20. Shadow of the Vampire (2000 )
What if Max Schreck, star of FW Murnau’s quiet timeless Nosferatu, actually had been a vampire? It’s a tempting property, and Willem Dafoe is poignant, repulsive and amusing as the star who works just during the night– however the film-makers blot their copybook by portraying Murnau, film-making genius, as a talentless hack.John Malkovichand Willem Dafoe as FW Murnau and Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire. Picture: Saturn Films/BBC Films/Allstar
19. The Stunt Guy (1980 )
A fugitive Vietnam war veteran mistakes on to a movie set, inadvertently kills a stuntman and is blackmailed by the megalomaniac director (Peter O’Toole) into taking the dead man’s location. Richard Rush’s creative dramedy leaders the sort of reality-bending circumstance that would end up being all the rage twenty years later on.18.
2 Weeks in Another Town (1962 )
A washed-up American star (Kirk Douglas) gets a shot at redemption on a film being shot at Cinecittà studios outside Rome in Vincente Minnelli’s splendidly overripe melodrama. Highlights consist of Douglas acting terribly in nightclubs and an intense drunk-driving scene with Cyd Charisse shrieking in the passenger seat of his Maserati.17.
Through the Olive Trees (1994 )
Abbas Kiarostami’s account of a movie crew shooting a movie in an earthquake-torn Iranian town is a subtle charmer. There’s a lot of mild humour as a stonemason turned actor fails to charm his leading woman, while the non-professional entertainers keep challenging discussion that does not tally with their own life experiences.16.
As soon as Upon a Time … in Hollywood (2019 )
When it’s not riffing on the Manson murders, Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to 1960s Hollywood hangs out with has-been action star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt), or sees Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) viewing herself on screen. Loses points for its ill-mannered representation of Bruce Lee.15.
Bowfinger (1999 )
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger. Picture: Universal/Allstar
Steve Martin plays a grade-z film-maker shooting a sci-fi movie around a paranoid action star (Eddie Murphy) who does not understand he is being recorded, and presumes the bizarre occasions around him are an alien conspiracy. Murphy likewise plays a wacky lookalike fooled into encountering a hectic freeway. Funny gold!
14. The Gamer (1992 )
After years out of the mainstream, Robert Altman made a comeback with Michael Tolkin’s adaptation of his own unique about a studio executive (Tim Robbins) who murders a film writer. But forget the plot, and get a load of the star cameos and in-jokes in a vibrant deconstruction of Hollywood cliches.13.
The Big Picture (1989 )
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon in The Huge Image. Photograph: Aspen Film Society/Allstar
Christopher Guest’s directing debut was this wonderful satire about an idealistic movie graduate (Kevin Bacon) whose treasured Bergman-esque project is transformed by Hollywood into a crass teen picture. With very support from Jennifer Jason Leigh as a fellow graduate, and Martin Short in a tour de force cameo as Bacon’s representative.12.
Dolemite Is My Name (2019 )
Eddie Murphy skilfully underplays his representation of 70s standup comedian, proto-rapper and blaxploitation star Rudy Ray Moore, whose talent for self-promotion trumps his acting and kung fu capabilities. It’s like a reworking of Ed Wood, if just Wood’s movies had actually been box-office smashes. Wesley Snipes provides suddenly humorous assistance.11.
Millennium Actress (2001 )
A documentarian interviews a reclusive movie star (loosely based on Setsuko Hara) in Satoshi Kon’s elegant anime. As her memories weave in and out of truth, we review the history of 20th-century Japan through its movie sets, in the middle of tributes to directors such as Yasujirō Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.10.
Hail, Caesar! (2016 )
“Would that it were so easy!” The Coen brothers parlay their love for timeless cinema into a day in the life of a studio “fixer” (Josh Brolin) who should deal with missing or miscast stars and inconvenient pregnancies to keep the 50s Hollywood dream factory running smoothly. It’s send-up and tribute, and Channing Tatum’s musical number is a knockout.9.
