Hollywood makes films about itself more honestly than it makes them about anything else. This tag collects reviews and essays on the studio system, the business behind the picture, and the films that turned the camera on the industry.
2010sSeptember 11, 2026
Judy (2019) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Renee Zellweger won Best Actress for a technically accomplished transformation inside a film that exists to contain it, covering Judy Garland's five-week London run five months before her death.
1950sSeptember 11, 2026
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. DeMille filmed the Ringling Brothers circus for two and a half hours, wrapped it in a love triangle nobody remembers, and it beat High Noon.…
2020sSeptember 11, 2026
Babylon (2022) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. It does not belong on a page called Modern Movie Slop and I am reviewing it here because that is where it was ranked. It is a three-hour failure…
2000sSeptember 10, 2026
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) rates 2 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A hundred million dollars was spent on a lunar nightclub comedy that took about four and a half million worldwide, which is among the worst…
1980sSeptember 10, 2026
Heaven's Gate (1980) rates 6 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Cimino shot two hundred and twenty hours of film for forty-four million dollars, took three and a half million at the box office, and ended the era that…
2020sSeptember 7, 2026
Warner Bros. finished Coyote vs. Acme, shelved it for a tax write-off, and refused to sell it at a sane price for eighteen months. Ketchup Entertainment released it anyway, and the film is holding three weekends deep. Rated 9 out…
Author PlatformJune 18, 2026
UCLA's 2026 Hollywood Diversity Report found that films reflecting the real makeup of the country earn the most, while the industry funded fewer of them in 2025, with people of color and women losing ground as leads, directors, and writers…
1950sMay 19, 2026
The genre's late masterpiece. Touch of Evil is Orson Welles's 1958 American film noir adapting Whit Masterson's 1956 novel Badge of Evil.
1930sMay 19, 2026
Curtiz's 1935 pirate film that launched both Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Blood escapes and becomes a pirate captain raiding Spanish vessels in the Caribbean before eventually serving King William III after the Glorious Revolution restores his civil rights.
1960sMay 19, 2026
Stanley Kubrick's 1960 Roman epic. Kirk Douglas as the slave revolt leader.
1930sMay 19, 2026
Curtiz-Keighley 1938 Technicolor swashbuckler. Errol Flynn defining swashbuckler.
1990sMay 19, 2026
Robert Altman's 1992 Hollywood satire. Tim Robbins as studio executive.
Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
Ready to discuss your book?
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATIONNo pitch. No pressure.
© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.
