You know you're in for a ride when an elephant poops on the camera lens within the first 10 minutes of a three-hour prestige piece. That's not even the most outrageous thing that occurs in the opening moments of "Babylon," writer/director Damien Chazelle's baroque (make that go for broke ) ode to the debauchery and excess that characterized Hollywood as it transitioned from silent cinema to "talkies" in the late 1920s. Indeed, anyone with so much as a passing interest in filmmaking history would do well to check out (or rewatch) Chazelle's costly 2022 flop when it heads to Netflix on December 7, 2025. As for everyone else? Well, keep reading.

While "Babylon" centers on a group of fictional individuals, it's heavily informed by the real-life history of Tinseltown. Brad Pitt, for instanc

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