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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
The Guard | 2011 | Brendan Gleeson is on top form as the loudmothed anti-hero of this unconventional crime thriller. There's an often uncomfortable mix of depravity, un-PC humour, violence and emotional drama, but they combine to make a truly unique and hilarious film. | 8 |
 |
The Raven | 2012 | A stylish thriller with an inventive premise, decent acting and some suitably gruesome death scenes, but the whole thing is rather dull and the ending unfulfilling. | 5 |
 |
Se7en | 1995 | One of the most grim and depressing films of all time, but it's also tense, thrilling, incredibly well acted and superbly shot. Still capable of disturbing the viewer even if you do know how it ends. | 9 |
 |
Wargames | 1983 | The Cold War may long be over but the message of this film is still surprisingly relevant, and it has aged better than most teen adventure films from this era thanks to the serious subject matter and decent acting. | 7 |
 |
Mysterious Island | 1961 | Dated in many ways, not least the hammy acting, but the story is still good and both the sets and Ray Harryhausen's visual effects are very impressive for their time. | 6 |
 |
The Take (Bastille Day) | 2016 | Aside from some exciting action sequences this is almost instantly forgettable. Several British actors use American accents, but with an abundance of French dialogue used too, this film would never appeal to the US audience it was clearly aimed at! | 4 |
 |
IT | 2017 | Not especially scary, but definitely creepy and frequently gruesome, the film's greatest achievement is the perfect recreation of an 80's adventure movie with near-flawless performances from its young cast. | 7 |
 |
Screamers | 1995 | A fairly standard mid-budget 90's Sci-Fi offering, this film has a reasonable story and a few twists, but the ending is rather predictable and the dialogue is often terrible. | 5 |
 |
The Pyramid | 2014 | The inconsistent shooting style is annoying and the characters are mostly dumb, but this is a perfectly watchable horror film, creating a good sense of claustrophobia that allows for a few effective jump scares. | 6 |
 |
Lost Creek | 2016 | It may be marketed as a horror film but this is more like a kids coming of age drama with fantasy elements. The acting is reasonably good and there is a sense of mystery, but the main twist is blatantly obvious from the start and rather spoils it. | 5 |
 |
The Boy | 2016 | Once you accept the ridiculous premise, this movie offers a reasonable amount of creepy chills, and the twist ending is actually quite surprising, though not necessarily in a good way! | 6 |
 |
Big Trouble in Little China | 1986 | One of John Carpenter's more commercial offerings, and as a result the subtlety and suspense of his earlier films is replaced by overblown action, dodgy special effects and a large helping of 80's cheese. Enjoyable, but not one of his best. | 6 |
 |
Spider-Man 3 | 2007 | Proof that you can have too much of a good thing, as Tobey Maguire's last outing as Spidey is bogged down with too many villains, too much relationship drama and some unremarkable action sequences. A disappointing end to an otherwise superb trilogy. | 5 |
 |
Halloween | 1978 | The original template for dozens of mediocre slasher films that followed. Carpenter's film is a masterpiece in the art of building up suspense and 'less is more' horror, with not a scene wasted, and perfectly accompanied by his chilling score. | 10 |
 |
Yogi Bear | 2010 | The plot is paper thin and the characters one dimensional, but the humour is suprisingly grown-up at times and Aykroyd and Timberlake are excellent as the voices of Yogi and Boo Boo. A pretty successful recreation of the cartoon show. | 6 |
 |
I Am Not a Serial Killer | 2016 | The premise of a sociopath tracking down a serial killer is great and the casting choice for the killer is excellent, but the introduction of supernatural elements to the story completely spoil an otherwise great concept. | 4 |
 |
12 Years a Slave | 2013 | Superbly shot and acted, it feels harsh to pick fault with a film like this, but the story is rather uneventful except for the first and last 15 minutes, which doesn?t make for particularly engaging viewing. | 7 |
 |
The Last Stand | 2013 | A decent return to full-time acting for Arnie in an undemanding but enjoyable action film. It has all the explosions, gun fights and car chases you could ask for and a decent cast of character actors supporting the big man. | 7 |
 |
The Last Boy Scout | 1991 | Time has not been kind to this movie, with gritty and violent action sequences totally at odds with attempts to inject comedy. The dialogue is little more than a stream of cliched one-liners and everyone involved should frankly be embarrassed. | 4 |
 |
Red Dog | 2011 | A funny, heartwarming and inevitably heartbreaking story that centres on a four-legged friend but has some great Aussie characters around him. How much of the story is true is debatable, but that's what legends are about. | 7 |
 |
Man on Fire | 2004 | A film of two halves, as a heartwarming redemption story becomes a violent revenge thriller, but both are compelling thanks to Denzel's multi-facted performance. The only real problem is it's way too long for a film of this type. | 7 |
 |
The Caller | 2011 | The time-twisting plot is quite clever and creates some interesting scenarios for the protagonist to deal with, but none of the characters are particularly strong and the film rather fizzles out before the pointless twist ending. | 5 |
 |
Thinner | 1996 | A pretty faithful adaptation of one of my favourite Stephen King novels, but it is ruined by hammy over-acting from virtually everyone involved and a lack of any likeable characters. It would've benefitted from a more ruthless editor. | 4 |
 |
Clerks II | 2006 | Tries to recreate the irreverent, conversation-led comedy of the original but many scenes are ruined by excessive crudeness and gross-out 'humour'. There are still some good moments but overall it's a disappointing sequel. | 6 |
 |
Unthinkable | 2010 | Gripping, yet hard to watch due to the torture scenes, this thriller features brilliant performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Sheen and may prompt interesting discussions about where your moral compass points. | 7 |