Late Night (Blu-ray) (2019) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy / Drama |
Featurette-Making Of-3 Interviews-Cast & Crew |
|
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2019 | ||
Running Time | 101:41 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Nisha Ganatra |
Studio
Distributor |
Filmation Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Emma Thompson Mindy Kaling John Lithgow |
Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Lesley Barber |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 1080p | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
It is an interesting phenomenon that seemingly there has never been a US late night show hosted by a woman, lots of Daves or Johnnys but no Katherines or Elizabeths. This film, Late Night, seeks to address that but in fiction rather than the real world. It makes the interesting choice not to show the obvious story of how she struggled in a male dominated world to get the gig but rather tells her story after her career has peaked and is struggling to hold onto her job due to poor ratings. The late show host in question is Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) and her show has become stale with her all male writers' room no longer delivering and her arrogance getting in the way of changing anything. Her husband, Walter (John Lithgow) is very unwell but is one of the few people prepared to tell her the truth.
As the movie opens, she is told she needs to hire some more diversity into her team who are all middle aged white men. Acting expediently, Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) is hired despite her lack of writing experience and soon starts to shake up the team despite opposition from the men and from Katherine herself. Soon Katherine is informed by the head of the network that this will be her last season. Can Katherine get past her ego, see her own faults and team up with Molly to save the show and her career?
Emma Thompson is the star here and has subsequently been nominated for a Best Actress - Musical or Comedy Golden Globe. Her performance carries the movie with her main co-star Mindy Kaling pulling double duty as actress and writer. It is a good film, enjoyable and entertaining but one that doesn't really leave a lasting impression, certainly not enough to make you want to watch it more than once. It is amusing, dramatic when necessary, generally well acted and tells a different story and certainly one that avoids an obvious diversity mantra. It falls somewhat short though in actually delivering a compelling story. It did reasonably well at the box office taking over $20m globally on a $4m budget.
Worth a look especially for fans of Emma Thompson.
The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 1080p. The film was shot digitally and looks good, with good colour and clarity (for a Blu-ray). There are no issues to report and the presentation perfectly suits the material which certainly doesn't require a 4K release (which is lucky because it didn't get one).
There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1 and a descriptive audio track in DTS HD-MA 2.0. This is a dialogue focused film and the dialogue is well presented here with good clarity and no real need for subtitles unless you are hearing impaired. The main other components of the soundtrack are music which comes across well and atmospherics which use the surround speakers and subwoofer.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu is still and silent.
A short featurette on the themes and issues in the film featuring scenes from the film and interview segments.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
As far as I can gather this film has not been released on Blu-ray in the US but is available on Amazon Prime. The only release listed on US Amazon is the UK DVD edition. Buy local.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is very good.
There is a small selection of promo style extras.Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output |
Display | LG OLEDC8PTA 55”. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Marantz SR5012 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |