Nisha Ganatra (The High Note) tries a formula that’s been tried and true with a slightly different spin in Late Night. The Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility) dramedy focuses on her career as an acclaimed late-night talk show host who might be on the tail end of her career after plummeting ratings in recent months/years. Flanked by an all-white male staff of writers, Katherine Newberry’s (Thompson) material has become predictably stale.
Category Archives: Emma Thompson
An Education (2009)
Set in 1961 England, Carey Mulligan’s (Shame, Drive) breakout performance in Lone Scherfig (One Day, Their Finest) is a movie that resonates in a way that is entirely independent of its time frame and location. Does this mean it’s a timeless classic? Well, when I think of timeless classics, I think of films that are very different from An Education. This beautiful film was on pace to be a timeless classic, one where everything is fine and dandy and one that I probably would not have enjoyed as much if not for a late twist. The setting of 1960s Europe doesn’t pique my interest. If, as I write this in 2018, in my early 40’s when I am much more into the independents than the big blockbusters, the synopsis for this film doesn’t attract, I can only imagine what I thought going into it back in 2009. I’m unsure what piqued my interest in this movie or even got me past the first 15 minutes.
A Walk in the Woods (2015)
A Walk in the Woods, the 2015 comedy-drama that I thought would be a throwaway movie I originally only watched so that I could add it to my list, turned out to be one of the year’s biggest surprises. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’d be a fool to think that a year from now, I’d remember anything from this movie or that I’ll ever watch this movie again. But for two hours on a Tuesday night in the middle of April, it was a refreshing escape from reality, and the movie had me grinning from ear to ear from the first scene until the last. Also, if Robert Redford (The Horse Whisperer, All is Lost) or Nick Nolte (The Prince of Tides, Warrior) called it a career today, and this was either of their last movies, that would be okay.
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Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Remains of the Day) got hosed out of an Oscar nomination! I had made it a goal to see all the nominees in all major Academy Award categories. Still, I didn’t see the snubs or the next in lines for Best Actor, Best Actress, etc., unless their movie received a nomination in one of the other major categories. It’s been a while since I reviewed all of the really good films of 2013. I’m sure I had already replaced Amy Adams (American Hustle) with a more deserving candidate. I don’t remember who I replaced her with at the moment, and I don’t feel like going back and looking. I’m pretty sure I did this, though. I believe I replaced the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for this movie because I didn’t feel like any of them deserved it. I think I did keep Jennifer Lawrence as a nominee because the nominees in the Supporting Actress category in 2013 were not overly impressive. But this review isn’t about the underwhelming American Hustle. It is about the under-appreciated Saving Mr. Banks, a movie I had written off as a lame little kids’ movie after a single trailer. It was one of those movies that I told myself I would eventually see because it had so much hype surrounding it, and I have yet to talk to someone who didn’t, at least, like it.
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