Category Archives: Releases

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, December 9: ONE ROGUE REPORTER

Rich Peppiatt and Tom Jenkinson’s turnabout on tabloid journalism debuted at Sheffield this past Summer. It has also screened at Leeds and the East End film fests, in addition to other British venues. FilmBuff now releases the doc on VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Xbox, Google Play, and Blinkbox.

As a reporter for UK tabloid The Daily Star, Peppiatt found himself in all sorts of dubious and degrading situations while on the hunt for a story, causing him to question his career path. When his resignation from the paper -which included charges of Islamophobia by its editors – went viral, he turned to comedy to further expose the truth behind the sensationalism of the Fourth Estate. Adapting his one-man show into a documentary project, he sets out to turn the tables on Britain’s tabloid editors, using their own tactics on them, from invasion of privacy to fabricating wild suppositions and passing them off as fact. It’s an intriguing premise, but both Peppiatt’s prank execution and filmmaking approach fall far short of their mark. Adopting an everyman Morgan Spurlock schtick as he too-chattily narrates the hour-long project, and a page from Michael Moore’s brand of on-screen confrontations, Peppiatt engages in inconsequential silliness such as dropping off sex toys on an editor’s doorstep or papering a car with rumor-mongering headlines while dressed like a cartoonish journalist in a trenchcoat. On the plus side, the overarching idea, echoed through a nice use of classic film clips – that journalism should be a noble profession with editors holding themselves, and their papers to higher standards – is a worthwhile one. However, while serious issues are at its core – mostly discussed by talking heads that range from more respected journalists like The Guardian‘s Owen Jones to Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan, celebs who’ve spoken out against tabloids – the film as a whole comes off as very juvenile and very UK specific, which is a shame.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 5: POVERTY, INC

Michael Matheson Miller’s exploration of the downside of global charity debuted at Anthem, the Libertarian Film Festival, this Summer, where it won the audience award. Other festival stops have included Austin, Docutah, Chagrin Doc, Savannah, Denver, and Leeds.

Miller’s film questions whether the good intentions of international aid actually do more harm than good in the long run, encouraging dependence rather than self-reliance, and propagating paternalism that inevitably positions the recipients of relief as lesser or incapable nations. While altruism in and of itself is not viewed as a problem, the film instead suggests that the way it has historically been employed bolsters an inefficient, if not wholly broken system. Not unexpectedly, a major focus is Haiti, where the immediate humanitarian response to the devastating 2010 earthquake was certainly necessary and warranted, but continued past the point of emergency to disincentivize the local community from rebuilding. When rice is provided for free, and numerous NGOs provide free services, the argument goes, the local populace sees no need to take the lead in shoring up their community, developing entrepreneurially to solve their own problems, and thereby creating capability on a local level that sustains the community as a whole. While the film may not be able to offer comprehensive solutions, the essential message is to assist in more thoughtful ways, integrated with the needs of the community, and presented in a way to empower them to take over and build on it, rather than to simply grow dependent on the assistance. As a whole, while there’s nothing objectionable about this concept, the film’s approach, while straightforward enough, is also a fairly flat and artless survey, with weak narration and a parade of expert talking heads that are more suited to television than to a theatrical context.

Coming to Showtime tonight, Thursday, December 4: PAULY SHORE STANDS ALONE

Shore’s self-directed standup road trip doc debuted at the Los Angeles Downtown Film Festival this Summer, where it picked up an award. It went on to screen at Woodstock this past October.

Decades past the height of his MTV and bro comedy popularity, the now middle-aged comedian contends less with celebrity and more with the challenges of an ailing mother, an aging body, and earning a living as a standup. While known for early 1990s comedies like ENCINO MAN and SON IN LAW, the film makes it clear that he didn’t just pop up out of nowhere – his father, Sammy, was himself a comic, and his mother, Mitzi, founded and ran the celebrated Comedy Store in Hollywood, a venue which saw some of the most notable comedians of the past several decades hone their craft, from Richard Pryor to Roseanne, Robin Williams to Sam Kinison. While Hollywood may not be turning to Shore with star vehicles any longer, he maintains a healthy fanbase that shows up to his comedy club appearances. As he travels to mostly small towns in the Midwest to perform, Shore’s film catches audiences up to his present activities – living with his mother, who suffers from advanced Parkinson’s, renting out his own home to help with finances, contending with an enlarged prostate, and half-heartedly considering whether he should finally grow up, settle down, and start his own family. While Shore is able to tap into some of his old “Weasel” stoner persona, he tends more toward a quieter, often self-deprecating humor, at least for the purposes of this unapologetically self-promoting behind-the-scenes portrait. While it may not resonate as strongly as its obvious forebears JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK or ELAINE STRITCH: SHOOT ME, which benefit from performers with far more history behind them, this fairly conventional road trip doc is appealing enough for what it aims to do, presenting a different side of a figure who is otherwise often quickly dismissed out of hand for having presumed to continue beyond the peak of his mainstream celebrity.