Late Night (2019) - Thompson is superb with Kaling's brainy script

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+ Best New York Movie of the Year

Emma Thompson has a different hairstyle than in the actual film, curiously, on the poster for Nisha Ganatra's Late Night

Katherine Newbury is a British talk show institution in American comedy, - but her show's ratings have steadily declined for years, and she is in need of a radical reinvention in order to keep her show. Into her writers' room enters her fan Molly...

Late Night is written by writer/co-producer/co-star Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project (2012-17)) and directed by Nisha Ganatra (Chutney Popcorn (1999)).
Kaling is sweet as Molly, whose hiring is a mystifying stroke of luck for her. The job to restart the talkshow and open its host more up to her possible audiences is no small task, and Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee (2005)) is terrific as the impatient, cynical, tyrannical boss, who is en route to her own career downfall. For someone with love for late night talk shows, the story's course echoes both David Letterman's infidelity scandal and admission on his show and the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno fight for their respective shows. There is no woman late-night talkshow persona in real life like Newbury in the movie, (the great Ellen DeGeneres reigns daytime comedy with her talkshow), - but there could be.
As part of the role Thompson sports a hairdo and cool garbs and jewelry, which elevate her performance. Late Night doesn't do much cinematically, but Thompson, besides a great actress, is cinematic, and therefore even more crucial to the film. - And so is John Lithgow (Kinsey (2004)), her husband in it, and the two share a genuinely touching scene towards the end.
Late Night also benefits from a strong supporting cast with proven talents Amy Ryan (Kidnapped (2006-07)), Hugh Dancy (Evening (2007)), Reid Scott (The Veil (2016)), Dennis O'Hare (The Proposal (2009)) and Max Casella (The Sopranos (2001-07)).
The film has lines and moments that produce chuckles, although it could certainly be funnier; but it makes a thoughtful dealing with current issues of political correctness, mindless entertainment, minority representation, gender equality and hypocrisy its main priority.

Related post:

Nisha Ganatra: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2019 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. $
Box office: 21.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (has returned 5.42 times its cost)
[Late Night premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 102 minutes. The script was first bought by Fox 2000 in 2016. Paul Feig was originally scheduled to direct but dropped out. Shooting took place in New York from April 2018 - ?. Amazon paid 13 mil. $ for the North American distribution rights at Sundance, - a record. They furthermore spent a whopping 35 mil. $ to market the film. It opened #17 to a 246k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 2,220 theaters, grossing 15.4 mil. $ (71 % of the total gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been the UK with 1.7 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (6.5 %). It has one more market announced to open in: Mexico on 18 October. Some analysts are calling the film one of the year's biggest flops due to Amazon's great expenses thrown at the film; but if the 4 mil. $ budget is accurate, the film is a big hit, and Amazon's expenses are also a part of their overall strategy, which is mainly about their streaming service, for which the film is likely an important touchstone. Ganatra returned with Black Monday (2019, TV-series) and will return theatrically with Covers (2020). Thompson returned with a voice performance in Missing Link (2019) and in the flesh in Men in Black: International (2019); Kaling does not have her next acting gig announced yet. Late Night is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Late Night?

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) - A good cast raise Hogan's entertaining, silly chick-flick

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Isla Fisher looks more or less stylish and/or tantalizing in long stockings and high heels on this poster for P.J. Hogan's Confessions of a Shopaholic

A journalist in New York loses her job and is forced to take charge of her shopping mania.

Isla Fisher (Nocturnal Animals (2016)) is sweet and funny in the lead here and finds herself cast against a very cute Hugh Dancy (Hannibal (2013-15)). Krysten Ritter (Gravity (2010), TV-series) is also good as a friend.
Confessions of a Shopaholic is energetic fluff without any major, intelligent insight behind it. It is best watched half-drunk, in which state it is a fairly good time. But it is a really silly and predictable serving. - It does sport an incredibly good cast though, which also includes John Lithgow (Dexter (2009), TV-series), Joan Cusack (My Sister's Keeper (2009)), John Goodman (Pope Joan (2009)) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Force Majeure (1989)).
The film is written by Tracey Jackson (The Guru (2002)), Tim Firth (Calender Girls (2003)) and Kayla Alpert (Ally McBeal (2001), TV-series), based on the two first books in the Shopaholic book series by Sophie Kinsella (Twenties Girl (2009)), and directed by great Australian filmmaker P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)).

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 108.3 mil. $
= Flop
[Confessions of a Shopaholic premiered 5 February (New York) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in New York, Connecticut and Miami, Florida from February - May 2008. The ending was reshot in December 2008 to make it less offensive to the new and building financial crisis recession climate. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Friday the 13th and holdover hits He's Just Not that Into You and Taken, to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell out of the top 5 the following week and grossed 44.2 mil. $ (40.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK, where Kinsella hails from, with 12.1 mil. $ (11.2 %) and Australia with 6.5 mil. $ (6 %). Confessions of a Shopaholic is rotten at 25 % with a 4.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Confessions of a Shopaholic?

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - Durkin's chilling psychological thriller debut

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4 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Director: Sean Durkin (lost to Agnieszka Holland for In Darkness)
Best Actress: Elizabeth Olsen (lost to Bérénice Bejo for The Artist)
Best Supporting Actor: John Hawkes (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes (lost to Phedon Papamichael for The Descendants)

+ Best Thriller of the Year
+ Best Debut of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actress of the Year (Elizabeth Olsen)
+ Best Low-budget Movie of the Year 

The intense, Spanish poster for Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha is a young woman who escapes through a forest from a cult. She subsequently lives with her sister and husband in their summerhouse by a lake in Connecticut, while she remembers her traumatic experiences.

Beautiful Elizabeth Olsen (Kill Your Darlings (2013)) is fantastic here in what is only her second major movie role. She plays opposite a scary John Hawkes (The Sessions (2012)) as a pathetic lunatic and Sarah Paulson (12 Years a Slave (2013)) as her sister.
Martha impresses with stunning images, (cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes (Trainwreck (2015))), minimalistic effects and intense suspense.
It is the impressive feature debut of NYU graduate Sean Durkin (Southcliffe (2013), TV-miniseries), who has written and directed it, based on a short of his starring Brady Corbet (Force Majeure/Turist (2014)) called Mary Last Seen (2010). Corbet also has a smaller role in Martha.
The film forcefully captures the total detachment from reality of a group cult as well as the profound damage done to Martha by blending very uncomfortable scenes and incredible beauty.
Durkin may have made one of the year's best films here.
He is now working on a Janis Joplin biopic, simply called Janis (announced).

Related posts:
 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
 

Elizabeth Olsen and Sarah Paulson in Sean Durkin's great Martha Marcy May Marlene

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost. 1 mil. $
Box office: 3.5 mil. $
= Big hit
[Durkin's film won him the Directing Award for Best Drama at Sundance as well as many other nominations and awards and stellar reviews. It made 2.9 mil. $ (83 % of the total gross) in the US. It also helped catapult Olsen's career upwards.]

What do you think of Martha Marcy May Marlene?