Matinee

Here is one serious homage to the B-list monster movies of the 50's and 60's from the great Joe Dante and in paying said homage he manages to create what turns out to one of his most clever films ever. It's an interesting premise for sure. A movie schlock movie produced, played to a T by John Goodman, brings his new film to a small town in Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and this is what the action revolves around. While meant to be a light hearted comedy, Dante captures the sheer terror of the moment in history as seen through the eyes of a teenager living through it and the results are perhaps the best examination of the emotions involved to be found in any film period. Dante also incorporates lots of in-jokes and nods to the real films of the period as well and using Kevin McCarthy in the film-within-a-film MANT is just one of those great treats. Good fun with a serious underbelly MATINEE certainly delivers more than first meets the eye and be sure to look for Naomi Watts in one of her first big screen appearances.