a blast. Of course, I’m biased. I was at the event, and I am a voting member.  This is the second year Taye Diggs hosted, and while I didn’t think he was that funny last year, he killed it this time. The jokes were all solid, and the bit where he does movie trivia with people in the crowd was hysterical. I truly think Jennifer Lopez was confused by the segment which made […]

  • Underwater

    I remember going with two friends to see The Abyss in 1989. It was around midnight when we went to Denny’s afterwards and they couldn’t stop arguing about it. One hated it, one loved it. I thought it was okay, but director James Cameron had just come off doing the terrific Aliens, so maybe more was expected from The Abyss. I wish I still hung out with those two guys, because I wonder if they’d argue, or agree with me […]

  • Like a Boss

    The weirdest thing happened before this movie started. There was a buzz in the crowd about how bad it was going to be. One person a few rows behind me said, “Well, at least it’s only an hour and 23 minutes if it sucks.” Two other critics came over talking about how bad it would be. Now, my wife and I both thought the trailers for it were awful, but as I’ve said about comedies — sometimes they can be […]

  • Just Mercy

    This movie reminded me a lot of the movie Brian Banks from a few months ago. That was a true story, based on a football player wrongly accused of rape, and the California Innocence Project getting involved to help him out. Bryan Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that helps poor prisoners in need of legal help. When a Harvard graduate does a job like this, making a lot less money than he could at […]

  • 1917

    I saw an early screening of this and didn’t know anything about it and 30 minutes in, I excitedly said to my wife, “Oh wow, I think this is filmed in one long, continuous shot.”  Soon I realized it was a gimmick, the way everyone thought Birdman did that, too.  Another thing that hurt my enjoyment of this movie, is similar to what happened with A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. That movie was hurt by the fact that, the […]

  • Horror Stories — A Liz Phair Memoir

    I have a really good memory, especially when it comes to music and movies. As a movie critic who watches hundreds of movies each year, and did that even before I was a critic, I remember who I was with and what theatres I saw movies at. It always surprises my friends when we’re talking about various films from 30 years ago, and I mention who I saw it with and what they thought of it. It’s the same way […]

  • Top 10 Movies — The Best and Worst of 2019

    I love making lists. There’s nothing more fun than when a friend on Facebook will ask what the best albums of all time were, top 10 concert experiences, best actors, best restaurants in countries they’ve visited, etc. I’m always the first to add my list (even if I’ve only been to a few countries).   When it’s the end of the year, movie critics talk to one another about what movies we’re going to put on our lists. There’s a younger […]

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