ACTORS
Almost all movies have actors. But are there any good movies about actors? Well, yes!
Looking For Richard (1996) was a labor of love for director-actor Al Pacino, and we are the grateful recipients of his dedication. This wonderful film features an actor’s dissection of each scene of Shakespeare’s darkly beautiful Richard III. Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, and many more, are on hand to provide a marvelous viewing of the play on film, which could only have been made by a consummate actor. 
Vanya On 42d Street (1994) is director Louis Malle’s original take on Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, in which the actors rehearsing that play somehow become the characters right before your eyes. Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory and Julianne Moore (almost ten years before her Oscar in The Hours) provide a fascinating glimpse of what actors do and how it affects them- and us.
One of the best films ever made about acting and actors is the oldest in this article. In A Double Life (1947), Ronald Coleman finally becomes the character he is playing, much to the despair of his family and friends in real life. This still-convincing film shows how actors can go over the edge. Many professional actors have said that this movie is very perceptive about their craft.
The actor in The Dresser (1983) is the superb Albert Finney and the title character is his jack-of-all-trades lackey Tom Courtenay. The actor’s every whim is satisfied by the dresser, who seems to exist only to appease his master. There is a scene where the aging actor commands a rushing train to stop that is unforgettable, as 
are the performances of the two principals.
Topsy-Turvy (2000) is much, much more than a biopic of operetta composers Gilbert & Sullivan. It takes us behind the scenes as no other film has quite done and shows us the world of producers, directors, writers and actors. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner are very good as the writers of famous plays. But the story of, and performance of, Timothy Spall as the Mikado, is simply memorable. 
A TV movie called Who Am I This Time? (1982) was right on the money in showing how the line between an actor’s part and his real life can begin to blur in disturbing ways. A very young Christopher Walken is the chameleon-like actor and Susan Sarandon his confused friend.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD, and all are for grown-ups.