It's a good thing we're the World and Indie Film Guides, because otherwise we'd have to recommend that cynical pagentry otherwise known as "Chicago." Instead, we're free to point you to a Jean-Pierre Melville remake, a strange Hollywood biography, and Michael Moore's rabble-rousing documentary "Bowling for Columbine."

1. Bowling for Columbine

Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary is a must-see. You don't have to love his on-screen persona or even his opinion, but his skills as filmmaker are first-rate. His contribution to the gun-control debate is funny, shocking, and insightful. Also availble this week is his first film, "Roger & Me."

2. The Kid Stays in the Picture

This biopic on Hollywood mega-producer Bob Evans ("Chinatown," "The Godfather," "Love Story") is an odd beast--it's narrated by Evans himself in best self-mythologizing West Coast sunny-boy style, and the curious footage and animation used to tell it only makes you more eager to seek out other sources in order to fill in the gaping holes in this story of money, sex, drugs, and movies.

3. Indiscretion of an American Wife/Terminal Station

Contrast and compare! The Criterion Collection follows up its Vittorio De Sica releases with this double-bill featuring two cuts of the same film. De Sica's "Terminal Station" was recut by American producer David O. Selznick as "Indiscretion of an American Wife." With Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift.

4. Home Movie

After the hilarious behind-the-scenes look at lowest-budget horror film makers in "American Movie," director Chris Smith is back with a look at five very strange homes, including a houseboat, a Hawaiian tree house, and a robot home straight of the "Jetsons."

5. The Good Thief

Neil Jordan's critically acclaimed remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's "Bob the Gambler" stars Nick Nolte.

6. I'm Going Home

Manoel de Oliveira's celebrated film stars Michel Piccoli as an aging French actor whose family is killed in a car crash.

7. The Trials of Henry Kissinger

Based on Christopher Hitchen's book, this film makes a convincing case against the former Secretary of State as war criminal for his involvement in Cambodia, Chile, East Timor, and elsewhere.