Running List of Reviews of Andrew Wakefield's film, Vaxxed.

June 11, 2016: Updated to add: This masterful synopsis of the film. Click to enlarge. 

April 5, 2015: Edited to Add: I have added a list of screenings of the film at the bottom of the post.

April 10, 2015: Edited to Add: I have added a list of responses to cancellations of  screenings at the bottom of the post.

Reviews of Andrew Wakefield's film, Vaxxed. The film is being positioned as a documentary, but there are a number of reasons to doubt that the film is entitled to be called such. One blogger has coined the word fraudumentary to describe it.  

Relative to reviews, remember that Wakefield refused let reporters view the film on the ConspiraSea cruise. No advance copies (screeners) of the film have been made available, which is unusual. 

Then, there was all the kerfuffle over the film first getting a slot at Tribeca Film Festival, then getting pulled. Finally, the producers scored a theater (Angelika Film Center) and the film opened April 1, 2016. (April 3: edited to add: on the decision to pull the film from Tribeca2016, please read Chris Barsanti's excellent piece Why the Tribeca Film Festival was right to pull Vaxxed  at Little White Lies.)

As I often do, I will be updating this list silently after this post goes live at 3:00 pm PDT, April 2 2016. 

Negative Reviews:

1. April 1 2016 Eric Kohn at Indiewire 'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe' is Designed to Trick You (Review): The controversial documentary pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival is one-sided propaganda.

   .....the movie would have fit better in a sidebar showcasing tone-deaf agitprop alongside the likes of Dinesh D'Souza's gloomy "2016: Obama's America" and Stephen K. Bannon's hagiographic Sarah Palin clip show "The Undefeated." But Wakefield's self-aggrandizing approach walks a more troubling ethical line, pushing an outrageous agenda only evident to viewers willing to look beneath its paranoid surface. ...

   Shifting between media reports and a handful of anti-vaccine activists — including, naturally, a straight-faced Wakefield himself — "Vaxxed" makes epic conspiratorial claims, with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) emerging as its greatest target. Proclaiming that the organization has buried connections between autism and vaccines, "Vaxxed" presents a series of secretly recorded phone calls as its main coup. These conversations, between environmental researcher Brian Hooker and CDC "whistleblower" William Thompson, were previously summarized in a short video that Wakefield circulated last year. Since then, they have led to a book-length set of allegations and countless speculation about how much information the calls actually reveal. In the snippets shown throughout the movie, they hint at some modicum of disorganization to the CDC's research, but hardly validate the outlandish claims at the root of Wakefield's studies, which have themselves been suspected of biased reporting tactics. Needless to say, he's not the most credible person to helm a supportive overview.

2. April 1 2016 Rebecca Robbins at Stat: We watched the movie "Vaxxed" so you don't have to

   The film struck a paranoid tone, seeking to raise doubts about the “medical industrial complex.”...

   It hit at a range of targets: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for allegedly hiding vital data. Drug companies, for trying to “create an environment of constant vaccination from cradle to grave.” Even television news programs, for allegedly promoting the pharmaceutical industry’s agenda.....

   Bigtree told STAT the film was backed by about $400,000 in donations. Promotional materials listed one donor as a charitable foundation backed by hedge fund manager Bernard Selz. A Texas law firm, Cullinane Law Group, was listed as another donor.

1. April 1 2016 Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe': Film Review

   The film is directed by Andrew Wakefield, and I would say that he shouldn't give up his day job except that he no longer has one. He's the British gastroenterologist who was one of the dozen authors of a study about the link between vaccination and autism published in a British medical journal in 1998. The study was retracted in 2010 and has been widely discredited. He's since had his medical license revoked over various ethical and financial improprieties, although not surprisingly you don't hear about that in the film. ...

   Still, it's hard to take the film's arguments seriously, considering that many of them are made by the likes of the disgraced filmmaker, Brian Hooker (not exactly a major figure in the medical world) and Del Bigtree. The last, afforded the most screen time, was formerly a producer of The Doctors, a daytime talk show created by Dr. Phil. Draw your own conclusions.

2. April 1 2016 Melena Ryzik at the New York Times Anti-Vaccine Film, Pulled From Tribeca Film Festival, Draws Crowd at Showing

   “Vaxxed” itself vacillates between vilifying vaccines and saying that they save lives. Sowing this kind of confusion, Mr. Drezner said in an email, may harm the very people it aims to save. “All the energy we spend fighting over a debunked vaccine conspiracy theory,” he wrote, “is energy we’re not spending on working with autistic people to help them better thrive in the world today.”

3. April 1 2016 April Haglage at The Daily Beast I Watched the Anti-Vaxx Doc Booted from TriBeCa Film Festival and It Was Insane In a nearly empty theater, I watched in horror as the filmmakers used crap science to link autism with vaccines.

   The film was, in a word, overwhelming. Full of dark music, white type on a black screen, toddlers red faced and screaming, and a hysterical young boy threatening to kill his dad. There were parents weeping over home videos of their kids, and a brother pleading with his parents not to vaccinate his little sister, whom he’s pushing in a swing beside him.

   There were symbolic moments, too, like that of the so-called CDC “whistleblower” sticking the files that he saved on a shelf and an open briefcase that was repeatedly filled with papers. There were graphs and charts and numbers, none of which remained long enough to digest. The needle was a recurring image as well, at one point, shown eerily blowing out a cloud of blue smoke.

   While unsettling and at times confusing, the film wasn’t enough to convince someone well versed in the world of vaccines and autism that a connection is actually there. But the well versed in these worlds are not the film’s demographic. It’s parents with children who’ve been suddenly been dealt a bad hand and others worried that they will be too.

