Bill Bria
@billbria.bsky.social
He/Him. Staff Writer at /Film, contributor to Discussing Film, Dread Central, Crooked Marquee, The Wrap, Daily Grindhouse, others. Co-host of Bill & Ashley’s Terror Theater. An actor and comedian sometimes. A goofball all other times.
Quick PSA to everyone in that theater: see where it says “Livestream?” Of course, a livestream vs. in person Q&A shouldn’t matter to you if you were actually showing up for what she had to say versus the clout of you taking a picture or begging for an autograph.
November 7, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Quick PSA to everyone in that theater: see where it says “Livestream?” Of course, a livestream vs. in person Q&A shouldn’t matter to you if you were actually showing up for what she had to say versus the clout of you taking a picture or begging for an autograph.
#Pluribus is easily the best new TV series of the year. Vince Gilligan slides back into X-FILES mode, bringing along BREAKING BAD’s verve and his irreverent satire. Rhea Seehorn creates a totally unique antiheroine: a mix of righteous, messy humanity and ugliness. It’s brilliant.
November 7, 2025 at 2:59 AM
#Pluribus is easily the best new TV series of the year. Vince Gilligan slides back into X-FILES mode, bringing along BREAKING BAD’s verve and his irreverent satire. Rhea Seehorn creates a totally unique antiheroine: a mix of righteous, messy humanity and ugliness. It’s brilliant.
#Eternity is amazing. A 21st century Old Hollywood melodrama, David Freyne's film is Capra by way of John Patrick Shanley, with dashes of Powell & Pressburger, Kaufman/Gondry & Gilliam. Olsen, Teller, & Turner are quirky & touching in equal measure. My favorite surprise of 2025!
October 31, 2025 at 10:18 PM
#Eternity is amazing. A 21st century Old Hollywood melodrama, David Freyne's film is Capra by way of John Patrick Shanley, with dashes of Powell & Pressburger, Kaufman/Gondry & Gilliam. Olsen, Teller, & Turner are quirky & touching in equal measure. My favorite surprise of 2025!
Great Scott, this is heavy, etc.
October 31, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Great Scott, this is heavy, etc.
#IsThisThingOn continues Bradley Cooper’s earnest look at finding catharsis through performance through the lens of a crumbling marriage where the dead ends & new beginnings start to blur together. Arnett & Dern help make it all attractively real, refreshingly averting cliches.
October 30, 2025 at 5:05 AM
#IsThisThingOn continues Bradley Cooper’s earnest look at finding catharsis through performance through the lens of a crumbling marriage where the dead ends & new beginnings start to blur together. Arnett & Dern help make it all attractively real, refreshingly averting cliches.
Dan Trachtenberg ingeniously subverts the series yet again with #PredatorBadlands, doing for the Yautja what T2 did for the T-800. Elle Fanning is a delight in her dual role, Jeff Cutter makes Genna look as deadly gorgeous as Pandora, all within a killer action/adventure film.
October 29, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Dan Trachtenberg ingeniously subverts the series yet again with #PredatorBadlands, doing for the Yautja what T2 did for the T-800. Elle Fanning is a delight in her dual role, Jeff Cutter makes Genna look as deadly gorgeous as Pandora, all within a killer action/adventure film.
#InYourDreams does something a lot of recent family films hope to do but fail at: recapturing that magic feeling of the heartwarming, thoughtful, and a little bit edgy animated movies of all our childhoods. Consistently inventive, frequently funny, impressively mature!
October 29, 2025 at 4:04 AM
#InYourDreams does something a lot of recent family films hope to do but fail at: recapturing that magic feeling of the heartwarming, thoughtful, and a little bit edgy animated movies of all our childhoods. Consistently inventive, frequently funny, impressively mature!
just put Tabasco on grilled whitefish with garlic butter
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
just put Tabasco on grilled whitefish with garlic butter
me @ my Instagram and blue sky accounts
October 27, 2025 at 1:05 AM
me @ my Instagram and blue sky accounts
QUEENS OF THE DEAD is a total delight. Forget about whether it carries on the Romero legacy (it does) or adds new lore to the zombie (nah); none of that matters thanks to just how endearingly hilarious this movie is. A zombie film that doesn’t even need zombies to be great!
October 23, 2025 at 6:21 AM
QUEENS OF THE DEAD is a total delight. Forget about whether it carries on the Romero legacy (it does) or adds new lore to the zombie (nah); none of that matters thanks to just how endearingly hilarious this movie is. A zombie film that doesn’t even need zombies to be great!
Just got my contributor copy of @vinsyn.bsky.social ‘s release of TROMEO & JULIET, and what a thing of beauty it is! So honored to be included in this milestone release. Hope you all enjoy it!
October 22, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Just got my contributor copy of @vinsyn.bsky.social ‘s release of TROMEO & JULIET, and what a thing of beauty it is! So honored to be included in this milestone release. Hope you all enjoy it!
Had an absolute blast at #NerdNiteLA last night, yapping about my kooky HALLOWEEN theory. Thanks so much to all who came out (including @aaronsps4.bsky.social and @hunterboldingvideo.bsky.social ) and all who participated (including @bjcolangelo.bsky.social and @harmonycolangelo.bsky.social !)
October 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Had an absolute blast at #NerdNiteLA last night, yapping about my kooky HALLOWEEN theory. Thanks so much to all who came out (including @aaronsps4.bsky.social and @hunterboldingvideo.bsky.social ) and all who participated (including @bjcolangelo.bsky.social and @harmonycolangelo.bsky.social !)
