Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Cortechba Overrated

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

rooee When a light-hearted, nostalgic comedy opens with a nuclear explosion, you know you're onto something weird and original. Yet it's also comfortingly familiar. Matinée was made seven years after Back to the Future and is set (in 1962) seven years afterwards. In its style and tone it echoes Robert Zemeckis's blockbuster, but it wasn't embraced nearly so warmly by audiences.Maybe it's because the backdrop is the harder sell of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Gene (Simon Fenton) is a young teen who lives on a naval base, and he's coming to terms with an absent military father who may never return. Some solace is arriving, however, as the B-movie tycoon Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) is coming to town to show off his new half-man/half-ant opus… "Mant".The film establishes a broad cast of characters to populate Key West, including Gene's buddy Stan (Omri Katz), who's obsessed with the flirty Sherry (Kellie Martin). Gene himself, meanwhile, is courting the CND-conscious Sandra (Mrs Doubtfire's Lisa Jakub). While the parents panic about the impending nuclear annihilation, the schoolboys bicker and talk about girls.The first half of the movie focuses on establishing the many characters, while the second half is dominated by the premiere of Mant itself and the (mostly) orchestrated chaos surrounding it. Suffice to say, the build-up – which does suffer slightly from minor character overload – is justified by the pay-off. The kids must sign a waiver before entering the theatre, and with good reason. "This crowd is turning into a mob," the producer yells at Woolsey – "congratulations!"Writer Charles S. Haas has a brilliant ear for taut, funny dialogue that doesn't rely on punchlines, and the teenage dynamics are brilliantly observed. (The boys, anyway – the girls are more thinly sketched.) At the core of the film is Woolsey, whom we first see in Hitchcock-style silhouette, warning the audience about "atomic mutation". Goodman absolutely relishes his role, gleefully feeding his "AtomoVision!" and "Rumble-Rama!" to an audience hungry for event movie gimmicks.Woolsey sees a business opportunity in the lightning-in-a-bottle moment of the Missile Crisis, keen to capitalise on the heightened national anxiety. Yet rather than making him the monster, the film skilfully presents Woolsey as a hero. Through him the film puts forth its paen to cinema as entertainment, and also a philosophical argument for the cathartic value of movie monsters as a way of exorcising a society's demons.As with Tim Burton's masterpiece Ed Wood, director Joe Dante displays total affection for his subject matter, namely the monster flicks of the 1950s and '60s. Every period movie you can think of is referenced, but particularly Kurt Neumann's The Fly. We see plenty of footage of Mant and it is entirely convincing (by which I mean appropriately unconvincing), and avoids mocking its myriad sources."Put the insect aside!" one character begs the half-man/half-ant, to which he replies, "Insecticide? Where?!" Meanwhile, in the world of Dante's film, Woolsey is hurling special effects around the auditorium, spilling smoke and rumbling seats, literally bringing the house down. When the Mant cast start directly referencing the Matinée audience, who are in turn being watched by us, it feels like Amblin's answer to Inception.For those who enjoy the smart satire of The 'Burbs and the frenetic farce of Gremlins, this is a similarly genre-dodging yet relatively overlooked Dante classic. It's a film about films they don't make anymore – and, in our less kind-spirited age of comedy archness, they really don't make them like this anymore.

quaseprovisorio Can you imagine a movie that portraits the magic of being a kid and going to the movies? that will put you in their eyes, feeling overwhelmed by the cinema, wanting to be surprised, like we were years ago. Matinée is mostly about that. Is also about how cinema can be alienating - we are talking about a very specific period here - and how people and industry managed to keep them entertained while so many things were happening in the "real world".It's obviously also an homage to monster movies, to small budget monster films, to the era were movie promoters wanted the audience to feel everything )even the smell?), and it wraps everything up in 1:30 minutes.Plus, has john goodman as the film promoter, where he embodies this whole spirit, while wanting to-make money on his own. I don't know but i do think it's one of his best performances all time.Probably my favorite joe dante movie. And a great film mostly about the magic of the movies, the desire of wanting to engage the audience, at all costs. Underrated as hell.

