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 an irresistible facility, and Willem Dafoe is poignant, repulsive and humorous as the actor who works only during the night– however the film-makers blot their copybook by illustrating Murnau, film-making genius, as a talentless hack.John Malkovichand Willem Dafoe as FW Murnau and Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire. Photograph: Saturn Films/BBC Films/Allstar
19. The Stunt Male (1980 )
A fugitive Vietnam war veteran blunders 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 smart dramedy pioneers the sort of reality-bending circumstance that would become all the rage twenty years later.18.
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962 )
A washed-up American star (Kirk Douglas) gets a shot at redemption on a movie being contended Cinecittà studios outside Rome in Vincente Minnelli’s splendidly overripe melodrama. Highlights include Douglas acting terribly in clubs and an intense drunk-driving scene with Cyd Charisse shrieking in the traveler seat of his Maserati.17.
Through the Olive Trees (1994 )
Abbas Kiarostami’s account of a film crew shooting a film in an earthquake-torn Iranian town is a subtle charmer. There’s a lot of gentle humour as a stonemason turned star fails to woo his leading woman, while the non-professional entertainers keep objecting to dialogue 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 views Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) viewing herself on screen. Loses points for its rude representation of Bruce Lee.15.
Bowfinger (1999 )
Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger. Photo: Universal/Allstar
Steve Martin plays a grade-z film-maker shooting a science fiction motion picture around a paranoid action star (Eddie Murphy) who doesn’t know he is being recorded, and assumes the unusual events around him are an alien conspiracy. Murphy also plays a goofy lookalike fooled into stumbling upon a hectic freeway. Funny gold!
14. The Gamer (1992 )
After years out of the mainstream, Robert Altman picked up with Michael Tolkin’s adjustment of his own novel about a studio executive (Tim Robbins) who murders a screenwriter. However forget the plot, and get a load of the star cameos and in-jokes in a lively deconstruction of Hollywood cliches.13.
The Big Image (1989 )
Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon in The Big Photo. Photograph: Aspen Movie Society/Allstar
Christopher Visitor’s directing debut was this wonderful satire about an optimistic movie graduate (Kevin Bacon) whose treasured Bergman-esque task is changed by Hollywood into a crass teen pic. With incredibly 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 surpasses his acting and kung fu abilities. It resembles a reworking of Ed Wood, if just Wood’s movies had been box-office smashes. Wesley Snipes offers all of a sudden humorous assistance.11.
Millennium Starlet (2001 )
A documentarian interviews a reclusive film star (loosely based on Setsuko Hara) in Satoshi Kon’s elegant anime. As her memories weave in and out of reality, we review the history of 20th-century Japan through its film sets, amidst tributes to directors such as Yasujirō Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.10.
Hail, Caesar! (2016 )
“Would that it were so easy!” The Coen siblings parlay their love for timeless cinema into a day in the life of a studio “fixer” (Josh Brolin) who need to handle missing out on or miscast actors and bothersome pregnancies to keep the 50s Hollywood dream factory running efficiently. It’s send-up and homage, and Channing Tatum’s musical number is a knockout.9.
Contempt (1963 )
A playwright (Michel Piccoli in a Dean Martin hat) takes a trip to Capri to reword the Odyssey for the director Fritz Lang (playing himself), but his self-confidence is weakened when his wife (Brigitte Bardot) takes up with the producer (Jack Palance). Jean-Luc Godard’s iciest, most beautiful film is structured around a credibly disintegrating relationship, with a haunting rating by Georges Delerue.Steve Buscemi and James LeGros in Living in Oblivion.Photo: Columbia/Allstar 8. Residing 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 delicious ode to indie film-making:
invasive microphones, blowing up lights, defiant stars of little stature. James LeGros is invaluable as the self-obsessed leading man, whom DiCillo rejects was designed on the star of his directing launching– Brad Pitt.7. One Cut of the Dead(2017 )Shin’ ichirô Ueda’s funny, which took 1,000 times its microbudget at the box office, starts with cast and crew of a zombie pic assaulted by real zombies, all shot in a single take.
A flashback to the job’s origins is
just slightly fascinating, however stick with it for a 3rd act that unfurls into a marvelous event of bargain-basement film-making.6. Ed Wood(1994)Tim Burton’s wholehearted biopic stars Johnny Depp as the man once 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 an amusing, bittersweet study of film-making turning a lot of misfits into an alternative family, with an Oscar-winning performance from Martin Landau as washed-up scary star Bela Lugosi.5. Sullivan’s Journeys(1941)Joel McCrea plays a director of slapstick comedies who gets more than he planned on when he poses as a hobo to research human suffering for a serious drama. Preston Sturges dips into some very dark locations as he asks:” Why make social realism when you can make people laugh?”but his own film is a masterclass in merging comedy and tragedy.Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in
The Bad and the Beautiful. Picture: MGM/Allstar 4. The Bad and the Beautiful(1952 )Kirk Douglas plays an Oscar-winning manufacturer whose prepared return hits the skids when previous partners refuse to work with him. Vincent Minnelli’s tempting slice of Hollywood-on-Hollywood reveals us the reasons in flashbacks, including Penis Powell as The Author, Barry Sullivan
as The Director, and Lana Turner as The Actress who has a world-class hysterical fit in
ballgown and furs.3. Day for Night (1973 )
François Truffaut plays the beleaguered director of a ropey romantic drama being recorded in the south of France in his own semi-autobiographical billet doux to the movie theater and individuals who make it. Recalcitrant kitties, luvvie tantrums and forgetful queens are simply some of the problems 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 during the switchover from silents to talking photos. Gene Kelly( who co-directed )plays a film star smitten by the ingenue( Debbie Reynolds )worked with to dub his co-star’s irritating voice. Donald O’Connor adds the wall in Make ’em Laugh, Cyd Charisse shows her unlimited legs, and Kelly performs the splashiest dance in cinema history.1. 8
1/2(1963)Marcello Mastroianni plays a director who doesn’t have an idea what his next movie has to do with, though his manufacturers have already developed him a huge rocket ship set. Federico Fellini stirs dreams, memories and European cinema’s most incredible females into the ultimate plan for auteurs itching to put their own lives up on screen. Many have copied, however no one has done it rather as beautifully.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/15/movies-about-movies-ranked