In the films-that-aren't-weird department, I saw America's Heart and Soul a few days ago. I stumbled across it on Starz and was drawn into a segment where some folks were playing Cajun music, so I captured it on the DVR to watch later. This is a great movie. It's just a collection of vignettes looking at interesting people in America. They have segments on a dairy farmer in Vermont, salsa dancers in Los Angeles, explosive art in Colorado, a bike messenger in New York, steelworkers in West Virginia, oil well firefighters in Texas, and lots more. There's even a short segment featuring Ben Cohen (from Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream), who appears to have a slide in his house. It's hard to choose a favorite segment, but if I had to choose, I would probably pick one of the many musical segments. The Klezmer Clarinetist from New York would probably get my nod right now, but that's probably influenced by the fact that I'm listening to some Coltrane as I type this.
My recommendations? Eraserhead: if you're cool with David Lynch, it's definitely worth checking out, 'cause it will probably help you understand his weird world a little more and might make his other work make more sense. America's Heart and Soul: definitely check it out. It's a feel-good inspirational film and would easily stand up to repeated viewings.
