Morning Glory (2010) - McAdams, morning TV and great co-stars spell good fun

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1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Supporting Actor: Harrison Ford (lost to John C. Reilly for The Extra Man)

A classy, upbeat poster for Roger Michell's Morning Glory that pushes its lovely stars

A young female workaholic loses her job in Jersey but then gains a new one as executive producer on New York's worst morning TV show. She now has to secure better ratings as well as her own romantic life. - Pheew...!

Morning Glory is a lot less of a romcom than I had expected; instead it is more a story about a young woman on the job market. The romance with Patrick Wilson (The A-Team (2010)) is tame: SPOILER Whether or not he is actually a womanizer gets dropped on the floor, and his being alternately for and against her work madness is also inopportune.
But Rachel McAdams (Southpaw (2015)) is sweet and credible in the lead, and Diane Keaton (Something's Gotta Give (2003)) shimmers. The film also have talents like Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson and Morley Safer in amusing cameos. But it is Harrison Ford (The Mosquito Coast (1988)) who is the movie's crowning jewel, splendid as a pompous and quite isolated character.
Morning Glory is written by Aline Brosh McKenna (We Bought a Zoo (2011)) and directed by great South-African filmmaker Roger Michell (Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)). It's a funny comedy.

Related posts:
  
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 60 mil. $
= Big flop
[Morning Glory was released November 10 and runs 107 minutes. It was partially inspired by Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. It is the first film with Keaton and Ford and the second with McAdams and Keaton, following The Family Stone (2005). Michell had to convince McAdams to star in the film, because she didn't think of herself as funny. Filming took place in New York and New Jersey from May - August 2009. The film opened #5 to a 9.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, (behind Megamind, Unstoppable, Due Date and Skyline), where it grossed 31 mil. $ (51.7 % of the total gross). It fell out of the top 5 (to #6) in its second week. The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 5.8 mil. $ (9.7 %) and Russia with 3.1 mil. $ (5.2 %). Morning Glory is rotten at 56 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Morning Glory?

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Snyder's great remake of Romero's classic

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+ Best Gore Movie of the Year  + Best Remake of the Year + Best Zombie Movie of the Year

The grisly poster for Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

QUICK REVIEW:

A society is struck by a sudden zombie attack, and a group of survivors arrive at a mall, where they find shelter under a fascistic mall cop.

Dawn of the Dead is the outstanding remake of master filmmaker George R. Romero's classic masterpiece Dawn of the Dead (1978). Debuting Wisconsinite master filmmaker Zack Snyder (300 (2006)) makes the material very much his own and only retains from the original that it's about zombies and a group of survivors, who seek refuge in a mall, a famous line and three cameos of actors from the original.
The new cast is solid and includes Sarah Polley (Splice (2009)), Ty Burrell (The Skeleton Twins (2014)), Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile (2002)), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)) and Kevin Zegers (Transamerica (2005)), - the latter adorning the screen beautifully, giving the zombie grossness a welcomed contrast.
Dawn has a Johnny Cash-fueled opening, gruesome, now super-fast zombies and style to boot. It doesn't equal the original in terms of ingenuity and societal commentary but it is a very good and entertaining, brutal time at the movies.
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)) wrote the script, with Scott Frank (Minority Report (2002)) and Michael Tolkin (Nine (2009)) contributing an uncredited rewrite.

Related posts:

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death! 

In lieu of a trailer, not currently on Youtube, here is the awesome first 2½ minutes of the film, in which the stage is effectively set with a mix of stock footage, sound effects and Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around. - This is from an Italian version of the film, so pay no heed to the Italian dub

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 102.4 mil. $
= Big hit
[Dawn of the Dead was released March 19 and runs 100 minutes. Most of the film was shot on location in Ontario, Canada, including in a defunct mall. The boat and island scenes were shot as an answer to unsatisfied test responses to the suddenness of the original ending. The film opened #1 to a 26.7 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 59 mil. $ (57.6 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 10 mil. $ (9.8 %) and Japan with 4.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Dawn of the Dead is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Dawn of the Dead?
Other very good horror remakes in your opinion?