4. April 1 2016 Jessica Glenza,The Guardian Controversial Vaxxed film premieres in New York despite scientists' outcry

   The three-part storyline of Vaxxed begins there, with Wakefield’s own research, followed by interviews with families of autistic children who believe vaccination caused the disorder, then what the film alleges is a cover-up of autism research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

5. April 1 2016 Jessica Glenza's interview with Philip LaRussa MD, a professor of pediatric medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. He specializes in infectious diseases and immunization, in Vaxxed: an expert view on controversial film about vaccines and autism

   The first story is that Wakefield really conducted fraudulent research, and he did nothing in the film to address any of the concerns about all the discrepancies in his research. It’s as if that didn’t exist. He didn’t mention the fact that he lost his license in Great Britain, he didn’t mention the fact that [11] of his co-authors withdrew their names from his paper. He didn’t mention the fact that there was a series of investigative articles by [Sunday Times journalist] Brian Deer. None of that existed in this film.

6. April 2, 20016 Matt Carey at LeftBrainRightBrain Autism Movie review: VAXXED. (The post consists of Carey quoting Eric Kohn's review of the film at IndieWire, with additional knowledgeable commentary by Carey, who is arguably the best-informed person on the planet about the CDC whistleblower manufactroversy and Wakefield's history of mendacious filmmaking.)

   Let’s take another step back, a step away from the film. Here’s the thing about this from my perspective as an autism parent–if you believe this represents a real effect (that the MMR causes autism in African American males), you act very differently than Andrew Wakefield. You try to answer the question. Wakefield was at one point running a charity whose stated purpose was autism research (in the end, about half the money went to Wakefield’s salary). He is reported to have raised $400k for this film. Four hundred thousand dollars. I have seen no effort whatsoever by Mr. Wakefield to investigate this claim of a link between MMR and autism in African American boys. Instead we keep hearing about efforts on getting a congressional hearing on the subject. For those outside the autism community: there have been two autism related congressional hearings in recent years. While they have provided much YouTube footage for people pushing the idea that vaccines cause autism, they haven’t done anything to make life better for the autism communities. Nothing. ....

   We can go through the details, but let me just say that a great deal of VAXXED is not really directly the story–the story that is promised in the VAXXED web page. A lot of discussion about and by Andrew Wakefield, for example. We also get parents speaking about their beliefs that vaccines caused their child to be autistic. While very emotional and not something to be dismissed, this doesn’t address the question of whether vaccines cause autism or if there was malfeasance at the CDC.

7. April 2 2016 Jordan Hoffman at The Guardian Vaxxed review – one-sided film leaves the elephant in the room

   The director, the former doctor Andrew Wakefield, is presented in the film as one of three or four key, highly educated talking-head witnesses. (Another, the credits reveal, is the film’s producer Del Bigtree.) At no point does the movie address or deflect the elephant in the room: that the British gastroenterologist and researcher has been struck off as a licensed doctor. ...

   As a film-maker, Wakefield could surely use a regimen of steroids. Talking-head interviews of statisticians and the few scientists willing to take the anti-vax position hardly make for stimulating cinema. There are also late-in-the-game formal inconsistencies, such as introducing kids directly addressing the camera, pleading to “keep our baby siblings safe”. But Vaxxed isn’t quite as inept or loony as YouTube docs in the vein of 9/11 hoax film Loose Change. There are even some stretches where it feels like a real (albeit boring) movie.

8. April 3, 2016 Emily Willingham at Forbes Andrew Wakefield's Film Fizzles

   The vaccine of focus in the film is the MMR vaccine. As Robbins noted in the Stats piece, this vaccine has been demonstrated to be safe in many large-scale studies.

   Meanwhile, in California, measles has cropped up at one of the state’s most undervaccinated elementary schools, forcing its temporary shutdown and an alert about possible exposure at a restaurant in California’s Amador County. These are echoes of the 2015 outbreak in California, one of several US outbreaks in which more than half of those affected were intentionally unvaccinated.

9. April 3 2016 Skeptical Raptor at Skeptical Raptor In Memoriam – Fraudumentary Vaxxed By Andrew Wakefield

   I mean it really wasn’t that hard. Mr. Andy Wakefield is a fraud – period. Vaccines and autism are unrelated according to all of the high quality epidemiological research – period. And the so called CDC Whistleblower manufactroversy (another invented portmanteau, just to be thorough), a key part of the film, was really much adieu about nothing.

1. April 3 Joe Leydon at Variety Film Review: ‘Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe’

   this slickly produced but scientifically dubious hodgepodge of free-floating paranoia, heart-rending imagery – lots of shots of cute infants who reportedly were damaged by vaccines — and anti-Big Pharma conspiracy mongering likely would have preached to the converted during a handful of theatrical engagements, then slid into the relative obscurity of non-commercial exhibition and home video. Given its now-elevated profile, however, “Vaxxed” is bound to have at least a slightly longer shelf life, and may even benefit from being attacked by scientists, film critics and other “establishment” types. ...

   In the end, however, “Vaxxed” comes across as a grab-bag of charts, theories and anecdotal evidence that would never pass muster by the editors of any major scientific journal (like, say, the Lancet), and too often resembles the kind of one-sided, paranoia-stoking agitprop that political activists construct to sanctify true believers and assault infidels. It should be taken with several grains of industrial-strength salt — although, to be fair, it does serve as a kind of one-stop-shopping source for anyone seeking to know just what the anti-vaccination crowd is all fired up about.

