2 Adaptation (2002)Mindbending screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is behind the story of a screenwriter called Charlie Kaufman (played by Nicolas Cage) struggling to turn a magazine piece about orchid-collecting into a movie. Brian Cox t
urns up as Brian McKee, the influential real-life screenwriting guru who's the reason so many Hollywood movies have such a similar three-act structure.
3 Last Action Hero (1993)A movie-obsessed kid is sucked into the wham-blam hyper-reality of beefcake action star Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). But when Slater lands back in the real world, movie rules don't apply, so punching out a car window means a sore hand.
4 The Player (1992)Robert Altman's freewheeling tale about a venal Hollywood agent (Tim Robbins, above) drawn into a murder mystery is really just an excuse to spot dozens of real-life stars playing themselves. Hey Bruce!
5 Living In Oblivion (1995)If making independent films is anything like Living In Oblivion – starring Steve Buscemi as an exasperated director on a no-budget movie – it's a wonder they get made at all.
6 Baadasssss! (2003)Mario Van Peebles started in the movie business early, cast in his father Melvin's 1971 blaxploitation landmark Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. This movie – about the making of that movie – sees Mario playing Melvin against a gritty evocation of the era.
7 Get Shorty (1995)The joke at the heart of this Elmore Leonard adaptation is that Hollywood is full of crooks in suits, so who better to become a mogul than a real-life Mob enforcer (John Travolta) with a true love of the medium? Luckily, it's a good joke.
8 For Your Consideration (2006)Oscar buzz for your film is a good thing, yes? Not in Christopher Guest's squirmy faux-documentary, when early awards hype surrounding serious-minded drama Home For Purim derails the entire film-making process.
9 The Aviator (2005)Talking of the Academy, Martin Scorsese wooed voters with his muscular Howard Hughes biopic, and while he missed out on the directing Oscar, Cate Blanchett (above) bagged Best Supporting Actress for her turn as Katharine Hepburn.
10 Ed Wood (1994)Tim Burton's love letter to the plucky director of terrible movies looks luminous in black and white, and while Johnny Depp is terrific as the cheerfully deluded Wood, Martin Landau is even better as fading horror icon Bela Lugosi.
The full article contains 465 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
