Spellbound! Eight super awkward early teens compete in the National Spelling Bee. Hilarious and awesome.

My favorite doc is still probably "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" about the virulent spread of these pests across Australia from their original importation to control an insect (which they never showed much interest in).

"Vernon, Florida" by Errol Morris is weird and hilarious. Everything Morris has done is brilliant.

Les Blank is another director with a long list of quirky documentaries, like "Gap-Toothed Women" and "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers".

My real favorite, though, is David Attenborough, whose series of nature documentaries for the BBC set the standard for the entire genre. The crew was inventing their own camera gear and techniques to get some of the mind-boggling shots. Favorite? "The Life of Birds". Absolutely absorbing stuff.

"Grey Gardens" -- the original documentary, not the dramatic HBO remake with Drew Barrymore -- might seem mild in this day of "Hoarders" episodes, but it's a penetrating look into a couple of disturbed people.

No, wait! My favorite is the series of "Up" movies made by Michael Apted, starting with "Seven-Up!" in 1964, and revisiting the same set of fourteen British schoolkids every seven years (56 Up should start filming later this year). The deterministic class element in their upbringing is a bit heavy-handed at times but it is an absolutely riveting cross-section of British society and human psychology.

Some of my favorites:

Ken Burns' "Civil War"
About the American Civil War, the film is about 11 hours long, I think? It covers a lot of ground: Battles, politics, slavery, how the people and landscape and really the entire country changed in radical ways. Shows the war from both the Union and Confederate sides (the segments with Tennessee historian Shelby Foote are priceless!) Great film.

"The King of Kong"
A guy trying to get into the Guinness book of world records for playing the video game Donkey Kong. Geeky, nerdy, interesting competition between rivals. Also has some very touching moments.

"This film is not yet rated"
About the American film industry's completely arbitrary and messed-up system of rating films. The filmmaker attempts to find out the secret identities of the film raters. Funny!

"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"
About illegal and legal drug use in professional sports, bodybuilding, and even use by symphony players. How the media and politics is skewing the issue in the wrong direction. Uncovers a lot of things people take for granted that are in reality, incorrect.

"Bowling for Columbine"
The only Michael Moore film that I thought was truly outstanding. Looks at the Columbine High School (in Littleton, Colorado) shootings and the United States' paranoia and rampant fear of everything, driven by the media.

"Koyaanisqatsi"
Hard to describe this film. There's no dialoge at all, only an awesome score by Philip Glass throughout the film. It sort of looks at how our lives are both overly structured and overly chaotic at the same time.

"Jesus Camp"
Looks at an evangelical christian camp for kids... looks more like North Korean brainwashing session. Frightening.

"Religulous"
Bill Maher's journey through America and other countries (some in the Middle East for sure, I can't remember where else he goes) just asking people about religion. Pretty funny if you like Bill Maher.

"Food, Inc."
About the United States food industry and how it's run. Not pretty. This film was ok to me, but reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" before sorta took all the punch out of the film... I'd read it all in the book.

"Super Size Me"
A guy devotes a month to eating nothing but McDonalds food. He measures his health along the way. Turns out fast food isn't so great for you. He also brings up a lot of things mentioned in Fast Food Nation, but this film is actually pretty funny.

There might be a ton more I've seen and loved that I'm forgetting, but this is a good list I think.

One documentary that I disliked was Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." I found it very dry and boring. More like a lecture than a film. Although he does raise some very good points.

I am also semi-hesitant to recommend "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." It was ok, and educational, and some parts are really good, but there are stretches of boring parts too, unfortunately.

Baraka (same people as Koyaanisqatsi), The Natural History of the Chicken (streaming on Netflix, odd but endearing), Encounters at the End of the World, Grizzly Man (last two both Herzog - also Burden of Dreams but I've never been able to find the one cut I liked again, the others were too long for me), Young@Heart (great), Blue Planet (esp. Frozen Seas, this is also David Attenborough), Birds Of Paradise (also David A.), I second everything of Errol Morris's, including his HBO show First Person (Dr. Temple Grandin! Before anyone knew who the hell she was!), and the UP series, and of course Planet Earth. And available online somewhere (vimeo?), My Penis and I and the sequel - My Penis and Everyone Else's. Brave man.

The Orphan Trains

PBS, The American Experience

There are many other worthy selections through them also.

The Up Series is the best. You can stream most of them from Netflix and 56 Up is due out in a few years, I think.

"Between the Folds" is a documentary about modern origami. It's an amazing story of how origami thrives in art and science all over the world.

Someone already mentioned this, Dark Days is good watch. Another one - War Photographer. Not sure this really qualifies but the Sigur Ros film Heima was a joy to watch on the big screen.

One of the best documentaries I've seen is 'Serbian Epics' d. Pawel Pawlikowski. I saw it on telly when it was screened as part of BBC2s Bookmark in 1992. Looks like it's going to be a documentary on poetry, turns into something else entirely.

Got here by surfing, don't know nothing about Seattle! Bye all!

The Corporation. Any National Geographic Explorer films. The first half of "Collapse" if you want to learn about the decrease in oil and it's possible effects on you. The second half of "Collapse" if you like a little conspiriacy.