If your favourite part of The Movies is movie-making, this expansion is for you!
The expansion pack mainly consists of stunts, and some more effects (hence the title). The stunts add a lot to the realism of the game, being able to see cars roll, buildings explode and gunshots actually affect the enviroment makes action and sci-fi movies a lot better. The addition of more 'scenes' in the movie-making editor also allows you to add a bit more variety to the movie. Stuntmen are a reasonably well-balanced addition to the game, and do not require too much user attention (apart from training them). However, you will probably find that you will need one stuntman per actor, as movie rating is affected by how well the person performing the stunt resembles the actor they are replacing. Actors can perform their own stunts, however the risk of injury means this is not a great idea unless you spend time training them up.
The effects side of things is just as good. The new green screen set allows you to get those exterior shots of spaceships and planes so you don't just see the inside of them. The blue screen set is very, very flexible and will be a boon to people who just want to make their own set - it is essentially a blank set where you can select the background, floor, props and any other stuff. The miniature city is also great for exterior shots of buildings, and can really add a sense of scale to the movie. There aren't many other new sets, although Activision have included the entire contents of the Propshop from the Movies website (http://movies.lionhead.com).
The tycoon part of the game hasn't changed all that much, apart from the addition of stuntmen. Unlike stars, stuntmen don't require trailers or an entourage and their mood is always the same, although you will have to send them to the hospital every once in a while to repair the damage caused by stunts. Some aspects of the game are also far more flexible, for example you can now alter a star's weight in the makeover room. Unfortunately the problem of not having enough staff for the studio is still not resolved and doesn't really represent the way the real world works (it wouldn't be that hard to hire an extra builder in Hollywood, surely!).
Overall, the game is great, with the addition a new graphics engine to create weather and explosion effects very useful. There was no real change in the sound, and as far a value goes it's fairly standard for an expansion pack. My tilt is at 10 however, because Stunts and Effects did fix a nasty graphical glitch I had using the makeover room in the original game. Stunts and effects is probably more useful to people who focus on movie-making, but shoudl be enjoyed all round.