Ian Waldron-Mantgani Movie Reviews & Previews

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Ian Waldron-Mantgani

""I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator -- you're no Jack Kennedy." (Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle, 1988 vice presidential debate.)"

Agrees with the Tomatometer 70% of the time.

Biography:: Born in Sligo, Ireland -- also the birthplace of brilliant filmmaker Neil Jordan -- Ian Waldron-Mantgani is the mixed-race son of an Indian-born doctor and Irish-born occupational therapist. He gained access to the internet in 1996 and immediately started posting movie reviews on message boards. After quotes in such publications as the Sunday Times, Ian decided it was time to create his own website. 'The UK Critic' first appeared online at the beginning of 1998, and quickly became Britain's pre-eminent centre of online criticism. On top of schoolwork, sporting activities and personal commitments, Ian reviewed every nationwide release in the year 2000, and continues to update his site weekly with every release of note. He sees the vast majority of films in his own time, with his own money. Despite the lack of monetary compensation, Ian?s reviews are heavily syndicated; he is a DVD reviewer for Apollo Guide, and has in the past served as head critic on CompuServe's UK Entertainment Forum and System Operator for Compuserve?s Empire Magazine forum. Pieces can also be found on entertainmentnutz.com, alltank.com, Reel Talk Movies, GDoggyDog?s Movie Reviews and the rec.arts.movies-reviews newsgroup. Ian makes regular contributions to Ebert?s Movie Answer Man column and provided " of the most amusing entries" to Ebert's witty book of movie cliches "The Bigger Little Movie Glossary". International awards received include four nominations for Online Film Critics Society Member of the Month, and Ian is one of the only British residents in the organisation -- serving the posts of full member, OFCS Mentor, Awards Committee member and Governing Committee member. As of September 2002, Ian has been studying a BA course in Film Studies at Sheffield Hallam University, which has the highest entry requirements of any pure film course in England.
Favorites:: Favorite film of all time: 12 Angry Men (1957) Favorite UK cinema releases of 2001: Requiem for a Dream, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Traffic, The Contender, You Can Count on Me, The Pledge, Ghost World, Girlfight, Almost Famous, Quills, Audition, Castaway, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Osmosis Jones, Thirteen Days
Publications:: Apollo Guide , ReelTalk Movie Reviews , UK Critic

