MovieMuse
Born in the mid-70’s, Mat ‘Witchfinder’ Corne grew up as part of the Star Wars generation, and to be honest he’s still stuck there! If there’s some kind of geeky hobby that can be pursued then Mat is almost certainly interested, be it Retro Gaming, binge-watching Cult TV shows, collecting vintage Star Wars toys or checking out the latest action films at the cinema.
With an encyclopaedic knowledge of movies, TV, games and music, Mat is never short of something to say on any topic and is partial to a good rant about most things. Aside from the nostalgic hobbies he’s also a fan of football, rollercoasters and travelling the world, which he combines at regular opportunities! He lives in Stoke-on-Trent with his incredibly patient wife and a ridiculous Romanian rescue dog called Luca.
Mat is responsible for MovieMuse’s weekly Freeview Movies of the Week article and is co-editor of the MovieMuse podcast.
Mat's favourite things...
| Films | Games | TV | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Empire Strikes Back | Bubble Bobble (Arcade) | The X-Files | Master of Puppets (Metallica) |
| Die Hard | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) | Twin Peaks | Songs for the Deaf (Queens of the Stone Age) |
| Back to the Future | Wizball (Commodore 64) | The Walking Dead | Appetite for Destruction (Guns n Roses) |
| Star Wars | Fallout 3 (PS3) | Breaking Bad | Earth Vs The Wildhearts (The Wildhearts) |
| The Terminator | Chuckie Egg (BBC Micro) | 24 (Seasons 1-4 only!) | Rust in Peace (Megadeth) |
| Rocky | Rock Band 3 (PS3) | ||
| Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Star Wars (Arcade) | ||
| Halloween | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Megadrive) | ||
| Fargo | Donkey Kong (Arcade) | ||
| Pulp Fiction | Golden Axe (Megadrive) |
Mat’s Reviews
| Poster | Movie | Year | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Rambo: Last Blood | 2019 | This excessively violent revenge movie steals the plot of Taken for the most part and is incredibly generic, with the worst thing being that it doesn’t feel like a Rambo film at all and is an insult to the legacy of Stallone's iconic character. | 4 |
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Ready or Not | 2019 | Another variation on the theme of an unexpectedly resourceful female character fighting off a group of assailants, this has a great mix of black comedy and gruesome violence and while it doesn't really do anything new, it’s a lot of fun. | 7 |
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The Running Man | 1987 | The costumes and set design haven't aged well and the action scenes vary in quality, but the story is good, some of the predictions made have turned out to be pretty accurate and the casting of Richard Dawson as the sleazy game show host was inspired. | 7 |
 |
Antebellum | 2020 | An impressive, lengthy single-shot opening sets the tone for some great cinematography, but the story fails to deliver at the right time and comes across as a muddled Shyamalan-wannabe, which is no compliment given some of that director's work! | 5 |
 |
Cocoon | 1985 | As heartwarming as it is seeing a bunch of senior citizens recapturing their youth, the story is flimsy and so little of significance happens that a number of scenes seem to be there just to pad out the running time. | 6 |
 |
Brothers in Arms (AKA Semper Fi) | 2019 | Testosterone-fueled nonsense permeates the opening act and the Iraq war scenes have virtually no relevance, but the gripping, well orchestrated prison break sequence that closes out the movie makes it worth sitting throught the mediocre first half. | 6 |
 |
Flora & Ulysses | 2021 | A Disney family film it may be, but this is a cut above the norm with some decent comic acting talent involved and plenty of Easter eggs for comic book and movie nerds. Genuine entertainment for young and old! | 7 |
 |
Anna | 2019 | Good acting, more twists than you can keep track of and a seriously sexy lead actress make for a decent action film that is somewhat spoiled by the annoying use of technology that never existed in the era it was set. | 6 |
 |
Masterminds | 2016 | Hardly the career highlight of any of the actors involved and there are a number of cringeworthy gross-out scenes that lower the tone, but the verbal and physical comedy isn't bad and the fact it's based on a true story helps. | 5 |
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The Losers | 2010 | Crams plenty of action into its short running time and the cast is good aside from a poor performance from Idris Elba, but the balance between action and comedy isn't quite right and the ending is odd, blatantly setting up a sequel that never happened. | 6 |
 |
The Ice Road | 2021 | Highly improbable and formulaic from beginning to end, but there are enough perilous action sequences to keep it entertaining and kudos to the producers for letting Liam Neeson use his real accent. | 5 |
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Palm Springs | 2020 | This 21st century take on Groundhog Day doesn't really break any new ground in the time-loop romantic comedy stakes, but the acting is good and it strikes a nice balance between irreverent and heartwarming, with some decent laughs to boot. | 7 |
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The Lie | 2018 | When a girl confesses to killing her friend, her parents try to cover it up in about the most inept way possible, making this more amusing than it was probably meant to be. The inevitable twist at the end was more surprising than expected though. | 5 |
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Willy's Wonderland | 2021 | Demonic animatronic animals torment Nicolas Cage, whose completely dialogue-free performance is certainly interesting. Story-wise it is fairly generic and the supporting actors are average at best, but the visuals and soundtrack are well done. | 6 |
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Coming 2 America | 2021 | Relying heavily on scenes and themes from the original film, this sequel adds an abundance of black cultural empowerment and entertaining cameos, but while it is watchable, it isn't especially funny. | 6 |
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Guns Akimbo | 2019 | Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving put on a great show as unwitting opponents in a real-life deathmatch, and while the plot is simplistic and predictable but the gratuitous video game styled violence and biting satire mean it's never dull. | 7 |
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The Tomorrow War | 2021 | If you fed all the popular Action Sci-Fi films into an A.I. then it would probably come up with the plot for this Amazon exclusive. Over-long and formulaic with the more unique concepts never fully explored, but still watchable Sunday afternoon fare. | 6 |
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Godzilla vs Kong | 2021 | An overly convoluted plot and one dimensional characters just get in the way of the inevitable clash of the titans. Once it gets underway it's a visually impressive CGI-fest but otherwise quite forgettable. | 5 |
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Bad Education | 2019 | Hugh Jackman is excellent in this true story about corruption in the American school system. It's not the most interesting story to trun into a movie but good acting and a little dramatic license helps make it relatively gripping. | 6 |
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Richard Jewell | 2019 | The acting is shaky at times and some of the story lacks credibility, but there's enough tension to keep you watching and a touch of humour that stops it becoming too depressing, while it also serves as a pretty damning indictment of trial by media. | 7 |
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Escape from Pretoria | 2020 | Wastes very little time on back story or character interaction, focusing almost entirely on the intricacies of the prison break. As a result it seems a little sterile, but the escape sequence offers plenty of nail-biting tension. | 6 |
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Forrest Gump | 1994 | The first half is cringeworthy at times and some of the special effects shots have aged badly, but once it settles into the core story it's impossible not to get engrossed in this touching and thought-provoking American fable. | 7 |
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Explorers | 1985 | Probably wouldn't have existed if it weren't for E.T. and The Goonies, and the final act is a bit of a damp squib, but still has decent effects and enough charm to sit comfortably in the second tier of 80s adventure movies. | 6 |
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The Little Things | 2021 | A script that spent almost 20 years in development hell finally gets filmed, but the story seems derivative by today's standards and certainly didn’t deserve the calibre of acting talent involved with it, though Washington, Malek and Leto do their best. | 6 |
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Boss Level | 2021 | The premise is well-worn but the delivery is spot on, with a true video game feeling created as the hero with a heart burns through infinite lives to reach the end of the story, while the action and humour help make this one of the best films of the year. | 8 |