MovieMuse
T
he MovieMuse Reviews (MovieViews) database is a searchable collection of films that the team have watched, providing a comprehensive guide on what to watch and what to avoid. It provides a link to an in-depth review or a short opinion on the film and a rating, as well as a link to the film’s poster or DVD cover. For more recent entries we are also including a link to the film’s IMDb page and a trailer from YouTube.
You can search and sort the list by individual film names, genre, reviewer, score and other variables to inform you on whether a film is worth your time, or to inspire you for your next movie night.
We will also use the database to create periodic lists of the recommended films in all sorts of categories. These lists will be shared on the website and some will even come with a video.
| Poster | Movie | Year | Genre | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 | 2021 | Horror, Thriller | The history of the Shadyside curse is explored further in classic summer camp slasher movie style, with the visuals and music well on point. Fans of such films will be entertained but once again it's the bigger story that makes this more interesting. | 3.5 |
 |
The Pact | 2012 | Horror, Mystery | The acting is not the best but this modestly-budgeted film builds up an ominous feeling with its cinematography and audio, the story has some clever twists and there's some smart use of technology within it too. It's also very creepy at times! | 3 |
 |
Boss Level | 2021 | Action, SciFi, Thriller | 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. | 4 |
 |
Salem's Lot | 1979 | Horror | Over-long scenes, shaky editing and below-par effects lay bare its TV movie origins, but the main actors are good and the latter half does still have some effective moments, even though it's far more amusing than it was in its time. | 3 |
 |
Missing Link | 2019 | Adventure, Animation | It's hard to comprehend this is really stop-motion animation at times, but it is impressive, packed with charm and some high quality voice acting. Plot-wise it is fairly generic but there's enough action and humour to entertain young and old. | 3 |
 |
Fear Street Part One: 1994 | 2021 | Horror, Thriller | The plot is obviously inspired by 90s slashers like Scream, with a great alt-rock soundtrack accompanying the gory action, but the wider back story of a town cursed for centuries sets up a smart mythology that allows for more stories to be told. | 3.5 |
 |
Run Hide Fight | 2020 | Action, Thriller | Starts off as if it has something to say about how easily a high school shooting can take place and the desire for social media stardom, but ultimately turns out to be a more generic Die Hard-style action thriller with an admittedly kick-ass female hero. | 3 |
 |
Gunpowder Milkshake | 2021 | Action, Thriller | Elements of Kill Bill and Kingsman are blended in a vibrant, relentless action thriller with some brilliantly choreographed violence and a talented mostly-female cast. Hardly the most original film but it's a lot of fun. | 3.5 |
 |
Halloween II | 1981 | Horror | All the subtlety of the original is discarded in favour of more gore and an elevated body count, making this no better than the films the first one inspired. That said, it is still watchable with some great cinematography and an even creepier score. | 3 |
 |
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 | 2021 | Horror, Thriller | Serving as both an origin story and a conclusion to the first film, the move away from slasher movie to occult horror makes this less fun for the first half, but the twist is well done and the finale nicely wraps up an inventive and well made trilogy. | 3.5 |
 |
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | 1988 | Horror | Pretty standard slasher movie fare for the era, with limited gore to satisfy the censors, this is about as good as any of the other Halloween sequels as Michael Myers pursues his niece who is well played by young Danielle Harris. | 3 |
 |
Explorers | 1985 | Adventure, Fantasy, SciFi | 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. | 3 |
 |
Guns Akimbo | 2019 | Action, Comedy, Thriller | 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. | 3.5 |
 |
Godzilla vs Kong | 2021 | Action, SciFi, Thriller | 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. | 2.5 |
 |
Bad Education | 2019 | Crime, Drama | 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. | 3 |
 |
Escape from Pretoria | 2020 | Drama, Thriller | 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. | 3 |
 |
Forrest Gump | 1994 | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 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. | 3.5 |
 |
Coming 2 America | 2021 | Comedy, Romance | 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. | 3 |
 |
Palm Springs | 2020 | Comedy, Romance, SciFi | 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. | 3.5 |
 |
The Lie | 2018 | Drama, Thriller | 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. | 2.5 |
 |
Willy's Wonderland | 2021 | Action, Horror | 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. | 3 |
 |
The Losers | 2010 | Action, Thriller | 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. | 3 |
 |
The Ice Road | 2021 | Action, Thriller | 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. | 2.5 |
 |
Antebellum | 2020 | Mystery, Thriller | 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! | 2.5 |
 |
Cocoon | 1985 | Drama, SciFi | 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. | 3 |