2. April 3 2016 Tom Rosten at PBS POV 2016 New Documentary Chooses Anecdotal Evidence Over Scientific Credibility

   You’d think that Wakefield, who has been discredited by the medical profession and who is confronting a scientific topic, would lay a foundation of scientific credibility for the notion that MMR causes autism in Vaxxed. But no. There’s a second party reference to such papers or studies but they’re never examined. This alone should put up a huge red flag.

3. April 3 2016 W. Ian Lipkin at The Wall Street Journal Anti-Vaccination Lunacy Won’t Stop

   In 2010, after concerns arose about [Wakefield's] research, the U.K.’s General Medical Council revoked Mr. Wakefield’s medical license based on cross-examination of physicians and evidence from 36 witnesses. The council found that he had done invasive research on children without ethical approval, acted against the clinical interests of each child, failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest, and misappropriated funds. In 2010 the Lancet retracted the 1998 paper based on ethical irregularities and other misrepresentations. In 2004, 10 of the 12 authors who joined Mr. Wakefield on that paper explicitly disavowed any link between MMR and autism.

   The movie “Vaxxed” mentions none of this. A film that distorts and omits established facts is not a documentary, and any venue screening it is complicit in knowingly misrepresenting science and disseminating misinformation.

4. April 4 2016 Todd W at Harpocrates Speaks Wakefield's "Vaxxed" Demands Less Safety

   While the demands at the end of Vaxxed appeal to the viewers' emotions, and, on the surface, seem reasonable, once we take a closer look at the details, it should be readily apparent that matters would become worse rather than better. But perhaps that is the goal. Make vaccines less tenable so that the argument to get rid of vaccines altogether seems reasonable and is more likely to come to pass. Unfortunately, public health would suffer. We would see more disease, more permanent disabilities, and more death. Those who suffer real vaccine injuries would have a more difficult time getting compensation. But how many people who see this film will have the knowledge to get past the surface veneer, the seemingly reasonable sheen that hides the darker and more dangerous outcome? My guess is very few.

5. April 4 2016 Ed Cara at Medical Daily Controversial Documentary 'Vaxxed' Premiered In NYC This Weekend; We Decided To See It

   If nothing else, the Tribeca fallout demonstrated clearly that whatever conversations we need to have about the separate but important issues of vaccine safety or autism, there’s no place at the table for charlatans like Andrew Wakefield anymore.

6. April 6 2016 Pete vonder Haar at Village Voice Anti-Vaccination Doc 'Vaxxed,' Booted From Tribeca, Is a Tragic Fraud

   The crux of the entire movie — and understand, Thompson’s statements are here only because Hooker recorded him without his knowledge — is Thompson asserting that his fellow study authors threw certain documents away, thus invalidating the study.

   And...that’s it. In the decades-long absence of supporting evidence for his MMR “hypothesis,” Wakefield and Hooker hinge the remnants of their argument on the word of a “whistleblower” who only ended up in that role when he was duped by Hooker. (Wakefield’s license was revoked in 2010.)

   The film’s other key player is Del Bigtree, a medical journalist and host of the Dr. Phil–produced daytime show The Doctors, who, as you conveniently won’t learn until the credits roll, is also a producer of the film. Bigtree insists that parents with concerns about the vaccine were “written off” and that the CDC’s vaccine schedule is something Americans are “required to adhere to,” which is blatantly false.

7. April 8 2016 Yasmin Tayag at Inverse I Went to a Morning Showing Andrew Wakefield's 'Vaxxed' and Made Weird New Friends

   Apparently the anti-vaxx doc dropped by Robert De Niro from the Tribeca Film Festival lineup, which I thought was unremarkable aside from its questionable message, was a total crowd please. The audience wanted their suspicions confirmed and that is precisely what the film haltingly attempts to do. When I spoke to the clappers, they told me that they were just happy to get “facts.” Apparently they were looking for very specific facts that could be connected to create a nefarious narrative arc.

8. April 11, 2016 Paul Offit MD at The Hollywood Reporter Anti-Vaccine Doc 'Vaxxed': A Doctor's Film Review

   If MMR really does cause autism, why hadn’t it been found in 15 other studies, many of which included African-Americans and almost all of which didn’t involve the CDC? Are there other whistleblowers who just haven’t come forward yet? The real explanation for Vaxxed's “revelation” isn’t conspiracy or hidden data; it’s something else. When compared with their Caucasian counterparts, African-American boys in Atlanta in 1994 were under-vaccinated. In order to qualify for autism-support programs, this subset of under-vaccinated children with autism had to get vaccinated. In other words, it wasn’t that MMR had caused autism; it was that the diagnosis of autism had caused them to get MMR. Not surprisingly, this is never explained in the film.

   Whistleblowers are supposed to blow the whistle on malfeasance that has resulted in harm. In this case, there was no malfeasance and there was no harm. Which is probably why the whistleblower never really blows the whistle. Others in the movie try to blow it for him but without much sound.

9. April 19 2016 Charles Livingstone at Crikey.com A public health expert reviews the anti-vax film that flummoxed Robert De Niro (Note: Dr. Livingstone is an Australian public health expert.)

   Vaxxed presents Wakefield as a concerned medical specialist, the only one prepared to discuss the harm he claims the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine wreaks. He argues that the entire medical and research establishment is in league to maintain a tissue of lies in defence of the profits of pharmaceutical companies.

   This claim, the foundation of the film, is laughable. But it gets more ridiculous.

   A “study” cited in his dramatic, misleading film, was undertaken by an engineer whose child has ASD. This study, subsequently discredited and withdrawn from the journal that published it, purported to be a re-analysis of data collected by the Centers for Disease Control for their studies of any possible relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism in young children.

