When a self-sufficient, irreversible, impossibly advanced malware (dubbed Stuxnet from key pieces of its code) was determined as the cause of sabotage at an Iranian Nuclear Plant in 2010, it was traced back as the product of a joint partnership between the U.S. and the Israelis, the latter of whom's overeagerness to thwart their enemy would lead to a global unleashing of the deadly cyber virus. As told by tight lipped government officials and an unidentified source from within the NSA, Zero Days is yet another profound examination from Alex Gibney, here playing like a solid thriller, building slowly than terrifyingly, while delivering its concise message.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, an inquest in to the life and enigma of the Apple prodigy, is ultimately a disappointment for prolific documentarian Alex Gibney, oddly refusing to look its hypocritical, egomaniacal subject in the eye when it clearly has the objective to set out to do so, and winds up as just one more failed screen translation of his life's work. Instead, the movie goes off on strange tangents and even nauseatingly succumbs to the same adulation it is so ponderous and critical of at its outset. Even the film's technical qualities are not up to snuff, appearing to be shoddily strung together with obvious narration by the director.

** out of ****

Built around testimonials of several former members, Going Clear tells the history and practices of Scientology, beginning with its origins with grandiose creator and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard up until present scandals large and small and not discluding the church's ultimately successful battle with the IRS to gain tax-exempt religious status. Going Clear is another excellent entry from Alex Gibney who again puts on a basic clinic of how a documentary should be assembling, here amassing a bizarre even frightening film that helps bring clarity to a pseudo-religion and understand just how its followers can maintain such a loyal mindset amidst all the madness.

*** 1/2 out of ****

In 1964, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest author Ken Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters dropped acid, repaired and vividly decorated a dilapidated school bus, and made their way from Northern California to the World Fair in New York, the start of a journey where they would begin to promote the use of LSD in a series of shoes. Largely cobbled together from actual Prankster film, the novelty of seeing The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test brought to life quickly wears off and Alex Gibney's documentary becomes wearisome. Tom Wolfe's book is oddly not mentioned (which is preferable to read over this film) and judging from it, Gibney leaves many glaring omissions and glosses over much more, resulting in a major disappointment from the usually reliable director.

** 1/2 out of ****

A profile of the professional life of hacker Julian Assange, a man of a thousand descriptors ranging from brilliant to arrogant to slithery, beginning with his involvement as a teen with a group that targeted a NASA space launch in 1989 to his founding of WikiLeaks in 2006, an anonymous whistleblowing website that propelled him to rockstar status and was responsible for the single largest security rupture in United States history. We Steal Secrets is another outstanding documentary from Alex Gibney mainly because, although it is decidedly clear where his opinion lies on the subject, he still presents a fair minded, all encompassing portrait of his controversial, many angled subject.

Hunter S. Thompson created his own brand of journalism, most notably in covering the Hell's Angels and his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and became an icon for the counter culture in the process. While railing against what insulted his ideas of patriotism, Thompson became something equally detestable in promoting his own American brand of feckless, drunken, drugged out buffoonery. "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson"  is another superb entry from Alex Gibney, who shifted focus from larger topics in "Enron: the Smartest People in the Room" and "Taxi to the Darkside" to cover the outlandish journalist. Gibney works from a wealth of Thompson's own personal archives and interviewees who present what feels like a balanced reflection on the life of an abstruse individual.

The sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church can find its origins in the dismaying (there's really no appropriate descriptor) case of four men of told hundreds who were molested as boys by a priest at St. John School for the Deaf in Superior, Wisconsin. Through years of shame and self-doubt, and Church cover-ups and legal roadblocks that appeared to reach the highest levels of the Vatican, their dauntless actions ultimately led to a multimillion dollar judgement that bankrupted the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and brought to light numerous cases of horrific misdoings around the world. For someone who went to Catholic school for 12 years, and for whom the acts of clergy as documented here would be unimaginable, I don't know how to respond to this documentary. Alex Gibney's "Mea Maxima Culpa" is a sickening and disheartening documentary that in addition to telling its horrific story, helps somewhat to explain the mindset both of how the Church has tolerated such abuse over centuries and also how many Catholics have responded to media reports over the last decade. The film works best when it focuses on its primary story but strays somewhat when the focus turns to a longstanding, serial pedophile in Ireland or tying said cases to Pope Benedict XVI (although it does appear there are dots to connect). Once more, Gibney has demonstrated that he is one of the few documentarians who understands how best to work his medium (I could just picture Michael Moore making a similar movie, shouting into his megaphone outside the Vatican) by crafting another excellent investigative and dispiriting film.