Matinee (1993)

"This is Lawrence Woolsey and ...." starts this movie in great style as a 1960's style of movie promo. The movie starts starts very well and only gets bogged down late in the film when a couple of kids get shut into a bomb shelter by mistake.

This film portrait of the 1960's schlock entertainer Woolsey (as portrayed by John Goodman) continues to be his best film role. Goodman who is now one of the spokes people for Duncan Donuts (quickly putting Starbucks out of business), is perfect for the role of Woolsey. He is surrounded by a lot of old time talent & some younger folks who manage to put over an active film story.

Two coups of this are the film within a film setting which is employed successfully with the cutting between them being made smoothly without losing the plot line and the melding of some old timers into the film in support. William Schallert is used very effectively in the MANT film within the film. Jesse White is just as effective as the guy who is trying to evaluate Woolsey's show.

The film is a send up of lots of themes from Civil Defense, to the Missile Crisis, to movies in general, to sci-fi 1950's films, to spoofing life itself. There are even spoofs of characters within the film including a broad send-up of two Liberal Parents and their attitude towards raising their daughter.

This film is loaded with everything including the theater sign which has now failed, "Fight Pay TV". If you like John Goodman, this is his best role to date outside of Dan on Roseanne, a must see film for the Goodman fan.

Fmovies: I felt that the advertising for this movie was somewhat misleading. I expected to see a film about John Goodman portraying a loose characterization of showman William Castle. Instead, the main focus of the film is a young boy, Gene Loomis, whose father is a soldier who is dispatched to active duty during the Cuban missile crisis, which is the time period in which this film is set. You have your typical coming-of-age themes revolving around Gene and his friends as they discover their own emerging adolescence, and this consists largely of tired material that has been done to death.

Somewhat in the background we have John Goodman as old-fashioned showman Lawrence Woolsey, a vaudevillian stuck in the age of cinema who wants to put the show back in picture shows. He is tied into the film because Gene enjoys Woolsey's showmanship as a way to forget about the world around him which seems to be on the brink of self-destruction. Woolsey pulls such stunts as having his girlfriend (Cathy Moriarty) dress a a nurse and ask patrons to sign a waiver releasing Goodman's character from liability in case they die of fright during the movie. This is based on a similar stunt by William Castle and his movie "Macabre". Woolsey also wires the seats to produce a mild electric shock during a key moment in a film, which he labels "Atomo-Vision." That antic is based on what William Castle did during the showing of "The Tingler". Then he rigs still another device to shake things up as buildings on the screen are tumbling and calls it "Rumble-Rama." Again, these are all very similar to the showman-like stunts of William Castle during the 50's and 60's.

The best part of the movie is when Woolsey comes up with an atomic-age monster movie entitled "Mant" that is a composite of cheesy 50's horror films such as "The Fly," and "Them!". "Mant" is about a mutant that is half-man and half-ant and is a total riot. Woolsey's schlock merchant displays just the right mix of con-man materialism and childlike glee at his own bogus movie magic. It's too bad that Goodman's character and his showmanship weren't the main focus of the movie - Goodman was truly born to play the part of Lawrence Woolsey.

Watching this movie really made me happy that some of William Castle's films have finally been coming out on DVD in the last couple of years, through both traditional DVD releases and through the Warner Archive manufacture on demand program. At any rate, enjoy.

Yes, the atomic bomb is terrible. But unintentionally funny were some of the movies about the alleged effects of atomic mutation. Hi, I want to tell you about something that could have happened. Something that does happen in a certain movie. Picture Key West, Florida: your average American town. But, if a movie about the alleged effects of atomic mutation was brought there during the Cuban Missile Crisis...the result would be hysterical indeed. For the result...would be..."Matinée".

This movie is a real treat for any fan of the sci-fi/horror flicks of the late '50s and early '60s. John Goodman plays B-movie producer Lawrence Woolsey, bringing "Mant" (Half Man...Half Ant...All Terror!) to Key West, Florida, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Naturally, the possibility of a nuclear attack heightens the mood in every way.

"Matinee" just may be the perfect movie about the adult world as seen from a youngster's point of view. And I don't just mean the great soundtrack. I think that it's safe to say that this movie has something for EVERYONE. Joe Dante has created another cool movie here. And of course it wouldn't be a Joe Dante movie without Dick Miller. He and John Sayles play representatives of Citizens for Decent Entertainment protesting "Mant" (or are they?). Kudos also to Cathy Moriarty as Ruth Corday, the actress who in the movie-within-a-movie plays the wife of the human-to-formic star; bravo also to Kevin McCarthy, playing the general in the movie-within-a-movie trying to stop the Mant. All in all, this movie shows why the word "cool" was invented.

Matinee fmovies. 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.

I have a lot of time for Joe Dante. Most of his movies are fairly light-hearted, nostalgic fare aimed at kids or the young at heart, but unlike his occasional collaborator Steven Spielberg he really pulls it off convincingly without getting too sentimental and treacly, and always has enough in-jokes and references in his movies to amuse diehard science fiction and horror film buffs. Dante is a BIG fan of film makers like Roger Corman (who gave him his big break), William Castle (a major inspiration for 'Matinee') and Mario Bava, while one has to wonder if Spielberg even knows who they are. 'Matinee' is a slight, but very entertaining picture, concerning b-grade 50s/60s horror movies, and fans of that era will absolutely love it. John Goodman ('The Big Lebowski') plays flamboyant writer/director Lawrence Woolsey. Woolsey's gimmicks and showmanship are inspired by William Castle ('The Tingler', '13 Ghosts', 'House On Haunted Hill',etc.etc.) though the fictional movie 'Mant' which is part of the plot is quite unlike Castle's output and closer to 50s paranoid monster movies like 'Them!' and 'Tarantula'. Goodman is perfectly cast and loads of fun. I also really liked Cathy Moriarty ('Raging Bull') as Woolsey's leading actress/assistant. The chemistry between the two was enjoyable and made for some nice comic touches. The young kid actors were all pretty good, and Dante regulars Dick Miller ('A Bucket Of Blood'), Kevin McCarthy ('Invasion Of The Body Snatchers'), Robert Picardo ('Star Trek Voyager') and William Schallert ('The Incredible Shrinking Man') seem like they are all having a wonderful time. Trivia buffs note that this movie includes an actor from 'The Thing From Another World' (Robert Cornthwaite) and also one from John Carpenter's remake 'The Thing' (David Clennon'). The movie within the movie 'Mant' is hilarious, but I enjoyed the whole thing. 'Matinee' is another fun movie from the underrated Joe Dante.

This has to be the most under-rated, under-valued and criminally under-seen film of all time. Funny, touching, nostalgic in a good way, a wonderful tribute to the very joy of film itself and, the clincher, a cast of kids that never get on your nerves. And even in any of the Coen Brother's films he has been in, John Goodman has never bettered his performance from this movie. If you love the movies, you'll love this film. See it; then see it again and again. It really is the undiscovered artistic masterpiece of the 20th Century.