eric262003 "Matinee" is set in Key West, Florida where the residents were fearing for their lives believing that they're going to be bombed down during the infamous Cuban Missle Crisis back in 1961. When during time of panic, opportunity knocks for movie director Lawrence Woosley (John Goodman) who decides to direct another one of his kooky B-rated horror movies. Woolsey along with his fellow performers Ruth Corday (Cathy Moriarty) joins him for the opening of his new "Rumble-vision". Gene Loomis (Simon Fenton) is the new kid in town and is smitten for the attractive Sandra (Lisa Jakub). Stan (Omri Katz) is madly attracted to Sherry (Kellie Martin), but her ex-boyfriend doesn't permit him to go near her."Matinee" is a hodgepodge of genres; there's romance, a parody of those classic cheesy horror films and most of all it's focused on people who were paranoid about being bombed. Folks who were alive during these catastrophic events at the time will appreciate this movie more to understand the experience that was transpiring at the time. Also to those who grew up the time and were exposed to these cheesy films may also enjoy this movie (unfortuanately I wasn't alive then). I rated this movie with an automatic five stars. For the sensitive viewers who never seen this movie let me advise you that if you have kids at your side, be aware of explicit language and situations customized for the mature audience.The cast was top-notch and the performers were custom-made to fit in their respected roles. The big man on campus was Big Johnny himself John Goodman. He was excellent in his role as a poor man's Ed Wood like movie director who makes films not for fame, but for thrills. Cathy Moriarty was excellent in her role as on of Woolsey's fellow thespians. The youthful performers (Simon Fenton, Kellie Martin, Omri Katz and Lisa Jakub) were also quite brilliant in their respected roles. The leading antagonists who are opposed to this film (John Sayles and Richard Miller) turned in spectacular performances. And underrated film legend Kevin McCarthy was also sublime in his performance as another thespian in Woolsey's movie.The horror film exhibited in "Matinee" is quite astounding. It does everything it can to lampoon the classic horror films that manifested during that time period. The film within the film itself adds texture to the final product of "Matinee" especially the ending. I must give kudos to director Joe Dante and writers Jerico and Charles Haas for their spectacular work and teaching the lesson that even in troubled times, it's best to have a good laugh and a good scare to chase your troubles away.

Coventry This isn't such a very well known film (at least I never heard of it before I watched it) and actually that is a god-awful shame, as "Matinee" is a joyously vivid, versatile and refreshingly imaginative little comedy. "Matinee" is director Joe Dante's ultimate tribute to typically 50's Sci-Fi B-movies and massively promoted gimmick-laden low-budget flicks; particularly the repertoire of the legendary William Castle. In one of his most glorious roles to date, John Goodman depicts the unscrupulous and sleazy horror movie producer Lawrence Woolsey, who is practically the reincarnation of William Castle, what with his sly and shameless salesmanship techniques and continuous wide-mouthed smile. At the highpoint of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Woolsey jaunts out to Key West – where the Navy and population hectically prepares for a bomb attack – in order to proudly present his newest and supposedly most shocking motion picture named "Mant". "Mant" is a silly shock feature about a man slowly mutating into a gigantic ant after being exposed to nuclear radiation, and for the big premiere Woolsey stuffed the film theater with horrid decorations and gimmicks to raise extra fear in the audience. With the threat of actual bombing attack going on outside the theater, Woolsey bumps into a lot of protest and resistance from the adult population in Key West, but luckily the younger and horror-crazed generation are wildly enthusiast about the upcoming matinée preview. With "Matinee", the still incredibly underrated director Joe Dante delivered another delicious and charming movie. The extended bits and clips from the fictional movie "Mant" masterfully capture the essence of 1950's B-movie cinema, with grotesque ideas and effects, cheesy nonsensical dialogs and wooden acting performances. The real William Castle actually never made such a type of monster movie, but the gimmicks and promotional stunts (like buzzers underneath the seats and guys in rubber suits running around) are right up his delightful alley! But "Matinee" is a terrifically clever movie on other levels as well. Apart from a wonderful homage to horror cinema, it also contains an admirable "coming of age" sub plot and it effectively parodies the mass hysteria going on around the time of the Cold War. Whilst the adult population of Key West practices their duck & cover bomb alarms and prepare their shelters, the teenagers are more concerned about finding a date to go see "Mant" on Saturday. The acting performances are fantastic (like his monster "Mant", John Goodman himself is larger than life!), the decors and atmosphere of the early 60's are marvelously re-enacted and – in good old Joe Dante tradition – there are multiple cameos of horror veterans, like Dick Miller, Kevin McCarthy and Robert Cornthwaite. This is truly a film meant for genuine horror movie buffs, but nevertheless a stupendously enjoyable comedy for all type of audiences.