Best Movies Like Babylon That Skews Hollywood – CNET – ApparelGeek

Babylon has finally arrived, transported to theaters on a magical cloud of stardust and cocaine. The last of Damien Chazelle, Babylon promises to be a different vision of Hollywood in the age of silence: a giddy, debauched free-for-all populated by degenerates and crazed geniuses, an anarchic frontier town in the days before the arrival of walkie-talkies and financial interests that have gentrified the place. Snake fights, golden showers, amphetamines sold as snack foods – The artistit’s not.

Despite a rather austere second act, Babylon ends up something like a love letter to Hollywood, albeit written on a cocktail napkin with indescribable stains. But he still finds time to break into the brilliant, idealistic fairy tale of Tinseltown, with both its manic first half and its death march of a second half. If you enjoyed watching this three-hour film, it’s worth taking a look at these other films which, with more or less seriousness and affection, sting the image that Hollywood has built for itself of himself.

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Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Both film noir and black comedy, with a hint of gothic horror, sunset boulevard is unforgettable from the first image. The corpse of hack writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) floating face down in a pool, describes his death. It details a partnership — and ultimately a bizarre romance — with faded silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), who roams her decrepit mansion as Miss Havisham, plotting a triumphant return to glory that will never come. At first, he thinks he’s just pleasing a cheeky rich old woman; soon, however, he learns that Norma won’t give up on her dream — or her new pet writer — so easily. Despite his biting cynicism towards Hollywood, sunset boulevard shows a sincere appreciation for Swanson’s era of silence, meta-casting and Eric von Stroheim at a hilarious and uncomfortable moment where Norma tries to seduce Joe as Charlie Chaplin. The case may be ugly, but the films themselves are beautiful – no wonder Norma dissolves into celluloid at the end, lost in the dream.

Let’s Sing in the Rain (1952)

While Sing in the rain doesn’t have as many pissing scenes as Babylon, this is arguably its closest plot antecedent. Together, as Babylonto the transition between silent and talking, Sing in the rain is the story of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), a movie star who should now be doing more than tap dancing. Both films detail the premiere of The jazz singerand both feature coarse starlets (John Hagen and Margot Robbie) who can no longer hide their nasal megaphone from a voice. But as he plays with studio-mandated relationships, the overacting of silent movies, and Don’s eternal, elusive quest for dignity, Sing in the rain is mostly sweet; it’s effervescent and invigorating, as light on its feet as Kelly prancing through puddles of rain. No wonder the recent Sight and sound has it as his tenth best film of all time.

The Day of the Cricket (1974)

Image via Paramount Pictures

In the distance, far the other end of the idealistic spectrum is grasshopper day, which is perhaps the most caustic Hollywood satire ever made. According to the novel by Nathanael West, locust populates his Depression-era Los Angeles with a familiar collection of misfits: Burgess Meredithit’s a failed vaudevillian, Karen Blacksuperficial social climber and a truly evil little boy played by a young Jackie Earl Haley. But rather than taking lazy hits on soft targets, locust pities and empathizes with its desperate and desperate cast, who have “came to California to die.” When the film reaches its fiery, apocalyptic climax, it doesn’t look like the divine punishment its title alludes to; instead, it feels inevitable, as if Hollywood is a mass illusion waiting for an excuse to return to chaos.

Barton Fink (1991)

John Turturro as Barton Fink acting in the middle of a crowd in Barton Fink
Image via 20th Century Fox

“Nobody knows anything” William Goldman once said to work in Hollywood, and Barton Fink captures this unknowing as effectively as any film ever made. the Coen Brothers‘ a genre-defying art deco fever dream follows the titular Barton Fink (John Turturro) as he tries to do as a screenwriter; he rushes around Hollywood and into the bowels of his decaying hotel as he is beset by argumentative executives, a drunken literary legend and a serial killer. He’s lost, just like the people he meets while trying to write a screenplay. the difference is that the others are louder and therefore able to give the impression that they know what they are doing. It’s often funny in the Coen way, but the prevailing mood is one of growing dread: peeling wallpaper, a distant attack on Pearl Harbor and the feeling that by choosing Hollywood, Fink has stepped into a maze from which he can never hope to escape. .