While it doesn’t transcend every biopic trope, #Springsteen DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE subverts the subgenre in a way that really got to me. Its approach — a character study of a man with depression, only he’s The Boss — allows Jeremy Allen White to give a remarkably rich performance.
October 21, 2025 at 4:44 AM
While it doesn’t transcend every biopic trope, #Springsteen DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE subverts the subgenre in a way that really got to me. Its approach — a character study of a man with depression, only he’s The Boss — allows Jeremy Allen White to give a remarkably rich performance.
#TheMastermind is pure Kelly Reichardt, in that it demands your patience in order to deliver a delightfully astute character study. Its satire is representative of its early-‘70s setting, regarding Josh O’Connor’s would-be art thief with equal parts bemusement and embarrassment.
October 20, 2025 at 2:11 AM
#TheMastermind is pure Kelly Reichardt, in that it demands your patience in order to deliver a delightfully astute character study. Its satire is representative of its early-‘70s setting, regarding Josh O’Connor’s would-be art thief with equal parts bemusement and embarrassment.
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER had a payphone stand display. Now BLACK PHONE 2 has a phone booth display. Which upcoming film will use a red telephone box display??
October 18, 2025 at 1:30 AM
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER had a payphone stand display. Now BLACK PHONE 2 has a phone booth display. Which upcoming film will use a red telephone box display??
Hanging out at the @variety.com Hollywood & Horror event last night! Got to see some cool speakers like Jason Blum & Sam Zimmerman, plus a great panel on music for horror films w/Bobby Krlic, Jeff Russo, Chanda Dancy, Amanda Krieg Thomas & Kris Le-Roy. A fun night!
October 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Hanging out at the @variety.com Hollywood & Horror event last night! Got to see some cool speakers like Jason Blum & Sam Zimmerman, plus a great panel on music for horror films w/Bobby Krlic, Jeff Russo, Chanda Dancy, Amanda Krieg Thomas & Kris Le-Roy. A fun night!
#Bugonia sees Yorgos Lanthimos continue his sicko mode run of pitch black comedies, with repertory players Stone & Plemons thrillingly going head to (bald) head. An unholy marriage of Jang Joon-hwan and Jeff Lieberman, it’s a film that looks & feels beautifully unwell.
October 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
#Bugonia sees Yorgos Lanthimos continue his sicko mode run of pitch black comedies, with repertory players Stone & Plemons thrillingly going head to (bald) head. An unholy marriage of Jang Joon-hwan and Jeff Lieberman, it’s a film that looks & feels beautifully unwell.
Finally got to see #OneBattleAfterAnother in glorious VistaVision. After three screenings in three different formats, I think it’s a great finale to my theatrical experience with this new classic. Happy to live in a city that allows for such cool celebrations of cinema like this!
October 10, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Finally got to see #OneBattleAfterAnother in glorious VistaVision. After three screenings in three different formats, I think it’s a great finale to my theatrical experience with this new classic. Happy to live in a city that allows for such cool celebrations of cinema like this!
In 2017, because the universe loves me, a sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time (which came out the year I was born) was released on my birthday. In 2025, it happened again.
But the universe also kinda hates me, so Jared Leto was there both times.
But the universe also kinda hates me, so Jared Leto was there both times.
October 9, 2025 at 9:16 PM
In 2017, because the universe loves me, a sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time (which came out the year I was born) was released on my birthday. In 2025, it happened again.
But the universe also kinda hates me, so Jared Leto was there both times.
But the universe also kinda hates me, so Jared Leto was there both times.
TRON: ARES is a mixed bag. It looks incredible (Jeff F’in Cronenweth!!), sounds incredible, and has a fun, unique structure. But its digital Pinocchio story feels a little cold, & it just barely avoids being a naked vanity project-cum-franchise reboot. Flynn lives, but only just.
October 9, 2025 at 5:05 AM
TRON: ARES is a mixed bag. It looks incredible (Jeff F’in Cronenweth!!), sounds incredible, and has a fun, unique structure. But its digital Pinocchio story feels a little cold, & it just barely avoids being a naked vanity project-cum-franchise reboot. Flynn lives, but only just.
Now seated for another spooky year!
October 4, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Now seated for another spooky year!
Someone at the NYT must be a Hong Kong cinema fan.
October 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Someone at the NYT must be a Hong Kong cinema fan.
Very happy that I can finally announce I have an essay in @vinsyn.bsky.social ‘s 4K release of Lloyd Kaufman and @jamesgunn.bsky.social ‘s TROMEO & JULIET! So honored to be included. Go check it out!
October 1, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Very happy that I can finally announce I have an essay in @vinsyn.bsky.social ‘s 4K release of Lloyd Kaufman and @jamesgunn.bsky.social ‘s TROMEO & JULIET! So honored to be included. Go check it out!
#ShelbyOaks proves that Chris Stuckmann has the sauce. It’s a debut that wears its influences on its sleeve (hello, LAKE MUNGO and HEREDITARY), but also creates such a strong atmosphere of dread & is ambitious enough to stick with me. Camille Sullivan & Sarah Durn nail it!!
September 30, 2025 at 6:55 PM
#ShelbyOaks proves that Chris Stuckmann has the sauce. It’s a debut that wears its influences on its sleeve (hello, LAKE MUNGO and HEREDITARY), but also creates such a strong atmosphere of dread & is ambitious enough to stick with me. Camille Sullivan & Sarah Durn nail it!!
Now seated for SHELBY OAKS at Beyond Fest!
September 30, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Now seated for SHELBY OAKS at Beyond Fest!