Timothy Treadwell was quite a guy, a self appointed crusader and protector for the grizzly bears of Alaska, his commitment over thirteen summers was without doubt, though his motives and methods were perhaps more confused. What Herzog has created from Treadwell's copious footage is a stunning wildlife documentary in which the observer is as fascinating as his beloved subjects; in fact Treadwell is a perfect real life example of the damaged, obsessive characters in a number of Herzog's films, and find out more...

When shy dork Lars overcomes his problems by adopting a life-size doll as his girlfriend, the event is treated seriously, rather than derisively, in this distinctly odd small town American community. The doll is treated as a celebrity, asked to parties, offered jobs as a teacher, nurse and, more appropriately, as a clothes model, events that open up Lars's own social horizon. Despite his mental short comings he still attracts fellow office worker Margo and the two seem well suited to each oth find out more...

Adam Elliot's follow-up to his short opus 'Harvie Krumpet' is a tour-de-force of jaw-dropping animation, heart-wrenching beauty and exquisite sadness. Ostensibly, it's a tale of friendship between two pen pals; Mary, a lonely eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year-old obese man living in New York and suffering from Asperger's syndrome. The depth of pathos in their quasi-romantic exchanges becomes unbearable at times, but the expertly nuanced narrati find out more...

Michael Clayton is a 'fixer' working for one of New York's most prestigious corporate law firms, Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, where he takes care of the dirty laundry, handling anything from hit-and-runs, damaging stories in the press to shop-lifting wives and crooked politicians. Discontented and disillusioned with his career, a divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the job. So when a colleague suffers a psychological breakdown that threatens to s find out more...

Ran, Kurosawa's last great epic, is a Jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonj, an ageing Sengoku-era warlord who abdicates as ruler in favor of his three sons. His kingdom slowly disintegrates as the sons struggle for power, murdering rivals and laying waste to the land, and Hidetora goes insane after watching his retainers slaughtered in an epic massacre, the centrepiece of the film. As the kingdom crumbles and rival warlords move in for the kill, the Ichimonji find out more...

US comedian Bill Maher travels the world, with a metaphoric blunderbuss, to mock religious zealots by allowing them to spout quixotically outlandish pieces of madness/religion and to point out some of the logical absurdities in their beliefs. Some of the victims are purely nuts, but most represent the views of mainstream sects, only a Vatican priest really saves the day for God with a humourous scepticism about the whole nature of fundamentalism. The destinations include Jerusalem, the Vatican, find out more...

A disenchanted Vietnam vet becomes a New York taxi driver and lets the violence and squalor around him explode in his mind. One of the most atmospheric films ever made about urban alienation. Foster's first film and the one which almost resulted in Ronald Reagan's assassination when he was President - it must be good! find out more...

An artful documentary about the life of Daniel Johnson, singer/songwriter, artist, cartoonist and general artistic genius, but a man sadly afflicted with a severe mental illness that makes him totally self-delusional and an occasional danger to both himself and others. Daniel, raised in a Christian fundamentalist family in deepest West Virginia, amongst many of his fantasies, sees Devils everywhere, and with his overblown self-importance, not helped by his legions of admirers, vying with his low find out more...

A rising biz executive with a strong line in fantasy becomes a whistle-blower on his employers' price-fixing collusion in the supply of commercial livestock additive lysine. 3 years of secret work for the FBI takes its toll on his mental health and soon after the arrest of his co-employees Mark Whitacre himself is accused of being involved in fraud on a massive scale. Matt Damon gives the performance of his life portraying the bipolaric's meltdown. Excellent stuff. find out more...

Trevor Reznik is a tortured man, unbearably thin and experiencing the sort of sleep deprivation that makes your average insomniac seem narcoleptic, but life takes an even darker turn for the worse when his fatigue causes a gruesome accident at work. Soon after Reznik finds himself the focus of a ghostly apparition and a sinister scribbler but it is difficult to know if guilt and exhaustion have finally manifested themselves as full blown paranoia or whether his nightmare reality is genuine. The find out more...