   The details of this are moderately technical, but suffice to say that the “re-analysis” sought to impose an inappropriate method onto data collected for another type of study. That’s like comparing a banana to a Ferrari.

10. April 21, 20016 Matt Carey at LeftBrainRightBrain Why do people have to see Vaxxed to criticize it? Wakefield’s own description of us tells us Vaxxed is bogus.

    But as we’ve just seen, the key point of the film is precisely not Thompson’s words or opinion.

    Wakefield appears to be using William Thompson as a sock puppet. We are told what Wakefield seems to either believe or wants us to hear. And with the claim that it’s not Wakefield doing the telling but Thompson.

    But Wakefield’s own words about Vaxxed don’t match Thompson’s own words.

    But per Wakefield people can’t criticize the film.

11. April 27, 2016 Sarah Gill at The Age Anti-immunisation movie Vaxxed is a platform for its maker, not its message

    Don't be fooled – Wakefield's story is not the tale of a man wronged by powerful corporations or the medical establishment, which, in fact, closed ranks to protect him. It's the story of a physician who set out to cast doubt on vaccine safety before he'd even gathered the evidence, and he did so not for the public good, but for private gain.

    If this sounds personal, that's because it is. Scores of parents in the early 2000s, myself included, harboured a deep sense of unease about the 18-month MMR, and solely because of a small and inconclusive – but nonetheless troubling – study by a man uniquely positioned to exploit our greatest fears. Wakefield's hunger for media attention, his ferocious personal ambition and cunning business dealings – including a patent filed in 1997 for a vaccine to replace the triple shot and generate millions of pounds in annual revenue – were a toxic mix. And not much, it seems, has changed.

12. May 13, 2016, Danny Wicentowki at River Front Times Vaxxed, Opening at the Tivoli Today, Blames Vaccines for Autism — But It's Bullshit

    The documentary presents Wakefield as a neutral voice of reason, as it does one of the film's producers, Del Bigtree. Yet it fails to disclose how a Sunday Times investigation uncovered Wakefield's financial interests the debunked 1998 study. In 2010, those revelations ultimately led the British General Medical Council to bar Wakefield from practicing medicine in the U.K.

    In a press release sent to Riverfront Times this week, the film's publicist insisted that Vaxxed is not "anti-vaccine," but only seeks to expose the CDC's cover-up about the MMR study. This is also bullshit.

13. May 20,2016 Jim Shames, M.D. at Ashland Daily Tidings Guest Opinion: 'Vaxxed' screening is irresponsible

    That brings me to the decision by Varsity Theaters to bring the movie "Vaxxed" to Ashland. It apparently glorifies the discredited Mr. Wakefield (he was a doctor before he had his license taken away), and uses scary music and disturbing graphics to suggest that unscrupulous government and industry types are withholding the truth from us all, that the MMR vaccine causes autism. This supposed link has been debunked over and over and over again by the most rigorous of researchers. Not to believe the Institute of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and countless others is to accept a gigantic level of conspiracy to delude the public. Some of us have worked with the CDC and WHO and can assure you they are dedicated public servants whose motivation is to seek the truth, not to get rich and deceive all of us.

14. May 20, 2016 Tricia Olzsewski at Washington City Paper Andrew Wakefield's Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, Reviewed

    I’m no doctor, but I’d suggest that if you really want to get to the bottom of the potential epidemic portrayed in Vaxxed, you do some investigating yourself—as opposed to, you know, taking medical advice from a movie with magicians in it.

Positive Reviews 

1. April 1 2016 Luke Rudkowski, The Activist Post (Video only): The Premier Of VAXXED In NYC And Full Review (note: this review has been picked up and reposted on a number of chiropractors' sites.)
2. April 1 2016 Harvey Karten at CompuServe ShowBiz Forum VAXXED: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe

   One wonders about the effect of this film on those who see it at the Angelika, and hopefully at other theaters around the country thanks to efforts of the brave distributors, Cinema Libre Studio. Administrators like the company chairman Philippe Diaz, do a service by calling the CDC to task with its alleged “suppression of medical data by a governmental agency that may very well be contributing to a significant health crisis.” Yet neither Diaz nor Dr. Wakefield is anti-vaccine.

   Who knows what other movies during the past decades gave in to critics and voluntarily agreed not to distribute their wares? Censorship is not supposed to be what we’re about.

3. April 1 2016 The NYC Movie Guru Documentary Round-Up

   Big Pharma seems like a pimp while government agencies such as the CDC and even the mainstream media are essentially Big Pharma's unctuous prostitutes. Learning about the CDC's conscious decision to undermine public welfare reminds me of what Hannah Arendt wrote about the banality of evil. Many members of the CDC are merely following orders and don't even consider the option of subversively criticizing the "party line" like Dr. Thompson dared to do so bravely. How is the CDC's cover-up not a crime against humanity? If there were any justice in this world, they would be tried in the Hague. If there were indeed a Nuremberg-like trial for the CDC, it's doubtful that the excuse "I was just following orders" would be accepted.

4. April 2 2016 ShamROCK at Thinking Moms' Revolution Vaxxed: A Historical Turning Point?

   Del Bigtree’s interpretation of what has happened is crucial in this movie as he brings a new perspective to this issue. He is a very mainstream filmmaker and producer. He understands the magnitude of this story and the ramifications of what bringing forth the truth will have, on a personal level and politically. He understands that he had no choice but to leave his successful and lucrative career producing the award winning TV show ‘The Doctors’, in order to tell this story. That’s both fascinating and exciting. Very few have the courage or the stamina to do what Del Bigtree has done, and we owe him a great deal. Although, having listened to him in interviews, he, like Andrew Wakefield doesn’t wish this to be about them; this is Thompson’s story.

