One of the best sim games of all time, The Movies delivers on every front.
In The Movies, you take control of a studio in the early 1920's and get to run every aspect of it, from the movie stars and directors to the janitors and repairmen. The glorious aspect of The Movies is that you get to control everything in the movies that you do, and when I say everything I mean everything, from camera angles to score to actors. The gameplay is sublime and is easy to understand (the tutorial is very helpful). The micro-management of your stars can get a bit hectic at times, because you also need to control all the facets of your studio, from the aesthetics to the salaries to the movie making. But everything is done so well that you won't ever complain.
The graphics in the game seemed a bit choppy to me and are not the best out there, but let's face it, you won't buy this game for it's graphics. The sounds are pretty good, except for the language spoken in the movies, which seems like a really bad imitation of Simlish.
It is really easy to pick up and play this game, with all the help bubbles that pop up throughout the game, but the tutorial is there to help you and blends into the actual game very well. I haven't played the sandbox mode in The Movies, so I will not comment on it.
All in all, The Movies is a great game for flick fanatics out there and can be enjoyed over and over again. I recommend it strongly.