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Movies / On DVD / It Might Get Loud
It Might Get Loud

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It Might Get Loud (2009)

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Reviews Counted:85

Fresh:66

Rotten:19

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: An affectionate tribute to rock's most distinctive instrument, It Might Get Loud is insightful and musically satisfying.

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for mild thematic elements, brief language and smoking.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Theatrical Release:Aug 14, 2009 Limited

Box Office: $1,234,300

Synopsis: Who hasn't wanted to be a rock star, join a band or play electric guitar? Music resonates, moves and inspires us. Strummed through the fingers of The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, somehow it... Who hasn't wanted to be a rock star, join a band or play electric guitar? Music resonates, moves and inspires us. Strummed through the fingers of The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, somehow it does more. Such is the premise of It Might Get Loud, a new documentary conceived by producer Thomas Tull.

It Might Get Loud isn't like any other rock'n roll documentary. Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts. Born from the experience is intimate access to the creative genesis of each legend, such as Link Wray's "Rumble’s" searing impression upon Jimmy Page, who surprises audiences with an impromptu air guitar performance. But that's only the beginning.

While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock'n roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page’s double-neck guitar, The Edge’s array of effects pedals and White’s new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live. The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where "Stairway to Heaven" was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2’s forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.

It Might Get Loud might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen. The film is directed and produced by An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott and Peter Afterman. Page --© Official Site [More]

Starring: Jimmy Page, Edge, Jack White

Starring: Jimmy Page, Edge, Jack White

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Director: Davis Guggenheim
Producer: Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott, Peter Afterman, Davis Guggenheim
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Release:

Dec 22, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region [unknown]
 
 
 
 

Reviews for It Might Get Loud

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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Has stylish cinematography, terrific sound editing and other solid production values, but it suffers from excessive style over substance...It leaves you feeling unenlightened and, ultimately, undewhelmed.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
08/15/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru

...(W)e except a sonic summit of Olympian proportions. What we get instead are three slight biographies followed by sequences that merely suggest what such a coming together could actually achieve.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
10/10/09
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
PopMatters

Davis Guggenheim's contrived documentary is a largely unrewarding essay on the mystique of the ubiquitous electric guitar...

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
09/25/09
Greg Quill
Greg Quill
Toronto Star

Nearly two hours of yackety-yak is less expressive than one image of White's hand bleeding from the intensity of pressing his guitar strings during a mad improvisation.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/11/09
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Slant Magazine

entertaining, celebratory, and slightly defanged.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
08/13/09
Jesse Hassenger
Jesse Hassenger
Filmcritic.com

It really should be about the music, not the talk.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
09/13/09
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

It cannot be said that any member of this trio is the most gifted conversationalist known to man. In fact, once pleasantries are out of the way, they barely have anything of note to say to one another.

Full Review Source: Herald Sun (Australia) | comment Comment
10/28/09
Leigh Paatsch
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)

The trouble is, once you get past the historical information and chummy interviews, you have to put up with the inevitable risk of any ad-hoc jam session: It Might Get Boring.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
09/25/09
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film's very title is a tease, however: It never gets all that loud, and you might doze off after 30 minutes of watching this unwieldy power trio.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment 1 Comment
09/11/09
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

Why isn’t the film better? Guggenheim doesn’t seem to have prodded his subjects in any interesting directions.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
08/28/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No self-respecting Led Zeppelin fan could hate a movie that contains extended interviews with Jimmy Page. But that can't change the fact that It Might Get Loud is an empty exercise.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/28/09
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[O]nly occasionally turns the volume up beyond fanboy adulation. . [and] the guitar gods never get off their thrones.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
08/14/09
Nora Lee Mandel
Nora Lee Mandel
Film-Forward.com

It Might Get Loud doesn't really offer enough comparative analysis to lead to a fully educated guess about why such passionate players are so awkward and reserved with each other when given a chance to measure their skills against the best.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment 1 Comment
02/06/09
Ray Greene
Ray Greene
Boxoffice Magazine

While that sounds like a fantasy for rock aficionados, the scenes lack dramatic tension or cinematic enlightenment. It just kind of happens, and then the all-star jam fades to black, leaving few remnants of the filmmakers' initial intentions.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
09/04/09
Ricardo Baca
Ricardo Baca
Denver Post

For those who play the instrument, watch this film and learn something about the guitar. As for the rest%u2014listen to the CDs.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
08/14/09
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

Listening to rock gods speak about their music isn't nearly as enjoyable as listening to them play it.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Weekly | comment 1 Comment
10/02/09
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Charlotte Weekly

Even longtime music fans are bound to pick up a fresh fact or two. But if you really want to enjoy this music, close your door, crank up a CD and whip out that air guitar.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
08/14/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This movie has no raison d'être. The disjointed editing and shallow interviewing doesn't tell enough about any of the three to learn what makes them tick.

Full Review Source: Tolucan Times | comment Comment
08/15/09
Tony Medley
Tony Medley
Tolucan Times

This is not a history of rock 'n' roll guitar. It's a movie-fantasy version of the "favorite music" section on Guggenheim’s Facebook page.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/27/09
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A must-see for axe players, the movie is not terribly concerned with history. Still, its design is smarter than you realise.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment Comment
10/28/09
Time Out Sydney
 
 
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