Top 5 L.A. Movies

These films celebrate the greatest city in the world: Los Angeles. These stories can take place nowhere else, and the city itself becomes a sort of character.

5. MI VIDA LOCA

Mi Vida Loca is especially noteworthy for showing the neighborhood of Echo Park in the early 90s, when it was one of the most violent gang areas in the city. Echo Park has since been fully gentrified, and if you go there today, you're more likely to find bearded hipsters than the characters in this movie.

The acting isn't great, due in large part to the casting of new unknown actors, and actual neighborhood gang members, but Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, and Jason Lee are all seen in early film roles.

The film honestly and poignantly portrays gang life, and L.A. Chicano culture, especially from the female perspective.






4. SUNSET BLVD. 

 Arguably the best film from legendary director Billy Wilder, pays tribute to two eras of Hollywood: the studio factory system of the 50s, and the crumbling bygone silent era of the 20s.

The film begins with Bill Holden's character floating dead in a swimming pool, and narrating from beyond the grave, he tells the story of his death at the hands of Norma Desmond, a deranged, obsessive fading silent star played masterfully by Gloria Swanson.

The film received eleven Oscar nominations, and won three: screenplay, art direction, and music.



3. BOOGIE NIGHTS

Boogie Nights is a film that, along with thousands of porno movies, wouldn't exist without the San Fernando Valley. It's an area rarely shown, and even more rarely celebrated in films other than those of P.T. Anderson.

The film helped launch the careers of many great actors, including Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as well as gave a resurgence to aging veteran Burt Reynolds.

Anderson himself was launched into the forefront of filmmakers with this, only his second feature, and has since become one of the distinct voices in cinema.

Boogie Nights received three Oscar nominations, including one for Reynolds, but didn't win any awards.



2. CHINATOWN

One of the most important figures in the history of Los Angeles is William Mulholland, the water superintendent who brought water from the Sierras to a thirsty city.

Though Mulholland isn't a direct character in the film, Noah Cross, and Hollis Mulwray both exhibit traits of the man who made the desert bloom. The film's plot itself has a great deal to do with the siphoning of water from farmlands for the growing city, and the hostilities that occurred, which is largely historically accurate.

Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston highlight an amazing cast, which includes an appearance b y director Roman Polanski as a smarmy hoodlum.

Screenwriter Robert Town received the only win for eleven Oscar nominations, but is #85 on imdb.com's Top 250, and is # 21 on the AFI's Top 100 films of all time.

1. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL

L.A. Confidential is a thorough portrait of 1950s Los Angeles. It shows the city to be a brutal, corrupt place, but also a city of angels and heroes.

The acting is top-notch, with performances from Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Danny Devito, Kevin Spacey, and Kim Basinger in an Oscar winning role.

The film is masterfully adapted from James Ellroy's incredibly dense novel, garnering L.A. Confidential an adapted screenplay Oscar.

There were only two wins for L.A. Confidential, but it was nominated for another seven Oscars, including best picture, and best director for Curtis Hanson.