The Player (1992 Robert Altman)

Won BAFTAs (and Oscar nominations) for Michael Tolkin's script (adapted from his own novel) and Altman. A mighty subtle and intelligent film, it almost begins with self-analysis - it pitches itself as a satirical comedy thriller romance, and whilst in the middle of its long and famous tracking shot talks about 'films being like MTV - cut cut cut'! - and ends up being a film of itself. And the lesson is that the top creative types in Hollywood are murderous bastards, and the product is crap ('No name actors' indeed!)

When not endlessly roaming around, Jean Lépine's camera is zooming in, as Altman is always doing. And Thomas Newman's music has a sort of Japanese bounce, which reflects in some of the subtext (now they'd be wooing the Chinese.) Notice how all the posters are (commenting on the action, and) none newer than the forties, as though to say 'Good films weren't made after that'.

Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James (studio head), Cynthia Stevenson (the only one with any integrity), Vincent D'Onofrio (angry writer), Dean Stockwell, Richard E Grant, Sydney Pollack, Lyle Lovett, Dina Merrill and Angela Hall (secretaries) and Jeremy Piven. Plus a mass of guest stars from Lemmon to Cusack.

Many of the pitch ideas are hilarious, as is Goldberg unsettling Robbins with a tampon.