5. April 2 2016 Professor TMR at Thinking Moms' Revolution Review of the Film “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe”

   Because of the current stranglehold that pharmaceutical dollars have on mainstream media, this story is even harder to get out. Just as in that situation, a powerful interest group is working day and night to suppress the facts — they know children’s lives are being destroyed by their policies and they just don’t care. Fortunately, the filmmakers of Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe know that, in this era of increased communication and transparency, mainstream media censorship can only postpone the truth getting out, not prevent it. So they threw their hearts, minds, and souls into this film as a way of circumventing that censorship. And they did a damned fine job of telling a difficult story that needs to be told.

6. April 2 2016 Stephen Ericson at The Truth Barrier Media Propagandists Willfully Ignore Core Content Of “Vaxxed: From Coverup To Catastrophe”

   To Abby and the rest of the media who are busy slamming this film for being misleading while at the same time not even mentioning the name Dr. William Thompson, CDC whistle blower: HE is what this movie is about. If you fail to mention that, you are a propagandist.

   For everyone else, not sipping Statist Kool-Aid– go see it. Whatever you have to do to see it, make sure you see this documentary film, which is a feat of investigative reporting that demolishes the myth of a safe and ordered government “health” complex.

7. April 4 2016 Del Bigtree at Global Freedom Movement To Those With Questions About The Movie Vaxxed (Not a review; a director or producer cannot review his own product. However in fairness I wished to link to Mr. Bigtree's statement.

   History has shown us time and time again that people like Galileo, who break from the scientific consensus to reveal discoveries like “the earth is not the center of the universe,” are often persecuted. I suppose it’s one of our great human flaws. Both of these men were essentially tried for heresy. The difference is that the imprisonment of Galileo just meant there would be a delay in the advancement of modern astronomy and physics. In Andy’s case we may be responsible for a civilization-ending epidemic of autism that has skyrocketed from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 45 children in less than forty years and is on a crash course for 1 in 2 by 2032. And still the CDC attempts to set our minds at ease with their official statement “we do not know what’s causing autism.”

8. April 5 2016 Lisa Joyce Goes (The Rev) at Thinking Moms' Revolution Vaxxed! The Movie I Couldn't and Didn't Watch..Until I Did (Note Mrs. Goes was provided by an advanced screener of the film by her friend Polly Tommey, who appears in the film and whose charity, Autism Media File, provided funds for the film. Two others of Goes's friends appear in the film. Karen Kain appears in the film and convinced Goes to watch the film; Jeanna Read's son Ian is displayed in the film as an example of the "horrors" of autism)

   I would highly recommend this film to just about anyone because it does a marvelous job of explaining the how and why at a very quick and understandable pace. Think The Big Short, minus the humor because in the face of so much human suffering that would just be in poor taste. Vaxxed accomplishes what it has set out to do, which is tell the truth about what is happening right now in pediatricians’ offices across this country and the world.

9. April 5, 2016, Richard Gale and Gary Null at Progressive Radio Network Why is the CDC Petrified of the Film Vaxxed?

   A thorough review of the mainstream media’s news bits reveals a remarkably similar editorial script. The media’s central message frames Dr. Wakefield as a “discredited” British gastroenterologist who fabricated research in order to mislead the world that the MMR vaccine causes autism. For this reason, we are persuaded to blindly accept that Vaxxed is simply another example of misinformed anti-vaccine lunacy that will endanger the lives of children across America. Therefore, we should ignore the film and save our money, because our shining experts sitting in the high towers at the CDC have already concluded that vaccines do not cause autism. It is better to go back to sleep and not worry about Vaxxed’s medical crime story. On the other hand, this is a story that has likely contributed to the approximately 3.5 million American children and adults with autism today.

   In fact, none of these journalists or reporters even know the film’s entire storyline themselves. It has never been publicly released. Any journalists who have seen it would have done so illegally and in violation of the confidentiality agreements between Tribeca and the producers of Vaxxed.

   What is rather extraordinary and beyond coincidence is that all of these publications convey identical messages and even share the same quotes and sequential ordering of content and statements. For example, why is a statement by film director Penny Lane, a relatively unknown person with no association whatsoever to vaccine science and policy, notably mentioned in a significant number of these articles? How does this person’s vitriolic comments against Vaxxed end up appearing in The Guardian, New York Times, CNN, Vanity Fair and other news reports all at once? The original script(s) was evidently composed by an unnamed third party(s) and distributed throughout these publications for personalized editing and immediate release. Nevertheless, the message remains the same. And even more curious, none of this press accurately addresses the film’s central story.

10. April 7, 2016 Dawn Lorenz at Raising Natural Kids, What The NYTimes & Forbes Aren’t Telling You About Vaxxed. This is not so much a review of the film but complaints about negative reviews.
11. April 8, 2016 Jim West at Age of Autism A Review of Vaxxed

    The film's description of CDC etc is scandalous, but the film merely advocates the single-dose vaccines and is critical of the tri-dose MMR vaccine. A large portion of children with autism have had the MMR disproportionately to the control groups in studies, and the CDC is refusing to do a simple and clear vaccinated vs unvaccinated comparison study, as is true with all vaccines. It appears clear that CDC is hiding meeting records, hiding data, shredding data, corrupting studies, etc. I learned that vaccines are not categorized as pharmaceuticals and are not therefore as stringently tested. The relation of CDC execs to the pharma industry is a revolving door, of course.

