Dear Mr. Smithee: Since recently signing a contract with one of the DVD rental companies, I have been using it to better myself and my film knowledge. Lately I have been concentrating on one actor, Sigourney Weaver. How can one of her movies which I had not heard of ("Snow Cake") be so charming as well as unknown?
And can you recommend a few actors who you think have a wonderful catalog, along with some picks for me to try?
DUSTY HAVERTY, Marietta, Ga.
Dear A Better You: Good choice. Soliciting my advice is always preferred over stumbling about in the dark and fumbling through stacks of DVDs with no clear mission and, worse, unrefined tastes.
I, too, am a Sigourney Weaver fan. Here's hoping you have seen these: "Alien," "Eyewitness," "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Aliens," "Gorillas in the Mist," "Working Girl," "Death and the Maiden" and "The Ice Storm." Maybe "Tadpole," too.
As so many of us are aware, one must be diligent because Hollywood is most interested in creating, promoting, advertising and inundating the public with what could be called junk. I believe "Snow Cake" had too much thought in it to be appropriate for the masses.
As for your kind request for other actors and their works you might want to explore to further your well-being, I might suggest these, for starters:
• Ryan Gosling: "The Believer," "The United States of Leland," "Stay," "Half Nelson," "Lars and the Real Girl."