What to stream: Films that make Tinsel Town one of the stars
Published in Entertainment News
“Minions & Monsters” might be the latest installment in the “Minions” franchise, but it also enters another pantheon — the Hollywood movie. It’s both a love letter and light critique, like many of the others in this category, and it references several of those films, including “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Babylon” and other classic films like “Citizen Kane,” and Hollywood actors like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Humphrey Bogart.
So if you’re in the movie for more Hollywood, here’s where to stream the best of this genre, from outright tributes to the biz, to more harrowing cautionary tales. It may just enhance your viewing of “Minions & Monsters.”
Of course, you can’t miss Damien Chazelle’s epic, misunderstood “Babylon” from 2022, a Lynchian descent into early Hollywood madness set during the transition to sound. Some consider “Babylon” a masterpiece, others think it a mess, but it’s worth talking about anyway. Starring Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and a host of Hollywood elite, “Babylon” is streaming on Paramount+.
Specifically referenced in “Minions & Monsters,” “Singin’ in the Rain” is one of the most classic and enduring films about Hollywood, made in 1952, just 20 or so years after the era it depicts (the transition to sound). Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor star in this musical about actors navigating this turbulent era. It’s always worth a watch or rewatch. Stream it on HBO Max.
Just two years prior, Billy Wilder delivered his own Hollywood autopsy with the classic “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Gloria Swanson. It’s the classic tale of someone reliving the golden days, and someone who thinks they just missed them, as a young screenwriter collides with an aging screen siren. The film is a sharp, fresh and fun as anything made today and feels decidedly modern. It’s always worth taking a trip down “Sunset Boulevard.” Stream it on Kanopy or rent on other digital platforms.
The Coen brothers have made not one but two Hollywood movies, in 1991 with the blackly comic thriller “Barton Fink,” about a screenwriter who finds himself in Hollywood in the 1940s, and in 2016 with “Hail, Caesar!” a comedic send up of the 1940s Hollywood studio system. Rent both on all digital platforms.
Robert Altman’s “The Player,” written by Michael Tolkin and adapted from his novel, takes on the Hollywood of the early 1990s, in this dark comedy thriller satire of the world, starring Tim Robbins as a morally compromised studio executive. It’s also the blueprint for Seth Rogen’s lauded Apple TV series “The Studio.” Stream “The Player” on the Criterion Channel or HBO Max.
Director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman tackled their Hollywood experiences in the absurdist, meta “Adaptation,” starring Nicolas Cage in a dual role as twin screenwriters, and Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean, the real-life writer of the article that Cage’s character is struggling to adapt. Brilliant, sharp and funny, “Adaptation” is a must watch. Rent it on all platforms.
Tim Burton also tackled Hollywood and its history with his 1994 film “Ed Wood,” about the famously bad cult 1950s filmmaker, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Johnny Depp stars as Ed Wood. Rent it on all digital platforms.
Finally, the French film “The Artist” swept the Oscars upon its release in 2011, with Jean Dujardin starring as a classic silent movie star in the film written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius. This is a pure love letter. See if it holds up and stream “The Artist” on Kanopy, Tubi, and the Roku Channel.
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