12. April 8 2016 Curt Linderman at Linderman Unleashed Linderman Unleashed Reviews VAXXED From Cover Up to Catastrophe

    This week on Linderman Unleashed: my lovely wife and co-host , Kimberly and I will be reviewing the new film regarding the vaccine cover up called VAXXED. Most of the people in this documentary we know personally (to include Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Hooker) and we were lucky enough to have been allowed to view the film in our home. Partly because we were planning on doing this review; but primarily because our very own son, Kaden was in the film.

    The film is absolutely amazing and Kim and I go through our very own, personal feelings regarding what we thought of the production. We go into quite a bit of detail when we start talking about the corruption that is so blatantly obvious from all aspects of society as they discuss the nuances of the “conspiracy” to cover up the poisoning of our children.

    I have new heroes in my little world: all of those that had a part in the making of this incredible piece of work!

13. April 12 2016 Marcella Piper-Terry at VaxTruth Rebuttal to Paul Offit’s “Review” of VAXXED: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe (Not a review but a list of complaints about Paul Offit's review in The Hollywood Reporter. BTW Dr. Offit did view the film in the New York venue.)

    It’s beyond ridiculous that Dr. Offit would review a documentary he has never seen. But the fact that his review contains so many outrageous and easily-refutable errors is deeply disturbing.

    One is left with two choices: to believe that Dr. Offit really doesn’t know the facts — or that he does, and is lying about them.

    I’m not sure which is worse.

14. April 12 2016 Christopher Wyatt at the Liberty Beacon Outed by VaXXed-ABC News, CDC, Big Pharma & MS Reviews

    Finally after searching for a good review of VaXXed in the mainstream media, I was hit with the cold truth that an unbiased review would never come from the mainstream media due to government influence and deep ties with the pharmaceutical industry. After a good bit of searching I finally came across a review from the alternative media that puts into perspective why VaXXed is so important and why it scares everyone in mainstream media–After years of lying and parroting the words of the CDC and the pharmaceutical industry everyone has been caught. This is the real story, that the game is over not just for the CDC but for mainstream media that is bought and paid for by Big Pharma.

15. April 12, 2014 Tami Canal at March Against Monsanto VAXXED: The Documentary That Destroys The CDC’s Lies About Autism and Vaccines

    Dr. Andrew Wakefield narrates the film and should be regarded globally as a hero in an effort to save our children from the murderers running the CDC. Another thing I am done with is tolerating any mud-slinging or bashing of Dr. Wakefield. It is intolerable what the media and medical industry have done to this heroic man. I encourage you to learn the facts of the true story involving Dr. Wakefield. VAXXED does an amazing job of showing his courage despite the fact that so many have tried to destroy him for simply telling the truth. He believes the combination of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and the age that it is administered is what is of concern and actually states in his VAXXED interview that he believes the shots should be given individually. But as VAXXED documents, the CDC knows allowing children to be vaccinated in single doses would destroy the billion dollar vaccine program.

    Anyone that wants to argue that Dr. Andrew Wakefield is “anti-vaccination” or a “quack” really needs to go do some independent research.

    The documentary is emotional and extremely well done. A portion of the movie focuses on the Hear This Well movement which came to be following a mainstream media attempt to overshadow vaccine dangers with a television anchorwoman ignorantly stating “Hear this well, vaccines do not cause autism.” VAXXED shows just a few of the numerous submissions to the Hear This Well campaign and it’s hard not to feel a lump in your throat at the emotional testimony of the parents of these innocent children who are now serving a life sentence with a disease that very likely could have been avoided if scientific integrity had been demonstrated.

16. April 13 2016 Levi Quackenboss at Levi Quackenboss The top 3 things that #VAXXED is not: a movie review

    Lastly, to close out this post about what something is not, let’s talk about how the stories written about Vaxxed are not journalism. Journalism is the reporting of events and facts to keep society informed. Jumping on the “anti-vax, dangerous, shut it down, fraudster, de-bunked” bandwagon and writing about a movie you’ve never even seen nowhere near qualifies as journalism.

    Emily Willingham at Forbes, I’m looking at you. Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Time Magazine, I’m looking at you. I know damn well that none of you saw an advanced copy of the movie before praising De Niro’s decision under duress to pull it from the film festival, and you were all chomping to tell the masses why it’s a dangerous movie. How do any of you call yourself journalists? You know what you are? You’re prostitutes, and I’ll tell you why: you get paid for sucking the virtual cocks of every pharmaceutical company marketing director that advertises with your “news” organizations.

17. April 28, 2016 Mick LaSalle at STfate ‘Vaxxed’: Vaccination critics take their case to film

    “Vaxxed” is not the end of the discussion and doesn’t contain the whole story. It doesn’t counter its own points. It’s a polemic. But it’s a passionate advocate for its viewpoint, and that makes for compelling viewing.

Other Responses to VaxXed, mostly on Film Festival Cancellations -- Approving of Cancellations

1. March 28, 2016 Kavin Senapathy, Forbes, No Andrew Wakefield, You're Not Being Censored And You Don't Deserve Due Process

   I won’t mince words. There is no big pharma conspiracy to push vaccines, and the only fraudulent narrative is that of Andrew Wakefield and his supporters. To screen the film at Tribeca would provide a false balance around an issue that doesn’t have two equal points of view. It’s simple, vaccine opponents fail every test of science and logic and their propaganda doesn’t warrant validation. “We were denied due process,” laments the statement from the Vaxxed team.

   Due process? Due process clauses in the 5th and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution only apply when government is involved. This isn’t a court of law, and Andrew Wakefield doesn’t deserve such considerations for his anti-vaccine propaganda film.

