- Format: PAL
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Pathe
- DVD Release Date: 30 Jun 2003
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00009W357
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 54,458 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Original Theatrical Trailer
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo English
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Original Theatrical Trailer
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I watched this again recently, knowing how much I had enjoyed it before, but I found myself enjoying it even more. It appears to be a simple tale of a cynical but ambitious film producer arriving in a small Florida backwater to promote a horror movie about a man who turns into a giant ant (Mant!) at the height of the Cuban missile crisis. In fact, it's about so much more.
It's a film about the nature of fear, a tender coming-of-age comedy, a nostalgic eulogy to the days of 'atomic age' monster films and their whacky promotional gimmicks (John Goodman's producer is clearly based on William Castle who, among other things, electrocuted his audiences during The Tingler and had a plastic skeleton fly over their heads like an emaciated Mary Poppins in The House on Haunted Hill) and, most of all, it's a film about our love of going to the pictures as eloquent as Cinema Paradiso.
As in Peter Bogdanovich's Targets, the comically ludicrous film-within-a-film and its absurd horror cliches contasts with a much more real horror going on off-screen - here Krushchev and Kennedy taking the world to the brink of armageddon.
Everything about this film is spot on: John Goodman is at his very best and the rest of the cast, though largely unknown, never put a foot wrong. The teenage hero, Simon Fenton, is actually a British actor (perfect American accent) who later appeared in The Bill! The cinema is one you would love to be your local picture house - such a contrast to the multiplexes of today. The satirical critique of mutually assured distruction may be less shrill than in Dr Strangelove but is more human and therefore, to me, more powerful. Even the use of period music is perfect, in particular of The Lion Sleeps Tonight as the crisis is averted and the world sleeps soundly again...for now.
It's a film about the nature of fear, a tender coming-of-age comedy, a nostalgic eulogy to the days of 'atomic age' monster films and their whacky promotional gimmicks (John Goodman's producer is clearly based on William Castle who, among other things, electrocuted his audiences during The Tingler and had a plastic skeleton fly over their heads like an emaciated Mary Poppins in The House on Haunted Hill) and, most of all, it's a film about our love of going to the pictures as eloquent as Cinema Paradiso.
As in Peter Bogdanovich's Targets, the comically ludicrous film-within-a-film and its absurd horror cliches contasts with a much more real horror going on off-screen - here Krushchev and Kennedy taking the world to the brink of armageddon.
Everything about this film is spot on: John Goodman is at his very best and the rest of the cast, though largely unknown, never put a foot wrong. The teenage hero, Simon Fenton, is actually a British actor (perfect American accent) who later appeared in The Bill! The cinema is one you would love to be your local picture house - such a contrast to the multiplexes of today. The satirical critique of mutually assured distruction may be less shrill than in Dr Strangelove but is more human and therefore, to me, more powerful. Even the use of period music is perfect, in particular of The Lion Sleeps Tonight as the crisis is averted and the world sleeps soundly again...for now.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
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
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
Format:DVD
This is why we all love Joe Dante right ? Sort of Spielbergian but not to candy floss, Looks like its made for the family but just under the surface there something else going on. But subplots aside this is a great movie about the early sci fi movies and of the imaginative people involved in there creation. John goodman is the perfect actor for the part of the ambitious yet underfunded director/ inventor/ showman and in someways always appearing to be a conman !! And of course the era of the film is the fifties, cold war and worries about the 'H-Bomb' and the hazards of radiation are central to the film, both in the movies being watched in the cinemas ( Giant insects and human-insect hybrids) and in peoples every day lives living in or near an army base. The look of the film may take some viewers a few minutes to adjust (Light pastels and near colour saturation at times) but for those in the know i think they will instantly understand how the creators of the film have tried to get as near to the colour tones of films of that era and i think they succeed in most scenes. Overall a great film with a cult classic feel and for lovers of Dante's other work an absolute essential addition to ones collection.
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