Nicholas Bell

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IONCINEMA.com
For 53 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 13% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 86% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Nicholas Bell's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 63
Highest review score: 90 Sirât
Lowest review score: 20 Alpha
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 53
  3. Negative: 1 out of 53
53 movie reviews
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    • 91 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    It Was Just an Accident
    In many of Panahi’s past films, along with many Iranian artists working within the confines of a brutal regime, his cinema has been coded and metaphorical (though clearly not enough to avoid extreme censure). But this time, there’s no doubt with this explicit critique, which utilizes a familiar narrative formula but has the potency of a poison pen letter aimed to slash through the debilitating censorship demanded of auteurs expected to exist as prisms of propaganda.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Maldoror
    Perhaps a bit more mainstream than might be expected from the distinctive human miseries usually employed by du Welz, Maldoror is an enjoyably meaty recuperation of an infamous scandal.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Living the Land
    In many ways, Living the Land plays like the fictionalized version of moments in Wang Bing’s Youth trilogy, particularly in communal moments of intersecting realities. It’s a familiar human story, yet one which carves out its own fierceness as seasons change, life goes on, and new generations must contend with being unable to inherit the fruits of their parents’ toils.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Little Trouble Girls
    Djukić is profoundly interested in capturing the tormented process of women’s sexual experiences, shaped by the restrictions imposed upon them by society, religion, and each other.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    A Woman's Life
    Patches of narrative banality and fussy details are thankfully overshadowed by an effervescent lead performance which manages to unite all the messy threads into a satisfying melancholic portrait of a rigid personality who (maybe) finally learns a painful lesson in the necessity of exploring passion on her own terms.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Young Mothers
    Arguably, there’s nothing innately wrong with Young Mothers, other than it feeling like a return to safer socio-cultural predicaments which characterized the directors’ earlier output, which often involved children.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Dreams
    In the world of Franco, humankind always resorts to base brutality, and this is a hemorrhaging revenge film suggesting the cruelest crimes are those of the heart.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    The Testament of Ann Lee
    Ultimately, The Testament of Ann Lee feels like Willa Cather’s version of The Witch (2015).
    • 85 Metascore
    • 60 Nicholas Bell
    Two Prosecutors
    At a point in time, a film like Two Prosecutors would seem like an old fashioned recapitulation of a dark, disastrous period we’d safely moved away from. However, it’s difficult not to see crystal clear parallels, on an operational level at the least, with NKVD, an agency operating with complete autonomy, and something like the newly minted monstrosity DOGE in the US.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    Timestamp
    While it contains powerful imagery, Gornostai isn’t digging too deeply into the mechanics of the education system, more so showcasing the resilient evolution of a besieged population.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    La Grazia
    Certainly, Sorrentino does ask questions worth pondering. But the corresponding answers are often monosyllabic.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    The Electric Kiss
    Salvadori’s greatest crime is denying Antoine and Suzanne the space to develop the chemistry which makes their budding romance seem plausible.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    Nouvelle Vague
    Essentially, Linklater is applying his own hangout tableaux to the New Wave alumni. But it fails to capture the energy of what exactly made them such trailblazers.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    Sauna
    It’s a film about learning how to navigate the fulfillment of our needs or the procurement of meaningful connections.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    A House of Dynamite
    While this is vastly better than the B-grade action franchise generated by Olympus Has Fallen (2012), the fatal error of the film exists in its structural foundation.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    The Mastermind
    Compared to Reichardt’s greatest hits thus far, it’s her least compelling presentation of a solitary, melancholic character to date.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    Fire of Wind
    Ultimately a tad tiresome even with a slim running time of seventy-four minutes, Fire of Wind suggests Mateus has the eye of a formidable filmmaker, but the narrative feels like more of a concept than statement.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Nicholas Bell
    Nightborn
    One’s familiarity with similar agonized portraits of motherhood may dictate how novel Nightborn might seem, though it’s lonely, traumatized Sara who makes one want to stay until the end credits.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    Eagles of the Republic
    Saleh’s script seems to be beating around the veritable bush for nearly two hours before it slams into violent gear, which effectively snaps the audience into a whiplash, but would have felt more effective had it arrived sooner. A tighter edit would greatly reduce the aimless, meandering quality, especially since multiple scenes regarding the film’s shoot also, by the nature of their falseness, feel flat.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    DJ Ahmet
    Simple, sweet, and perhaps a bit too disarming, familiar stakes and an ambiguous resolution make DJ Ahmet feel more mundane than it should.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    Parallel Tales
    Unfortunately, the end result feels as shockingly out of touch as a principal character’s devotion to a typewriter.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    Rosebush Pruning
    If there’s any need to make another film about despicable, beautiful, filthy rich monsters, at least decide what, if anything, might be of interest to say. If families are rose bushes needing pruning, then so are scripts.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    Jay Kelly
    Between tidbits of enjoyable banter, Baumbach stages some of the most comically tone-deaf moments of his career.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 40 Nicholas Bell
    Yellow Letters
    What’s shocking is how rough hewn the characters and sentiments are in Yellow Letters considering Çatak’s laser sharp focus in The Teachers’ Lounge.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 20 Nicholas Bell
    Alpha
    Ducournau applies all the tricks of the trade to convince us of greater meaning.
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