The Gambler (1992)

Tim Robbins as Griffin Mill sitting on a couch in The Player
Image via thin lines

It doesn’t get much more Hollywood than that. The player is a film about how Hollywood is a self-congratulatory, culturally inert pit of vipers, featuring cameos from dozens of famous actors and producers happily fucking each other, which ended up putting Robert Altmancareer got back on track after the failure of popeye. His success may be due to his slightly cynical tone that goes down like a poisoned martini; perhaps it’s due to Altman’s steady hand at the helm; perhaps this is Tim Robin‘ winning performance as a Hollywood executive who gets everything he ever wanted after murdering a screenwriter. Or maybe it’s because, despite everything, it’s a pretty mild satire, written knowing that the real Hollywood is so much worse.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Naomi Watts as Betty Elms talking to Laura Harring as Rita in 'Mulholland Drive'
Picture via Universal Pictures

David Lynch described Mulholland Drive like “a love story in the city of dreams” – and it is not do not this, centering on the growing closeness between budding actress Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) and an amnesiac who calls herself Rita (Laura Harring). But it is also the story of a director (Justin Theroux) whose film is entwined with forces beyond his knowledge; a story about a spooky club in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles; a story about some…thing looking like a smiling homeless man giving a man a heart attack behind a restaurant; and, most likely, a story about the literal dream of a woman in difficulty. Whatever the blue key or the word “Silencio” means, this is a film that embraces all that is weird and sinister about the Dreaming City in a way that only David Lynch can manage.

For Your Consideration (2006)

Catherine O'Hara as Marilyn Hack in For Your Consideration
Image via Warner Independent Pictures

Deviating from its typical mockumentary format, Christopher Guest looks at the undignified practice of the awards campaign – that is, making numerous press appearances and other behind-the-scenes maneuvers in order to be nominated (or win) an award. For your consideration can be sourer than easygoing and feel-good movies like Best of Show or A mighty windbut there are still laughs to be found as the cast of a melodramatic piece of Oscar bait, House for Purim, sell for a price. (In a beautiful irony, Catherine O’Hara was herself briefly in the talk of the awards for her performance as character actress Marilyn Hack.)

Thunder in the Tropics (2008)

Tom Cruise as Les Grossman avoiding Matthew McConaughey as Pecker in Tropic Thunder
Image via DreamWorks Pictures

Yes, Robert Downey Jr. in blackface is still problematic, even though there is an in-universe explanation for it. And yes, Tom CruiseThe lopsided producer Les Grossman’s stage turn is (slightly) less funny now that we know more about his real-life inspirations, Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin. But Thunder in the tropicsLaughs, no matter how broad, land because they ring true. How many Oscar bait pieces have been compared to single jack in the years since Thunder in the tropics? How many extreme method stories seem to have been pulled from Kirk Lazarus’ playbook? Do we honestly think that Scott Rudin would not sell a movie star to a foreign terrorist cell for insurance money? It’s the best kind of big, wide studio comedy, the one that’s become increasingly and sadly rare as mid-budget films become an endangered species.

Maps to the Stars (2014)

On paper, David Cronenberg sounds like an odd choice to direct a Hollywood satire. Even when he takes a break from body horror, he favors heavy, sometimes esoteric subjects, such as psychoanalysis or Don DeLillo adaptations – it would be weird if he just snapped cheap shots of vain starlets and bratty child stars. But fortunately, Maps to the stars is much stranger than that: it’s a bizarre, haunting tale of generational trauma and mental illness, populated by pillboxers and arsonists. It’s not a subtle film, but thanks to Cronenberg’s exacting vision – and a gonzo performance by Julianne Moore – it’s not one you’ll be getting rid of anytime soon.

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Best Movies Like Babylon That Skews Hollywood – CNET – ApparelGeek


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