Nicholas Bell

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Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), FIPRESCI, the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2023: The Beast (Bonello) Poor Things (Lanthimos), Master Gardener (Schrader). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.

Exclusive articles:

Review: Young Adult

"The most notable and memorable aspect of Young Adult’s awkwardly maligned narrative is Theron’s wickedly warped performance of a woman whose adulthood has veered into a mediocre failure. And her chemistry with the damaged Oswalt makes for some exceptionally comedic, bittersweet cinema. But any scenes not pairing Theron and Oswalt seem like the brakes are grinding."

Young Adult | Review

You Can Go To Extremes With Impossible Schemes….

Review: I Melt With You

"What starts out as another one of those films examining the male psyche in the context of a yearly bonding buddy get-together, Pellington’s film feels like Bret Easton Ellis’ version of The Hangover (2009). But just when you’ve thought you were watching Less Than Zero (1987) for the mid-life crisis male, it take a dark nose-dive, creating an emotionally draining yet compellingly vivid drama about the death of dreams."

I Melt With You | Review

A Future Closed Wide Shut

Review: Answers to Nothing

"A celluloid merry-go-round concerning the lives of several Los Angeles residents as they meander throughout their lives, nary a moment exists in the film that doesn’t reek of supreme artificiality and strained connections resulting in a laborious, exhausting exercise in kindness porn, belonging instead to the televised sap on solipsistic network channels than the cutting edge cinema it believes itself to be."

Breaking

A Bit of Light | 2026 Venice Film Festival Review

Under the Cherry Moon: Asgari Lets the Sun Shine...

One Minute to Midnight (Un peu avant minuit) | 2026 Venice Film Festival Review

The Man Who Snubbed Women: Pariser Performs a Patriarchal...

NAZA | 2026 Venice Film Festival Review

Destroy Everything You Touch: Abraham & Szor Explore the...

The Fire Within You (Il fuoco che ti porti dentro) | 2026 Venice Film Festival Review

The Shrill Seekers: De Angelis Turns to Comedic Caricature For...
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