Cole Smithey was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia.

Movies have played an important part in Cole's life since he saw Francis Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow" at a drive-in cinema when he was five years old. Cole took pleasure in frequenting Richmond's late Biograph cinema to watch Marx Brothers' movies and such classics as "Harold And Maude," "Young Frankenstein," "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers," "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and "Return Of The Secaucus 7." Seeing Stanley Kubrick's "2001" at Richmond's former Capitol cinema made a special impression, as did Arthur Penn's "Little Big Man."

Drive-in cinemas later played a significant part in Cole's college life when he worked at the "Campus Drive-in" in San Diego and watched films like "An American Werewolf In London," "Time Bandits" and "A Boy And His Dog" from the drive-in's front row playground too many times to mention.

Cole visited the Cannes Film Festival in 1991 where he discovered the enormous scope of world cinema. He now returns every year to cover the world's favorite film festival.

Cole lives in Manhattan and has been a film critic since 1997. He writes for more than 50 national, international, regional and online outlets.

"There are only two kinds of movies, good or bad." - Cole Smithey