Stephen Abell This is a strange film that sits in a weird void between genres and styles and thus doesn't seem to work quite as well as Joe Dante's other works. The good thing is that you can tell this is a Joe Dante film, so if you liked Gremlins, Small Soldiers, Innerspace, etc, then you will probably enjoy this tale.It's set at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and try's to build on the troubles and worries of the people at this period in time. Enter Lawrence Woolsey, played enthusiastically by John Goodman and his assistant Ruth Corday, portrayed by Cathy Moriarty, who is in town to promote his new B-movie "MANT!", for which he is also pushing "Atomo- Vision". Then there's the story of the town's teenagers, who become involved in helping Woolsey in his venture. However, this is where the story starts to fall flat as some of these tales are bland, to the point of boring. Simon Fenton, playing Gene Loomis, gives an okay performance. Though the rest of the younger cast are below average, which is a shame as Omri Katz did good work on Hocus Pocus and Eerie, Indiana; and Kellie Martin who has given decent performances throughout her ongoing career. Robert Picardo gives a wonderful comic performance as the Theater Manager, Howard, who is more interested in the Crisis than what's happening in his movie theatre.There are some good scenes in the film, especially concerning the B- movie "MANT!", and Joe Dante's direction, John Goodman's and Robert Picardo's acting keep it just interesting enough to keep your finger off the stop and eject button.If one Sunday winter afternoon there's nothing on worth watching and this appears in the guide, then I would say, "grab a coffee and some chocky biscuits, settle down and chill to this movie."

Michael_Elliott Matinée (1993) *** (out of 4) Joe Dante's loving tribute to the horror films of the 50s and 60s. The film takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis as a horror producer (John Goodman) comes to a Florida town to show his new film, MANT!, part man and part ant. Matinée certainly has several flaws in it but fans of these types of movies being payed homage to should still find it entertaining and worth viewing. I think what makes the film so special are all the homages to those films from the drive-in era. This includes stars like Dick Miller and Kevin McCarthy making appearances, the terrific poster and lobby cards showing off some films and of course the movie-within-a-movie itself. I thought the movie MANT! was actually done extremely well as it looked and sounded just like you'd expect a movie about a man turning into an ant to. The film also manages to have a good sense of humor about these films without having to make fun of them or look down on them. Goodman gives a really strong and fun performance of the producer who was certainly modeled after William Castle. I thought Good was a lot of fun in the role and really made you believe that he could be a producer of these types of movies. Cathy Moriarty is also fun as the girlfriend and the various child actors also do a nice job. I think there are some problems with the movie including some humor around the Cuban Missile Crisis that just doesn't work all that well and I think the teen romance is also pretty weak. Still, Matinée is a fun little movie that has its heart in the right place.

zetes Not really a horror movie, per se, but a family comedy that revolves around B-horror movies. John Goodman plays a William Castle-like horror filmmaker who is premiering his new movie Mant (half-man, half-ant!) in Key West during the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Goodman has imagined Mant as a very interactive experience, with rumbling seats that can give the audience light shocks, pyrotechnics and a man wearing a Mant suit who wanders into the audience at certain points. The movie mostly revolves around the children who are going to see the movie. The film has a lot of problems. The kid characters are all pretty uninteresting, and the main plot of the film, which is about Simon Fenton, a horror fan, missing his father, who is in the military on a boat outside of Cuba, reeks of grade C Spielberg. And the screenwriters figure that they can't have a movie where people are just sitting around watching another movie, so there are a whole bunch of subplots where the kids wander off during the movie to do other stuff. Ironically, the parts where we're watching Mant are by far the best part of the movie. I've heard so much about how good this was for years, and been wanting to see it forever (it was out of print on DVD for years), so I have to say it's a pretty big disappointment. Still, I think it's an okay movie.

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.