Joshua Rivera

Tomatometer-approved critic

Publications: Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine/Vulture, Rolling Stone, GQ, Business Insider, The Week

Movie Reviews Only

Movies
TV

T-Meter	Title \| Year	Review
19%	Serenity (2019)	Serenity is a movie that's truly about the journey, not the destination. But when you put it all out there, the twist doesn't really elevate the film's quality, just its lunacy. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 31, 2019
37%	Glass (2019)	The timeline is barely comprehensible, with twists so openly telegraphed they'd have saved the Titanic. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jan 17, 2019
65%	Aquaman (2018)	When you're riding a damn shark into war and there's an octopus playing drums and also Nicole Kidman is there? I wouldn't say no. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 20, 2018
97%	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is wonderful in a lot of different ways. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 13, 2018
91%	Widows (2018)	That's kind of incredible in a genre film, to get such a complicated cross-section of a place in one marvelously efficient thriller. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 21, 2018
69%	Beautiful Boy (2018)	Beautiful Boy relies on and exploits a toxic cultural shorthand that makes it read as a dirge for white innocence, dragging its otherwise clear-eyed portrayal of the cyclical nature of addiction down into something more base and contemptible. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 16, 2018
29%	Venom (2018)	...Venom knows this, and because of that, it doesn't bother to make much sense. Its entire deal is just having fun with the dynamic between Eddie Brock-Tom Hardy giving a downright incredible performance as a man possessed. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Oct 11, 2018
58%	Slice (2018)	Watch it late at night, with the kind of people who'd have a good time at a "bad movie night." Because Slice is exactly that -- stylish kitsch, the kind of thermonuclear cheese that's absolutely delightful to watch even if it doesn't make a lick of sense. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Sep 13, 2018
9%	Fantastic Four (2015)	Make no mistake, -- the movie isn't all bad. Not in the least! - Business Insider EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
90%	10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)	10 Cloverfield Lane remains a staunch believer in the old horror tenet of the unseen and unspoken being infinitely more terrifying than anything made explicit. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
93%	Logan (2017)	[It's] a very good, very violent action movie, with a sense of stakes that modern blockbusters rarely have. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
57%	Hotel Artemis (2018)	Hotel Artemis has a clever little bait and switch, one that's not going to blow anyone's mind -- it's not even hiding it all that much -- but it's what makes the whole thing work. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
83%	Deadpool 2 (2018)	Deadpool 2 is terribly constructed. Why things happen doesn't really make much sense. The plot is an illogical mess of action scenes and joke setups. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
100%	Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018)	Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert proved just how freaking good a live TV musical can be when it's firing on all cylinders. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
91%	The Disaster Artist (2017)	Keeping the story structure familiar likely acts as a way for the film to stay grounded as it explores its weird subject and you see them coming clearly. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
43%	Ghost in the Shell (2017)	For a film that seems so slavish to the imagery of the original anime... it's incredibly timid about reproducing what makes those scenes memorable, which is that they were gross and uncomfortable. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 6, 2018
88%	Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)	A movie that is so top-to-bottom fun that it's hard to believe the same studio put out the doomsday spectacle that is Avengers: Infinity War a mere two months ago. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 26, 2018
93%	Sorry to Bother You (2018)	There's no film more scathingly clear-eyed about America in 2018, and you need to see it right now. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 26, 2018
99%	Eighth Grade (2018)	It doesn't hurt that it's anchored by Elsie Fisher, who looks like she's giving an incredible performance as the film's lead, Kayla. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Mar 15, 2018
37%	Death Note (2017)	I'm not sure who Death Note is for. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 31, 2017
88%	The Incredible Jessica James (2017)	What makes The Incredible Jessica James stand out-other than terrific performances from Williams and co-stars- is in the effort it puts towards being a romantic comedy that emphasizes the "comedy" part. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Aug 9, 2017
92%	Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)	It's hard to say where Spider-Man will go after Homecoming, but this movie, right now, feels worth it. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jul 14, 2017
16%	The Mummy (2017)	The Mummy is not a good movie. I would not spend the amount of money it costs to see it in a movie theater, and you shouldn't either. But when you can see The Mummy on HBO -- or even better, on an airplane -- you ought to watch the hell out of it. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Jun 8, 2017
93%	Wonder Woman (2017)	The film effortlessly streamlines decades of comic book history that blends the DC Universe and Greek mythology, telling the origin of the mysterious, ageless Wonder Woman who stole the show in Batman v Superman. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted May 31, 2017
84%	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)	[It's] Marvel film that feels like it's playing by its own rules now that it has established these characters as runaway favorites, and the sequel definitely has a swagger that feels earned. Mostly, though, I want to tell you about how weird it is. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted May 4, 2017
97%	Your Name. (Kimi No Na Wa.) (2017)	The movie is incredible and you will likely agree with me once you see it. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 6, 2017
39%	Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)	It lacks self-awareness and perspective, which is a problem you run into when you make something for "the fans" and not for people. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 5, 2016
51%	The Accountant (2016)	Throughout, Affleck is a capable, enjoyable leading man. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 5, 2016
86%	Godzilla Resurgence (Shin Godzilla) (2016)	The special effects seem to very intentionally play into the monster's low-fi roots while also attempting to unsettle, and it's... kind of really effective. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Dec 5, 2016
89%	Doctor Strange (2016)	Ultimately, Doctor Strange isn't so much bad as it is difficult to justify. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Nov 1, 2016
95%	Sing Street (2016)	Sing Street is about the formation of the bond between teen and music, about how we assemble identities out of piles of records and discard them for others, eventually becoming ourselves by accident, a mosaic of the bits we couldn't quite scrape off. - GQ EDIT Read More \| Posted Apr 21, 2016