Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

leplatypus Well, this movie isn't really bad but it's not also great. On the positive side, this movie offers a new idea in movies about movies. Usually, it's about Hollywood and I rate them as the lowest level in storytelling: it's like writing a book about a writer (isn't-it Mr King?), it's very complacent. Here, we left producers for the audience and how people receive movies, what they bring to them and how they shape and feed their imagination. Indeed, the movie offers a short but amazing scene about this magic of the theater! In addition, the background is interesting because it could have been the biopic of Mr. King (again!). Like the kids here, he was totally addicted to these matinée and in 1957, one was interrupted by the manager to told the audience that Russians were in space! Here, we got this same kind of red panic!On the negative side, the movie just never takes off and it's really strange as it's Dante behind the camera: he is such a nervous, corrosive, dynamic director but here, he delivers nothing. It was cool to see his buddies (Miller, Goldsmith) but nothing happens even with this funny Z-movie of the ant-man! His sixties are faraway from the best ("American graffiti", "BTF", "Ed Wood").So, maybe it's only a movie just for the morning when we are still half sleepy and half aware!

MartinHafer While "Matinee" might not be the very best history lesson, the film is lots of fun and focuses on some events you really don't hear a lot about today. The film is set during one of the tensest times during the Cold War--during the Cuban Missile Crisis. To make things worse, everything in the film takes place in Key West--which is only a short distance from Cuba. So, not surprisingly, everyone is tense--wondering if maybe the world is soon coming to an end.Into this scary times arrives a weird showman (John Goodman)--a man obviously strongly inspired by William Castle. His film, "Mant", is a typical early 60s monster film--complete with atomic radiation and giant bugs. And, like Castle, he's installed all the many silly gimmicks in the theater--like having ALL of Castle's films rolled into one. There's the fake nurse (Cathy Moriarty) in the lobby having folks sign off on a form releasing the theater from responsibility of their deaths from fright, the guy dressed up in a 'mant' costume running through the theater, the electrified seats...and more. It's all amazingly silly but also quite fun and nostalgic. My only reservation is the character of the girl who rebels against this hysteria--she just seemed very anachronistic--like putting a child of the late 70s or early 80s into the early 60s. Still, I could let go of this and just enjoy--and I am sure you will. The movie did a great job of capturing the flavor of Castle's odd sort of genius.A few final notes: John Goodman was great, it was nice to see Dick Miller (from MANY Roger Corman films) in a bit role as well as Omri Katz (from "Eerie, Indiana") in the film.

Spikeopath Matinée is directed by Joe Dante and written by Charles S. Haas and Jerico Stone. It stars John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Omri Katz, Kellie Martin, Lisa Jakub and Simon Fenton. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by John Hora. The film operates on three fronts narratively speaking, set in 1962 it has a wry look at the paranoia created by the Cuban Missile Crisis, pays homage to the sci-fi schlock movies created by William Castle, and dallies in blossoming teenage romances.It's a lovingly crafted movie by Dante, perhaps more pertinent to those around at the time of the film's setting, or for someone like me who loves those creaky creature features of the 1950s, but surely there's enough to enjoy here for the average film lover? It's three pronged structure isn't a complete success, as the last third starts to feel a bit too chocked full of (sub) plots, but the homages stay warm and the period flavour of the time is expertly created by Dante and his team. It's fun without straining for laughs, while the cast, led by an excellent Goodman as schlockmeister Lawrence Woolsey, deliver the requisite amount of quality to make it work.A lovely film for film fans, created by a film fan himself. 8/10

LCShackley This is a perfectly balanced, consistently funny movie, especially for those who either a) grew up in the early 60s or b) enjoy the campy SF movies of the late 50s/early 60s. I fit in both categories, so this movie makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it.Joe Dante and his screenwriters do a deft balancing act between a charming teenage love story, a recollection of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, and a spot-on satirical look at old "nuclear monster" movies and the king of that genre, William Castle. The script moves each portion of the story along seamlessly, with a marvelous cast of characters led by John Goodman, the Barnum-like movie showman.Much of the film actually takes place in a theater, where all the strands of the story come together in a long crescendo that ends in a disaster with a happy ending. Personally, my favorite parts of the film are the black-and-white clips from the feature "Mant," which deftly skewer all the clichés of the genre (down to the scientist who has to explain every big word he uses). Seeing William Schallert and Kevin McCarthy in uncredited roles was a bonus.A tip of the hat to Jerry Goldsmith for his nostalgic score, and to the music department who put together some old radio tunes for authenticity.Watching "Matinee" is a delightful way to spend 100 minutes, whether you're a kid, or an old fogy who actually remembers what things were like in 1962.