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Movies / Upcoming / Shut Up & Sing
Shut Up & Sing

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Shut Up & Sing (2006)

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Reviews Counted:117

Fresh:105

Rotten:12

Average Rating:7.6/10

Consensus: Though ostensibly an intimate look at the Dixie Chicks after their 2003 anti-Bush remark, the film achieves broader relevance by exploring how media, politics, and celebrities intertwine.

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

US Box Office: $1,072,805

Synopsis: This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie... This documentary captures the female country-&-western group the Dixie Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. While performing in 2003, singer Natalie Maines ignited a maelstrom of controversy and red-state outrage when she declared--from a London stage on the eve of the Iraqi conflict--that she was ashamed that President George W. Bush was from her home state of Texas. When a rabidly right-wing group picked up on it, the band found themselves in the center of controversy regarding the nature of patriotism, freedom of speech, feminism, and the split between pro- and anti-war Americans. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple brings us the fly-on-the-wall view of the next three years, capturing Haines and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire in dressing rooms, on stage, and in recording studios, bonding with each other, their families, producer Rick Rubin, and their supportive manager, Simon Renshaw. Through the crises, they keep their sense of humor and sisterhood, not backing down from their liberal stance, and turning the backlash into a triumph. They also make some great music, and the film includes plenty of riveting, intense footage of the band in performance onstage and in the studio. Among the faces appearing in archival footage are President Bush, Bill Maher, and right-wing country star Toby Keith. [More]

Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin

Starring: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Rick Rubin, George W. Bush, Adrian Pasdar

Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck

Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Producer: David Cassidy, Claude Davies, Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Studio: Weinstein Company

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Reviews for Shut Up & Sing

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81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

While managing to say something about the principle of free speech and the power of consumerism in America, it also manages to be as smart, sassy and enjoyable as the Chicks.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
11/11/06
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Shut Up & Sing wrestles with a number of compelling issues facing the Dixie Chicks without going into too much depth on any particular one.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
11/10/06
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

What's most compelling about the movie are the film's revelations about the out-of-the-spotlight lives of Ms. Maines and fellow Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
11/09/06
Mario Tarradell
Mario Tarradell
Dallas Morning News

[M]assively depressing, and highlights some of the hypocrisies and idiocies of American public life, and points out how... ignorant some Americans are, and makes you want to just give up and move to Mars and start all over again with a new revolution.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
11/09/06
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Shut Up & Sing should be one of the great inspirational stories of our time.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
11/06/06
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine

A hell-raising soul stirring musical documentary about the right of free speech.

Full Review Source: Maxim | comment Comment
11/06/06
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Maxim

...this documentary may be just the thing to find them a new audience. This non-Country fan was surprised by how much she enjoyed their music.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
11/04/06
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

The film is a wonderful and intelligent creation and certainly a must see for any Chicks fan that lost the faith over such an absurd and misunderstood moment of personal expression.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
11/02/06
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

The filmmakers had impressive access to the group, and the results are eye-opening.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
11/02/06
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

Despite the promise to turn the audience into converts if they’ve never heard the music before, listening to the Dixie Chicks is, to me, not unlike metal spikes scraped across a sidewalk grating.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 2 Comments
11/01/06
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

One of the most thought-provoking and powerful films of the year

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
10/31/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While watching the Chicks balance career and family life, Kopple and Peck paint an intimate portrait of a group breaking free of being a brand.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
10/30/06
Kevin Courrier
Kevin Courrier
Boxoffice Magazine

Academy Award-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple does an excellent job capturing the Chicks' thoughts, and uses judicious clips from political speeches to put Maines' off-the-cuff comment into context.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/27/06
Angel Cohn
Angel Cohn
TV Guide's Movie Guide

One of the many remarkable things about this film is watching the band evolve as a result of an unplanned and apparently inconsequential remark.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
10/27/06
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star

Life in Bush America gets a blunt, honest telling in this documentary that makes you want to stand up and cheer without ever begging for tears or glib sympathy.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
10/27/06
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

An entertaining and smartly paced blend of concert footage, media clips, and behind-the-scenes interviews, Shut Up and Sing is a provocative and insightful documentary of lives under very public fire.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
10/27/06
Timothy Knight
Timothy Knight
Reel.com

Capturing the women in concert, backstage and at home with their families, the movie is compelling and insightful, if a bit self-serving, promoting a group whose popularity is waning.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment 1 Comment
10/27/06
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger

Sharper and far more entertaining than most political documentaries.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/27/06
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

The film gives us a fascinating look at how the Chicks and their bemused-yet-concerned English manager, Simon Renshaw, alternately tiptoed and blundered through the crisis.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
10/27/06
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

Documentarians Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck are skillful enough to tell this story from multiple angles, making Shut Up & Sing as insightful as it is entertaining.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/27/06
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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