Movie

Matinee

1993 · 99 min

A warm, playful nostalgia trip that mixes childhood wonder with Cold War jitters, making the movies feel like magic and the world feel briefly scary.

Directed by: Joe Dante
Genres: Comedy
Starring: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton

Tagline: Lawrence Woolsey presents the end of civilization as we know it. Make that... Proudly Presents!
Overview: A showman introduces a small coastal town to a unique movie experience and capitalizes on the Cuban Missile crisis hysteria with a kitschy horror extravaganza combining film effects, stage props and actors in rubber suits in this salute to the B-movie.

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Directed by: Joe Dante
Genres: Comedy
Starring: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: warmstrength 2 of 3
whimsicalstrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: easy-watch, 2 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: coming-of-age
family
friendship
fate
media
Places: small town
school
home
Era: period
Audience: teen
Form: ensemble
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	4
Horror	2
Humour	7
Realism	7
Romance	4
Tension	4
Darkness	3
Complexity	4
Emotional weight	4

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Details

Genres: comedy
Directed by: Joe Dante
Written by: Charles S. Haas
Starring: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz, Lisa Jakub, Kellie Martin, Jesse Lee Soffer, Lucinda Jenney
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography: John Hora
Runtime: 99 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English

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Matinee

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