2. March 28, 2016, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon, Anti-vax film isn’t being “censored”: Andrew Wakefield is not entitled to a prestigious platform for his discredited autism claims

   Oh, these poor oppressed disgraced charlatans! Now they don’t get a screening at a prestigious film festival! It’s like a total human rights violation! It’s like when the New Yorker rejects my poems — how is this even America? Yeah, sorry, that’s not how these things work. Wakefield and his cronies have a right to raise the funds to make whatever misleading, unsupported information they want. They just don’t have a God-given to a platform for it. But if they don’t understand how censorship works, I guess it explains how they don’t know how science does either.

Other Responses to VaxXed, mostly on Film Festival Cancellations -- Disapproving of Cancellations

1. March 27, 2016, Mike Adams at Natural News BREAKING: Robert De Niro was clearly threatened by the vaccine establishment to censor the VAXXED documentary from Tribeca... new details emerge

   This is the first time in the history of film and media that the totality of the media establishment has condemned a film that none of them have ever viewed, desperately trying to make sure no American ever witnesses the hour and a half of film footage that is now "forbidden" to be viewed in a nation founded on free speech.

2. March 27, 2016 Jon Rappoport at Blog, Vaxxed: How did they threaten Robert De Niro? De Niro talked to Congressman about censored Vaxxed film

   There is a very good chance that the CDC reached out to someone, who in turn reached out to De Niro and whispered in his ear and caused the actor to pause for thought.

3. April 8, 2016, Jon Rappoport at Blog, Why Vaxxed was shot down at Tribeca—up close and personal

The answer? Jane Rosenthal and her (ex) husband, Craig Hatkoff. That’s my opinion, my story, and I’m sticking to it.

1. April 9, 2016, Derek Boze, Activist Post Why Did Houston’s Mayor Prevent VAXXED From Being Screened?

   Activist Post contacted Janice Evans and was able to confirm that the Mayor did not directly stop the film from being shown, but did ask that it not be screened at the Houston International Film Festival. “The mayor did not halt the showing of the movie. He asked that it not be included in the lineup because the film festival has received city grant funding,” Janice Evans told AP. “It is contradictory for the city to provide financial assistance to an event that is disseminating an anti-vaccination message that is counter to the work our health department does.”

2. April 20,2016 Phillipe Diaz at MovieMaker Op Ed: The Tribeca Precedent and the Framing of Vaxxed

   I will not address here all the accusations against, nor the framing of, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, dating back 18 years, which have been discussed many times before and that we have made available to all. Instead, I ask why all this negative publicity is clearly originating from the same voice? Again, let’s refer to Gale and Null, who reveal the existence of the “CDC’s sophisticated public relations and media operation. Tax dollars are spent to train journalists about framing medical news and articulately contest [sic] controversial stories that challenge the federal agencies’ and pharmaceutical industry’s national health and vaccine agenda.”

Background information 

1. August 2014 Snopes on "CDC Whistleblower" (William Thompson, whose recorded voice appears in the movie.  http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cdcwhistleblower.asp 
2. September 8, 2014 ToddW at Harpocrates Speaks MMR, the CDC and Brian Hooker: A Guide for Parents and the Media
3. March 22, 2016 Matt Carey at LeftBrainRightBrain Autism Andrew Wakefield releases the trailer for his William Thompson video. Slick production and dishonesty
4. March 30 2016 Tori Bedford on ethicist Art Caplan inteview at WGBH: Medical Ethicist Art Caplan: Despite Rejection, Anti-Vaxxer Film's Message Could Spread Like A Virus 
5. March 30 2016 Todd Drezner at The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, Open Letter to Cinema Libre Studio Regarding “Vaxxed” Drezner is a documentary filmmaker whose autism acceptance film, Loving Lampposts, is distributed by Cinema Libre. 
6. March 31, 2016 Colin McRoberts at Violent Metaphons. Vaxxed: From Coverup to Catastrophe to Cancellation to Insignificance

Previous Posts Here

1. August 23, 2014 L'affaire CDC-MMR: Hooker, Wakefield, and Focus Autism Accuse African-American Senior CDC Researcher of Being A Race Traitor
   September 12, 2014 A Statistician Evaluates DeStefano 2004 and Hooker 2014
2. August 24, 2014 The CDC, the MMR Vaccine, and Allegations of Whistleblowing and Malfeasance: The Backstory (includes extensive list of responses pro and con)
3. August 27, 2014 #CDCwhistleblower Issues Statement

Screenings

1. April 1-April 14, 2016, NYC Angelika Film Center 18 W. Houston St., New York, NY 10012 Show times: Friday (4/1) thru Thursday (4/14): 11:00a, 1:15p, 3:30p, 5:45p, 8:00p, 10:30p A special group ticket price is available for $8/ticket for groups of 25 or more, however tickets must be purchased in person at the box office.

2. April 9, 2016, Ocala Florida Silver Springs International Film Festival Marion Theater 50 SE Magnolia Exd, Ocala, FL 34471 Show times: 7 pm, 9 pm

3. April 24, 2016, NYC Manhattan Film Festival Venue Not Specified> Show times: April 24, 2:00 pm

4. Houston WorldFest Film Festival No details available yet Showing cancelled. Orac has the details; also read comments.

5. Other screenings to be announced

   Distributor Cinema Libre Studio hopes to expand the film’s national footprint in the coming months, eventually screening “Vaxxed” in between 250 and 300 theaters before it debuts on home entertainment platforms in July.

Comments

[Doug Copp]

Liz Ditz and her pimp, Thompson Lang, are pure evil and don't care about anything other than money, fame and watching children die. Both of them are known for fabricating lies about people they are jealous of even if the well being of others is jeopardized. They both know that they'll never be as important to society as me so they choose to spread hateful lies about my lifes work, The Triangle of Life. Don't trust anything that they write! They should be locked up in prison for what they do!