Total Reviews:: 732
Total QuickRatings:: 9

Location:: Liverpool, UK

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 732

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
65/100	87%	Funny Face (1957)	" The 50th anniversary edition DVD provides three featurettes." — Apollo Guide Posted Oct 5, 2007
70/100	64%	O (2001)	" There's an air of authenticity to the proceedings here, and stylistic pretension never obscures good storytelling." — Apollo Guide Posted May 21, 2005
2/4	——	Koroshiya 1: The Animation Episode 0 (2002)	— UK Critic Posted Feb 19, 2005
1/4	0%	The Sex Lives of the Potato Men ()	— UK Critic Posted Oct 31, 2004
4/4	84%	Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)	— UK Critic Posted Oct 31, 2004
4/4	60%	The Dreamers (2004)	" It's thrilling." — UK Critic Posted Mar 18, 2004
	98%	Double Indemnity (1944)	" The ultimate film noir crime picture." — UK Critic Posted Mar 16, 2004
65/100	100%	Heidi (1937)	" Call me a sap, but Temple gets to me." — Apollo Guide Posted Mar 16, 2004
2/4	77%	The Mother (2004)	— UK Critic Posted Mar 16, 2004
78/100	100%	Lonely Hearts (1983)	— Apollo Guide Posted Mar 16, 2004
2.5/4	76%	Big Fish (2003)	" The story of the movie is disjointed and unaffecting, and what we remember are all the little moments, for their visual splendour, their joyful flights of fancy." — UK Critic Posted Mar 7, 2004
3.5/4	70%	Elephant (2003)	— UK Critic Posted Mar 7, 2004
2/4	13%	The Haunted Mansion (2003)	— UK Critic Posted Mar 7, 2004
3.5/4	95%	Lost In Translation (2003)	" The movie should have been a masterpiece of mood and character, and it almost is, revolving as it does around two wonderful performances." — UK Critic Posted Mar 7, 2004
2/4	71%	Cold Mountain (2003)	" Whether we're watching the domestic struggles of Kidman or Law doing moody wandering, scenes run on randomly, and don't build into a structure with arc or emphasis." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
1.5/4	88%	Freaky Friday (2003)	" Somehow people have got it into their heads that this is a good movie." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
2/4	63%	Love Actually (2003)	" It wants to swirl round the world and find love in every cranny, but it doesn't have the effortless rush of energy that it would need to make the masses of plot come together." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
3.5/4	85%	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)	" The arguments between Bettany and Crowe don't seem like typical leader-and-subordinate confrontations, but have real philosophical edge, and are beautifully played." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
3/4	87%	Mystic River (2003)	" It's not the masterpiece people have been claiming, but Eastwood does set up a gripping moody atmosphere and get some fine performances out of his actors." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
1.5/4	77%	Peter Pan (2003)	" It's not colourful, it's not fun, it's just a gaudy mess of bad aesthetic choices and cruddy CGI." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
1.5/4	77%	Seabiscuit (2003)	" TV-movie slush." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
3/4	93%	Touching the Void (2004)	" There's something amazing about looking in the eyes of the guys telling this story." — UK Critic Posted Feb 24, 2004
	40%	Armageddon (1998)	" Where things fall apart are the scenes that try to put in characterisation, and, God help us, comic relief." — UK Critic Posted Feb 23, 2004
3/4	73%	Pure (2005)	" Talented performers, effectively dramatic." — UK Critic Posted Feb 10, 2004
2/4	67%	Cremaster 4 (1995)	" Fairly straightforward, at least compared to the rest of the cycle..." — UK Critic Posted Feb 2, 2004
2/4	83%	Cremaster 5 (1997)	" Lots of classy dark colours and soaring music..." — UK Critic Posted Feb 2, 2004
2/4	75%	Cremaster 1 (1996)	" Beautiful..." — UK Critic Posted Feb 2, 2004
3.5/4	64%	The Shape Of Things (2002)	" Some critics have called the film stolid and stagy. I think the way it sits still and looks hard is just the point, and the key to its effect." — UK Critic Posted Jan 4, 2004
4/4	94%	The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (2003)	" Ultimately this journey has been about the endgame, and now that we're here, we get a shattering sense of all that is at stake." — UK Critic Posted Jan 4, 2004
2/4	77%	Cremaster 2 (1999)	" It's a little longer than Cremaster 1, and it has extra room for more confusing craziness." — UK Critic Posted Dec 22, 2003
2/4	65%	Cremaster 3 (2003)	" The endurance test of the Cremaster series." — UK Critic Posted Dec 22, 2003
1/4	33%	In the Cut (2003)	" A movie that moves between pretentious and incompetent, a sleazy straight-to-video-style sex and violence crapfest which ends up simply laughable when it tries to go arty." — UK Critic Posted Dec 14, 2003
1/4	36%	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)	" There's a simple philosophy behind a movie like this: Add more squishing, add more screaming, and it'll be better. Or at least it'll make more money." — UK Critic Posted Dec 14, 2003
3/4	86%	Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)	" This is a film you go to for the pretty pictures, for the neon and the quirky shapes, for the mix of 80s retro style with the fashions of today." — UK Critic Posted Dec 14, 2003
4/4	79%	Gremlins (1984)	" A movie that lives inside our memories of movies, and tramples all over them with a crazed, subversive joy." — UK Critic Posted Dec 14, 2003
2.5/4	36%	The Matrix Revolutions (2003)	" It is not about conclusiveness, but about solving the immediate struggles of its own stupid sci-fi details." — UK Critic Posted Nov 30, 2003
4/4	48%	She's Having a Baby (1988)	" It should have been the movie where Hughes got Oscar nominations; the Academy weren't going to award his comedies, but here is where he showed he could branch out and grow up." — UK Critic Posted Nov 16, 2003
2/4	23%	Bad Boys II (2003)	" The Bad Boys movies are supposed to be about two cops, but all I see is a pair of actors reading descriptions of their characters." — UK Critic Posted Oct 30, 2003
1/4	31%	Underworld (2003)	" The astonishing achievement of Underworld is that it's a movie without a single good moment, and they still managed to make one helluva trailer." — UK Critic Posted Oct 27, 2003
4/4	94%	Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)	" The dialogue of Preston Sturges shoots and shoots, never seems to miss, and convinces you of its genius in around about a minute." — UK Critic Posted Oct 22, 2003
4/4	85%	Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)	" Has all the coolness and daring and wit through which Tarantino made his name. It delivers what we expected, and packs some shocking punches on top." — UK Critic Posted Oct 17, 2003
2/4	74%	Calendar Girls (2003)	" Places itself in a tradition of films that are fairly easy to make, looks like it's doing a professional job and still ends up failing." — UK Critic Posted Oct 12, 2003
2/4	63%	Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) (2001)	" There is a charm about the movie's crazy camera angles and insistence on grabbing for silly visual jokes, but you can't quite call it a success." — UK Critic Posted Oct 12, 2003
2/4	90%	Good Bye, Lenin (2004)	" The backdrop is snatching at random political significance, and the plot just turns into a stupid and pointless comedy of errors." — UK Critic Posted Oct 12, 2003
3/4	82%	Matchstick Men (2003)	" Matchstick Men is a lot more engaging than a circular argument, but it's about as frustrating." — UK Critic Posted Oct 12, 2003
2.5/4	7%	Gigli (2003)	" It tries a valiant effort to be smart and edgy, and feels like something that's always edging at greatness but never quite managing to break on through." — UK Critic Posted Oct 12, 2003
4/4	83%	Beverly Hills Cop (1984)	" One of the great popular entertainments of our time, a film that still has a place on the top 40 list of American box-office champs, and continues to look slick and full of energy almost twenty years after opening." — UK Critic Posted Sep 10, 2003
1.5/4	24%	Lara Croft Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003)	" The first movie had grey stone and blue light and orange beams, and it just looked cooler and more together." — UK Critic Posted Sep 9, 2003
1/4	50%	Luster (2002)	" A character can be intelligent and provocative by pointing out the flaws of sophisticated people, but not by posing like a rebel and ripping into stereotypes." — UK Critic Posted Sep 9, 2003

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