MovieMuse
Gordon ‘SirClive’ Sinclair is the founder of MovieMuse. A child of the 70s with his heart in the eighties, his dream is to one day wake up like Alex Drake and relive that glorious decade.
A long time classic video gamer, Gordon founded Replay Events, a company dedicated to showcasing the best retro consoles and computers of the last 40 years.
With his unhealthy love of Stallone movies and an obsessive need to watch every film ever nominated for a major award, he is aways ready with an (un?)educated opinion.
Away from MovieMuse Gordon is an avid follower of Liverpool and Huddersfield Town football clubs and lives in Halifax with his Star Wars loving fiancée Nancy.
Gordon is responsible for the MovieMuse website and co-edits the MovieMuse podcast.
Gordon's Favourite Things...
| Films | Games | TV | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Dictator | Bomb Jack (Arcade) | Life on Mars | Blackstar – David Bowie |
| Rocky | Red Dead Redemption (PS3) | Red Dwarf | 101 Damnations – Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine |
| The Empire Strikes Back | Final Fantasy VII (PS1) | The Likely Lads | Strangeways Here We Come – The Smiths |
| It’s a Wonderful Life | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) | Early Doors | The World is Yours – Ian Brown |
| Grave of the Fireflies | Kick Off II (Amiga) | ALF | Is This It? – The Strokes |
| Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure | Ratchet & Clank 2 (PS2) | ||
| The Life of Brian | Time Pilot (Arcade) | ||
| Reservoir Dogs | Outrun (Arcade) | ||
| Dog Day Afternoon | Deathchase 3D (ZX Spectrum) | ||
| The Muppets take Manhattan | R-Type (Arcade) |
Gordon’s Reviews
| Poster | Movie | Year | Comments | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Shoplifters | 2018 | The kind of film only the Japanese make. A strong nurture over nature theme runs through as a family of petty criminals take in a young child who is left alone and neglected by her parents. | 8 |
 |
Detainment | 2018 | Based on actual police transcripts, it allows us to see the Jamie Bulger killers as the 10 year old kids they were rather than the monsters we expect. The production a little exploitative with atmospheric shots of Liverpool and overdone mood music. | 6 |
 |
Free Solo | 2018 | Whilst the actual climbing (without any rope or harness or other safety measures) is totally exhilarating, the documentary was actually pretty dull. | 6 |
 |
Aquaman | 2018 | Entertaining and exciting in places, but suffers from the usual DCU disease of being far too long for no real reason. I also found some of the casting odd and the effects poor (it often looked more like a video game than a film). | 6 |
 |
High Flying Bird | 2019 | Billed as the basketball equivalent of Moneyball, the film was actually a complete mess. It tried to sell a number of messages but fell flat on all fronts. | 4 |
 |
Brief Encounter | 1945 | Almost 75 years old and still the most perfect examination of unintended infidelity. Dealing with the conflict of guilt and desire without ever preaching. A true classic of British cinema. | 10 |
 |
Bumblebee | 2018 | In creating an origin story for Transformers 2nd most loved character, Travis Knight has built a film that tries so hard to be an 80's film that it could only really appeal to me at the age I was in the 80s. Another missed opportunity. | 5 |
 |
Alita: Battle Angel | 2019 | Alita is one of the most cliched and generic SciFi stories you will see, but if you can get past the uncanny valley CGI faces then there is fun to be had as a new franchise is born. | 6 |
 |
Vox Lux | 2018 | An odd tale of the toll that that fame can take. A strange voiceover makes it feel like a comedy, but an early tragedy soon sets you straight. I wasn't completely convinced by Natalie Portman as a weary music star but was intrigued nonetheless. | 6 |
 |
Creed II | 2018 | A worthy place for Rocky to take his final bow and well acted throughout, but the director struggled (particularly with the fight scenes) and the franchise has now run out of things to say. | 7 |
 |
Fighting With My Family | 2019 | It is easy to see that the 'true' story of the youngest ever WWE Divas champion has been drastically shortened and Hollywoodyfied, but it has enough heart and laughs to win over wrestling fans and haters alike. | 7 |
 |
Black Swan | 2010 | Aronofsky might be a polarising director, but I love his work and Black Swan is right up there with the best. Portman and Kunis are great in this ballet themed physiological thriller. | 8 |
 |
Overlord | 2018 | World War II themed horror that looked and felt like it belonged in the Resident Evil universe. Occasionally gory, occasionally amusing and generally (though not universally) entertaining. | 6 |
 |
Paddleton | 2019 | A tender tale of platonic love, friendship and death. Mark Duplass and Ray Romano play their parts perfectly in a gentle film that will touch your soul. | 7 |
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Requiem For A Dream | 2000 | Darren Aronofsky's breakout film shows many of the hallmarks that will follow into his future films (including a wonderful Clint Mansell score). It is a simple and cautionary tale about addiction told imaginatively through 4 Coney Island lives. | 7 |
 |
The Fountain | 2006 | This emotional and spiritual quest to cure death has high metaphysical ambitions but is too slow and sombre to truly realise them. Told across three timelines in feudal Spain, modern day and a timeless future, this is a film that should have been a book. | 5 |
 |
Pi | 1998 | A number theorist struggles to balance the order of numbers and chaos of life in a high contrast, maths based thriller. The math concepts are understandable and the characters believable, so I am always surprised when the film gets a 'Sci-Fi' tag. | 8 |
 |
Noah | 2014 | Beyond the LOTR/Shadow of the Colossus rock monsters and battle scenes, the film gives an interesting twist on the traditional bible story. Though it still feels an odd and slightly uninventive film for Aronofsky to make. | 6 |
 |
Skin | 2018 | Oscar winning short film about a black man's family taking innovative revenge against a racist thug. It was well made and interesting, but 20 minutes wasn't enough to flesh out the story in a satisfying way. | 6 |
 |
The Wrestler | 2008 | By stripping back all of his gimmicks, Aronofsky has delivered a heartfelt tale of a broken man and his best film to date. Rourke and Tomei are superb as they drive home the parallels in the lives of a has-been wrestler and an ageing stripper. | 8 |
 |
Happy Death Day 2U | 2019 | With its riff on Back to the Future 2 and Groundhog day it is relatively good fun, but unfortunately for a horror film (and just like its predecessor) it is very light on horror and far too heavy on the slapstick. | 6 |
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Yardie | 2018 | Whilst it adds nothing to the genre, Yardie is a well made gangster tale that introduces us to the Jamaican underworld that is not often seen in film. It also sets up well for a sequel that we will probably never see. | 7 |
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Heavy Metal | 1981 | This animated anthology of fantasy sci fi stories suffers from some terrible animation (even for 1981) and even worse writing. If you want some mild cartoon titivation there are better examples from the time. | 4 |
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Welcome to Marwen | 2018 | A really interesting take on mental illness as Steve Carrell deals with being the victim of a hate crime by creating a fantasy world of action figures and dolls. The effects to turn actors into the dolls are fantastic. | 7 |
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Block-Heads | 1938 | Block-Heads is far from my favourite Laurel & Hardy film, but the tale of Stan being left guarding the trenches for 20 years after the war ended has some great gags and physical comedy. | 7 |