Go to dougcopp.me to see the real story behind Doug Copp and how he was, and is still recieving brutally, harsh treatment for selflessly rescuing lives.

[Doug Copp]

Mr. Copp's comment Here is a picture of Liz and Mr.Lang

The deleted link goes to an image of a Caucasian woman engaging in oral sex with a Caucasian man.

It is up to the reader to decide if that is an appropriate comment to this post.

[Doug Copp]

Editorial comment: Other than my monthly premium payments from me to various insurance firms, I have not relationship with the insurance industry whatsoever.

Mr. Copp's comment

Liz Ditz is almost as evil as Hitler. She knowingly allows children to die so insurance companies will pay her money for covering up The Triangle of Life. F^CK YOU LIZ B!TCH!!!!

Go to dougcopp.me

[Doug Copp]

I have never been accused of sexual abuse of a person of any age. I have never been charged or convicted of any sexual crime. This is libel, and I have consulted an attorney. Upon advice, I am letting this claim remain published.

Liz Ditz represents the worst that society has to ofder. She has never done a nice thing for anybody and will do anything, no matter how much harm it causes to others, for money and traffic to her website. I would feel sorry for her if she wasn't ruining so many peoples lives.

Liz also is a known child molester and is working in a school for young girls looking for children to exploit.

Go to dougcopp.me to see the full story on Liz. It just goes to show that there is no limit to how low people will stoop to get what they want.

[Doug Copp]

Here is a picture of Liz

Edited: Mr. Copp published a link to an animated still image of four Caucasian people engaging in various sex acts.

[Doug Copp]

HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT!?!

For 6 years Liz Ditz, owner of I speak of dreams, knowingly and willingly published horrible and painful lies, on her website, to destroy the ability of our rescue team, to save lives. She, also, fabricated and/or ‘made up’ her own lies to destroy our team. According to her website, she did this in league with Thompson Lang and his assistant Leslie Linthicum whom she describes as her friends.

Thompson Lang is the despicable villain described in the California newspaper expose and other blog docs. He is a sociopath of the worst kind. Leslie Linthicum is similar to similar to Liz Ditz, in character and makes me conclude that there can be friends, in ‘Hell’.
Let me be very clear: Liz Ditz is a liar, and a person who is so devoid of decency as to lie about matters which cause children’s lives to be put in danger. She did this to draw traffic to her website. She was successful in getting this money and audience, at the expenses of our volunteer rescue team’s ability to save lives. Her selfish obsession with money and attention, ‘at any cost’, is NOT acceptable to decent people. There should be Internet laws that would put someone like Liz Ditz, in prison. Her website is full of wild crazy rants and bouts of hatred. She is like the ‘little man hiding behind the curtain with a giant megaphone, in the Wizard of OZ. Her actions would be pathetic if they hadn’t caused the loss of so much life and undo suffering of so many innocent victims.
It has taken 6 years of brutal abuse, via her vitriolic and hateful Internet rants for us to be able to ‘track her down’. She successfully hid behind her computer. She is not only one of these ‘creatures’ who use the Internet with impunity to destroy the lives of people with their hatred. She is a bold faced liar of the worst kind. Based upon her 6 years of harm to our rescue team; I believe that Liz Ditz would do anything for money and attention.Now that we have ‘tracked her down’ we consider it to be our duty, as decent people, to expose her nefarious activities to the ‘light of day’.We found her phone number and can you imagine that she is on the Board of Directors of a Private Girl’s School. Absolutely stunning!
It is truly a disgrace that their institution is associated with such a person.

[Doug Copp]

I'm Doug Copp, the most experience rescue expert in the world. I personally have saved millions of lives with The Triangle of Life. This "person" Liz Ditz and her master, Thompson Lang are threatening me and trying to destroy my lifes work by calling me a fraud. Everything they wrote about me is completely untrue. I have sustained life threatening injuries from my selfless rescue work at ground zero. These "people" are angry and are jealous of me so instead of trying to help others, they choose to attack me. I am too sick nd do not have enough money to even fight a legal battle against them. It is absolutely disgusting how they treat people.

Just go to dougcopp.me to see the truth about me, Liz and The Triangle of Life.

[Doug Copp]

I found another pucture of Liz and Thompson Lang

edited. Mr. Copp's link went to a photograph of an erect penis and a woman's mouth, post-ejaculation

[Doug Copp]

Another picture of Liz Ditz

edited. Mr. Copp linked to an image of several Caucasian people, men and women, engaging in various sexual acts.

[Doug Copp]

I have never been accused of sexual abuse of a person of any age. I have never been charged or convicted of any sexual crime. This is libel, and I have consulted an attorney. Upon advice, I am letting this claim remain published.

I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT LIZ DITZ IS A CONVICTED CHILD SEX OFFENDER!!! DON'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING SHE WRITES!!!

[LouV]

Love how Mr. Copp has posted a truckload of comments with no other argument than "She's a liar" (and other insults). (whereas LD's articles cite numerous sources)
Also curious as to why you choose to comment on an article which isn't about you at all, rather than the 4 2004 articles and the 2010 articles I found about you here. (which suddenly amounts to you to 6 years of harassement)

[Liz Ditz]

Appreciate the comment, LouV

[wells]

would you consider posting the POSITIVE reviews first?

or at least alternate them?

[Chris]

Why?

If you don't like the way it is done on this blog, then go do it the way you want on your blog. Just don't tell other bloggers what and how they should write.