Matinee

Jerry Goldsmith

 
" relaxing matinée experience "

Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release

Matinee is a pleasant throwback to 1962, the moment when the Cuban Missile Crisis was putting the fear in a lot of people, not the least the town of Key West Florida. And during that crisis, Goodman's character Woolsey thought it was the perfect moment to use that fear to bring the most terrifying experience of all to the big screen, namely MANT. Matinee is not your typical Joe Dante film, and delivers its topics smoother and less offensive than most. But the charm and lessons of Matinee are nonetheless breezy and powerful, delivering a lot of fun that the critics liked more than the audience (who barely saw the film if you compare it with the other Dante films). Naturally and completely expected, Jerry Goldsmith was standing by to deliver the music.

And again, this is one of those easy going efforts of Goldsmith, lacking the typical panache of a Jerry Goldsmith score for a Joe Dante film. But whatever it lacks of zaniness, it has in heart. Like the opening of "Coming Attraction" that nonetheless opens in the harmless tones of The Burbs's end credits piece, delivering immediately the lovely main theme of Matinee. Perhaps even more easy going is the somewhat naive theme for Woolsey, thinking no matter what he will do it will not scare the people to death in "Hold On".

The main theme is ever present of course, but what's more present is the sometimes delicious laid back jazz that influences the scams and intentions of Woolsey, perfectly summarized alongside his theme in "The Scam" and "The Wrong Business" (his most catchy performance is at the end of "The Next Attraction" for darn sure, including the expected whistle that signs off the CD). Other typical Goldsmith moments are for the actual MANT scenes, like the brief horror moments in "Halfway Home" and "Showtime", or the suspenseful climax in "This is It" (including a thoroughly tasty trumpet solo for the chaotic end). And that end is perfectly summarized in the conclusive and hugely enjoyable "The Next Attraction".

In simple terms, Matinee has to be one of the lightest and easiest to appreciate scores of Jerry Goldsmith's career, but therein lies also its strength. It's amazingly loveable and like the film has a heart you rarely find in films or scores anymore. In a way, I can compare it with Hugo, as it is an ode to filmmaking in general. So hardly groundbreaking material, but as always there are themes at work here that tie it all flawlessly together. Matinee is Jerry Goldsmith fan food and extremely relaxing chow at that.


Favorite Moment - This is It (0.55 - 1.56)
The most creative and energetic moments of the score, Goldsmith goes for once of the easy route

Track Listing

1. Coming Attraction (2.09)
2. Hold On (3.08)
3. Brother to Brother (2.27)
4. Real People (2.13)
5. The Scam (4.08)
6. Halfway Home (3.45)
7. Showtime (4.33)
8. The Wrong Business (3.39)
9. This is It (3.51) Excellent track
10. The Next Attraction (7.56) Excellent track

Total Length: 37.49
(click to rate this score)  
 
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(total of 6 votes - average 4/5)

Released by

Varèse Sarabande VSD-5408 (regular release 1993)

Conducted by

Jerry Goldsmith

Orchestrations by

Alexander Courage