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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
The BFG | 2016 | Steven Spielberg adapts Roald Dahl's beloved story and somehow contrives to make it incredibly dull, with an annoying lead actress and unconvincing CGI characters. Probably proves that the story only works for children. | 4 | |
Quatermass and the Pit | 1967 | Showing its age in some respects, but this remains an interesting story, acted well and with an action-packed finale. A classic slice of Britich Sci-Fi! | 6 | |
Sabotage | 2014 | Excessive violence, minimal action, an almost incomprehensible plot and universally terrible acting from a cast that is largely capable of much better. Truly abysmal. | 2 | |
Before I Go To Sleep | 2014 | An intriguing suspense thriller with plenty of tense moments and excellent performances from the small cast, but the finale seems rushed and is unsatisfactory. | 6 | |
Bokeh | 2017 | This film has an interesting premise, but ultimately poses very few questions and gives no answers. All it really does is serve as a very well-made tourist guide for the admittedly stunning scenery of Iceland. | 5 | |
While We're Young | 2014 | An uneven comedy-drama with moments that are absurd and some that are just depressing. An interesting attempt at trying to capture the frustrations of life as a forty-something, but as someone of that age it didn’t do anything to enlighten me. | 5 | |
Guardians of the Galaxy | 2014 | The pleasant surprise factor is gone on second viewing, but that doesn’t stop this being one of the best Marvel films to date, mainly thanks to Chris Pratt's endearing lead performance and the CGI raccoon and tree-man duo. | 7 | |
Big Game | 2014 | Samuel L. Jackson is entertaining in an atypical role, but he's totally upstaged by his teenage co-star Onni Tommila in this action-adventure with a fun, late 80's feel. | 7 | |
Men In Black | 1997 | It's little more than Lethal Weapon crossed with Ghostbusters, but the perfomances of Will Smith and especially Tommy Lee Jones are excellent and the CG effects have held up pretty well. | 8 | |
Space Station 76 | 2014 | Captures its intended 70's retro-futuristic vibe well, and has some very funny scenes, but runs out of steam due to the lack of an interesting story and an unexpectedly bleak ending. | 5 | |
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | 2017 | Visually spectacular and frequently hilarious, with much of this edition's humour coming from Dave Bautista's Drax. Much like the first one, the story is somewhat lacking but it's still a wildly entertaining popcorn movie. | 7 | |
Last Passenger | 2013 | A well-made low budget British thriller that maintains tension throughout, has generally decent acting performances from its small cast and even manages a few exciting action scenes. | 7 | |
Pulp Fiction | 1994 | Clever, convoluted, witty and undeniably cool, with a great soundtrack and countless memorable and quotable scenes, this remains Quentin Tarantino's finest work over 20 years on. | 10 | |
Reign of Fire | 2002 | The concept of a Dragon-inhabited post apocalyptic world is certainly original, and there are undoubtedly some good moments, but overall this film never really reaches the exciting heights that it promises. | 6 | |
A Fish Called Wanda | 1988 | A fairly run of the mill heist caper that is elevated by the comedic performances of its cast, with the outrageous, insane turn by Kevin Kline the standout. | 7 | |
Rubber | 2010 | An utterly ridiculous concept for a film, and yet this tale of a sentient tyre on a murderous rampage is oddly engaging. David Lynch would be proud of the level of weirdness attained by this 'movie within a movie'. | 6 | |
REC 2 | 2009 | This sequel abandons the suspense and jump scares of its predecessor in favour of all-out chaos, an incomprehensible religion-oriented plot and a very predictable twist at the end. Disappointing. | 4 | |
Source Code | 2011 | An incredibly clever, original and thrilling film with a superb, emotion-filled lead performance from Jake Gyllenhaal. It would be almost perfect were it not for the ridiculous last few minutes. | 8 | |
The Breakfast Club | 1985 | Over 30 years on, it is showing it's age a little and is incredibly idealistic, but there's no denying the quality of the characters and their interaction with one another. One of the best high school comedies of all time. | 8 | |
Doctor Strange | 2016 | Cumberbatch is engaging and entertaining, and the film has plenty of humour and excitement, but at no point did I really care what was going on. It's little more than a feeder to the next Avengers movie. | 6 | |
The Founder | 2016 | A fascinating story about the history of the biggest fast food chain in the world, with a decent performance by Keaton as the despicable Ray Kroc. Unfortunately the attempt to incorporate aspects of Kroc's personal life just detract from the core story. | 7 | |
The Bourne Identity | 2002 | Matt Damon seemed an odd choice for the role of Jason Bourne, but exceeds expectations in a thrilling movie that redefined the espionage thriller genre and spawned two enjoyable sequels. | 8 | |
The Good Dinosaur | 2015 | The gorgeous natural environments make this Pixar's best-looking film to date, and the two main characters are great, but the simplistic plot and odd collection of supporting characters let the film down somewhat. | 6 | |
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | 2016 | With expectations lowered, I was far less disappointed second time around, but the lack of engaging characters and any kind of surprise hasn’t changed my overall opinion. | 6 | |
Star Wars: A New Hope | 1977 | Still a joy to watch on its 40th birthday! | 10 |