William Bibbiani is an award-winning film critic and member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Critics Choice Association (CCA) and GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. He has written film criticism for over 20 years and written for The Wrap since 2019. He is a frequent guest on KCRW’s Press Play with Madeline Brand. Bibbiani also co-hosts The Critically Acclaimed Network, a series of podcasts dedicated to new, classic and cult film and TV reviews and retrospectives. His commentary tracks and essays can be found on Blu-ray special editions for films released by Arrow Video, Shout! Factory and Umbrella Entertainment. You can follow him on BlueSky (and various other social media).
Experience:
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Amazon’s ‘The Wheel of Time’ Review: A Fantasy Epic That’s Just Spinning Its Wheels
Rosamund Pike is the lone standout in an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s novel series mired in subpar effects, poor characterization and way too many subplots
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‘The Feast’ Film Review: Welsh Tale Serves Up Skimpy, Unsatisfying Horror
The scares are backloaded, so that by the time they happen, the audience has utterly lost interest
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‘Cowboy Bebop’ Review: Netflix’s Live-Action Remake Fails to Capture Original’s Magic
John Cho shines as bounty hunter Spike Spiegel but episodes feel padded with Whedon-esque banter
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‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Film Review: Entertaining Sequel-Reboot Dazzles While Still Feeling Familiar
Jason Reitman pays homage to his father’s 1984 remake by both updating it and borrowing from it as much as possible
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‘Swan Song’ Film Review: Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris Prop Up an Underdeveloped Sci-Fi Premise
AFI 2021: Benjamin Cleary’s feature debut raises ideas about technology and ethics but has little interest in pursuing them
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‘Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin’ Film Review: Franchise Reboot Plays Like Subpar, Found-Footage ‘Midsommar’
The last act is scary and effective — good luck staying awake to get there
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‘The Rescue’ Film Review: Thai Soccer Team Cave Rescue Doc Spins a Yarn So Wild It Has to Be True
The “Free Solo” directors slickly tell the unlikely story of the cave-diving hobbyists who saved the day
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‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Film Review: Tom Hardy and an Alien Symbiote Make Superhero Movies’ Oddest Couple
Forget the plot — it’s a gloriously polyqueer, brain-eating, big-budget serial-killer movie, and it crams a lot into 90 minutes
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‘Surge’ Film Review: Ben Whishaw’s Powerhouse Performance Bolsters Otherwise Flimsy Drama
This tale of one man’s mental breakdown in an uncaring city never gets too far below the surface
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‘Malignant’ Film Review: James Wan Breaks All the Horror Rules, With Gusto
The “Conjuring” director sucks viewers into his mad monster vortex of sketchy ideas and viscera
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‘Worth’ Movie Review: Michael Keaton’s 9/11 Drama Walks an Uneasy Tightrope Between Sentimentality and Cynicism
The film feels torn between being a triumph of the human spirit and a triumph of corporations who convinced survivor families not to sue them into oblivion
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‘Bring Your Own Brigade’ Film Review: Scorching Doc Asks Hard Questions About Deadly Wildfires
Director Lucy Walker explores how climate change is only one factor in the recent surge in fires
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‘Demonic’ Film Review: Neill Blomkamp Disappoints With Another Muddled Tech Thriller
How can a movie with bird demons and Vatican black-ops squads be this dull?
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‘Don’t Breathe 2’ Film Review: Unpleasant Sequel Tries to Redeem Monstrous Character
The cinematography and set design steal the show in a film designed to make Steven Lang’s sex predator look better by surrounding him with even-worse villains
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‘Jungle Cruise’ Film Review: Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson Charmingly Go Nowhere
This adaptation of a Disney ride overloads the CGI, but it’s a breezy voyage
