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Movies / On DVD / Shut Up & Sing
Shut Up & Sing

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Shut Up & Sing (2006)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:31

Rotten:3

Average Rating:7.7/10

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.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language.

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Theatrical Release:Oct 27, 2006 Limited

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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Release:

Feb 20, 2007

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Reviews for Shut Up & Sing

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Shut Up and Sing tells the story of three young women whose belief in America is bred in the bone, and it shames their critics.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/19/07
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fascinating look at the intersection of commerce, celebrity, and controversy.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/18/06
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
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[Natalie Maines] makes it clear in this astonishingly candid, intimate film that she doesn't think she has anything to apologize for.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
11/17/06
Joel Selvin
Joel Selvin
San Francisco Chronicle
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These two movies — one about family and one about freedom — never quite dovetail.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
11/17/06
Andrew Lewicky
Andrew Lewicky
Houston Chronicle
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The Dixie Chicks certainly don't shut up, but they do sing in Shut Up & Sing; and while some may wish they'd done more of one or the other, there's no denying the power of this documentary.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
11/17/06
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
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...[We] see the real concern as the backlash gets serious enough to prompt death threats and the affair takes its toll on band members' families.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
11/17/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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However you feel about the Dixie Chicks flap, you can enjoy the way Kopple and Peck capture candid moments.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
11/17/06
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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What emerges is an intimate and fascinating portrait of the three women who, instead of being 'divided and conquered,' stick together and build something new.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
11/17/06
Mary Houlihan
Mary Houlihan
Chicago Sun-Times
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The filmmakers give us a good taste of what took the Chicks to such great heights

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
11/17/06
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
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... [Kopple] takes us inside big-dollar professional entertainment and lets us see ego and stupidity and self-indulgence at play just as fiercely as artistry.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
11/16/06
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
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Whatever the ultimate effect on the group's career, their excursion into politics produced a wonderfully watchable movie.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/16/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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... unfettered access to the band's strategy sessions with their manager and publicist yields a fascinating story nonetheless ...

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
11/16/06
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In watching the documentary Shut Up & Sing, one thought comes to mind. We all may be over the Dixie Chicks.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
11/16/06
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
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There's no more soul-stirring way to relive the last three years, in all their miserable divisiveness, than to see Shut Up & Sing.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
11/16/06
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The intimate, fly-on-the-wall context is what's most winning.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
11/16/06
Bob Townsend
Bob Townsend
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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
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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
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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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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