Contempt (1963 )
A playwright (Michel Piccoli in a Dean Martin hat) travels to Capri to reword the Odyssey for the director Fritz Lang (playing himself), but his self-confidence is weakened when his better half (Brigitte Bardot) takes up with the manufacturer (Jack Palance). Jean-Luc Godard’s iciest, most lovely movie is structured around a credibly disintegrating relationship, with a haunting rating by Georges Delerue.Steve Buscemi and James LeGros in Residing In Oblivion.Photograph: Columbia/Allstar 8. Living in Oblivion( 1995)Steve Buscemi plays a director for whom whatever fails on the set of his arty-farty New york city movie in Tom DiCillo’s tasty ode to indie film-making:
invasive microphones, exploding lamps, rebellious stars of small stature. James LeGros is invaluable as the self-obsessed leading guy, whom DiCillo denies was designed on the star of his directing debut– Brad Pitt.7. One Cut of the Dead(2017 )Shin’ ichirô Ueda’s funny, which took 1,000 times its microbudget at the box workplace, starts with cast and team of a zombie picture assaulted by genuine zombies, all shot in a single take.
A flashback to the job’s origins is
just mildly fascinating, but persevere for a 3rd act that unfurls into a remarkable event of bargain-basement film-making.6. Ed Wood(1994)Tim Burton’s heartfelt biopic stars Johnny Depp as the man as soon as dubbed the”worst director of all time “– unfairly so, considering that Wood’s low-budget monster movies are still amusing audiences 60 years later on.
It’s a funny, bittersweet study of film-making turning a lot of misfits into an alternative household, with an Oscar-winning efficiency from Martin Landau as washed-up scary star Bela Lugosi.5. Sullivan’s Journeys(1941)Joel McCrea plays a director of slapstick funnies who gets more than he anticipated when he poses as a hobo to research study human suffering for a major drama. Preston Sturges dips into some extremely dark locations as he asks:” Why make social realism when you can make individuals laugh?”but his own movie is a masterclass in merging funny and tragedy.Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in
The Bad and the Beautiful. Picture: MGM/Allstar 4. The Bad and the Gorgeous(1952 )Kirk Douglas plays an Oscar-winning producer whose planned resurgence strikes the skids when former collaborators decline to work with him. Vincente Minnelli’s tempting slice of Hollywood-on-Hollywood reveals us the reasons why in flashbacks, including Penis Powell as The Author, Barry Sullivan
as The Director, and Lana Turner as The Actress who has a first-rate hysterical fit in
ballgown and furs.3. Day for Night (1973 )
François Truffaut plays the beleaguered director of a ropey romantic drama being shot in the south of France in his own semi-autobiographical billet doux to the cinema and the people who make it. Recalcitrant kittycats, luvvie tantrums and absent-minded queens are just a few of the issues gave episodic life by a star-studded cast led by Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud.2. Singin’in the Rain(1952 )Donald O’Connor and Gene Kelly
as Cosmo Brown and Don Lockwood in
Singin’in the Rain. Photo: MGM/Allstar Stanley Donen’s evergreen Hollywood musical is set throughout the switchover from silents to talking images. Gene Kelly( who co-directed )plays a movie star smitten by the ingenue( Debbie Reynolds )hired to call his co-star’s annoying voice. Donald O’Connor adds the wall in Make ’em Laugh, Cyd Charisse shows her endless legs, and Kelly carries out the splashiest dance in movie theater history.1. 8
1/2(1963)Marcello Mastroianni plays a director who does not have a clue what his next movie has to do with, though his manufacturers have actually already built him a huge rocket ship set. Federico Fellini stirs dreams, memories and European cinema’s most amazing females into the ultimate plan for auteurs itching to put their own lives up on screen. Numerous have actually copied, however no one has done it rather as beautifully.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/15/movies-about-movies-ranked