valis1949 STARSUCKERS (dir. Chris Atkins) The only beef I have with the film is its unfortunate title, however this clever and informative documentary shows how 'The News and Infotainment Industry' has morphed into such an overwhelming behemoth that it now controls and commands nearly all aspects of life in the 21st century. Although the science of the film might be a bit questionable, the film's conclusions are undeniable. Misdirection and hypnosis by the media have convinced the weakest and most gullible that regardless of talent, background, or education, they have a god-given and constitutionally protected right to succeed in life, and an entire industry is poised and ready to sell them this wholly unrealistic and delusional point of view. The section of the film that dealt with parents who, against all odds, insist that their remarkably ordinary children are 'reality stars' of the future was particularly revealing albeit depressing. Also the documentary demonstrates how the News Media has all but capitulated, and we have now become a 'post-truth' society. It's no longer of any importance that verifiable facts are presented just as long as the overall message is delivered in an uplifting and entertaining manner. Fact checking is for suckers, and this is why Sarah Palin (and others like her) can entertain hopes of becoming world leaders. Citizens of planet Earth have devolved into 'Believers' instead of 'Thinkers', and it was most certainly NOT a natural process. MUST SEE

neil-upto11 It's probably testament to the truth of the film that it receives no support from the various film (and media) corporations.It's a very interesting documentary and a very useful educational tool. I think that people are fairly easy-going, generally speaking, but one thing that is universally loathed is hypocrisy / cynical dishonesty. The film does a good job of exposing this pervasive nightmare and asks people to have a think about it. And I say fair enough. No-one's saying you cant watch X-Factor/ American Idol, if thats the sort if thing you enjoy; just don't let the media machine make a d1ck out of you. At the very least, try to be aware of the manner of the manipulation that accompanies the bright lights and bells.The media control of government is something that shouldn't surprise people but it probably will. It's frightening.I particularly enjoyed seeing arch lie-teller Max Clifford being dragged into the light (again)! I thought he would have learned his lesson after Louis Theroux caught him with his metaphorical trousers down some years ago but it seems hubris knows no bounds.A noble effort.

paul2001sw-1 'Starsuckers' is an entertaining and pertinent documentary about our celebrity-obsessed media that is ultimately just a little too pleased with itself. While it's always useful to be reminded of just quite how powerful the media is, and of who really benefits from its wielding of power, most of what is presented here is something that a Guardian-reading liberal will already be familiar with. And some of the stunts seem counter-productive: demonstrating that newspapers are happy to print rubbish, as long as it's rubbish that will sell, by feeding them rubbish to print doesn't really hurt them at all - did director Chris Atkins really think that the popular press wouldn't be delighted to print the story of Amy Winehouse's hair catching fire, even if it wasn't true? Exposing it as false after the fact doesn't hurt a newspaper that already cares more about its reputation for entertainment than its reputation for truth. In among the stunts, however, there are some serious points - the one which struck me was that the proportion of children who think of themselves as important has risen 5-fold (to 80%) in the last 50 years. The real message we should be teaching is that you can be valuable yet unimportant (except at a local level); but sadly nothing in our culture seems to be moving in this direction.

Dave Taylor Starsuckers is a documentary by Chris Atkins which concerns our obsession with celebrity and explores how we are genetically predisposed to want celebrity for ourselves. It shows how the media use this to manipulate us. While, for me, this was preaching to the converted I still found it interesting and the arguments presented seem well researched and sound. I was lucky enough to also see it with a Q and A from Atkins which was informative, compelling and funny.The manner in which the film is tied together is also interesting. Atkins uses images of magic tricks and illusion to tie together his arguments and this is, obviously, what the media and PR do. It also, and this was a point Atkins made during the Q and A, doesn't offer any solutions and really I suspect the only solution would be for us to stop absorbing and buying the media which obviously feeds us false and misleading stories to fill newspapers and airtime.As it attacks the media expect it to get either panned or ignored but see beyond that, seek this film out and watch it.