Meta Cinema

What is 'meta?' Technically, by explaining what 'meta' is, I am being 'meta.' Confused yet? Good.
Essentially, Meta Cinema is the art of addressing the genre of film in the genre of film. There are numerous ways to do this, be them in a comedic manner or a dramatic one. It usually the former though. I'll give you a basic run-down by category.

Kind of Meta

Blade: When our hero says that all of the stuff you saw in vampire movies is bull-crap.
Robin Hood: Men in Tights: The exchange of "A black sheriff?" and "Hey, it worked in 'Blazing Saddles."

Pretty Meta

Scream: The whole film hinges on the idea that people can be aware of slasher film cliches. The problem is that most of them don't believe it and die in the same ways. It is mainly due to one character who continues his explaining ways in Scream 2 and how the ante is upped in Part 2 of a slasher film.
Killer Tomatoes Eat France: While trying to escape from the villain, our hero learns that he has no way out. He does this by reading the screenplay. Shocked that he is written to die, he gets mad and storms off of the set. Wait, what? The movie goes on and adapts for this change somehow though.

Very Meta

Adaptation: Charlie Kauffman's movie is about Charlie and his fictional brother Donald trying to adapt a book about a woman and her love for an orchid grower into a screenplay. So he begins to just make up a whole story about a criminal affair between the two. He gets caught while stalking them and they try to kill him. As a bonus, this nearly won a Best Adapted Screenplay for both Charlie and Donald.
Return of the Killer Tomatoes: At the mid-point of the film, a scene stops when the director announces that they have run out of money. What follows is an overt commercial with George Clooney- the star- and the director in a fake mustache. They shill everything from Pepsi to Malt Liquor. The scene stops a couple minutes later and the plot moves on. Okay.

'Holy S#!^,' That is Meta

Silent Movie: Mel Brook's movie is about Mel Brooks trying to make a silent film in the 1970s. The movie is in black-and-white and has no sound. Throughout the film, he tries to recruit big stars like James Caan to be in a silent movie. Only one line of dialogue is delivered- by famous mime Marcel Marceau.
Special Effects: The film is about a director making a movie about a girl's murder. The thing is, he committed it and framed the ex-boyfriend. So he casts the guy as himself in the story- naturally! At one point, the director bribes a cop by offering him a producer's credit. At the end of the film, the fictional cop's name pops as the Producer. Damn!

That's the whole thing in nutshell. Don't you feel smarter now? I know that I do.

Stay tuned, loyal viewers...