It is a good, strong documentary.
Comment
08/04/08
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CSNY Déjà Vu (2008)
63 %
Reviews Counted: 35 Fresh: 22 Rotten:13 Average Rating: 6.1/10
Consensus:
Half concert doc, half political exposition, CSNY: DeJa Vu straddles the old and new slant on politics in music with diligence and not a little self-promotion.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Theatrical Release: Jul 25, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $32,910
Synopsis: If you grew up, as I did, with your dorm room full of albums by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and antiwar activities as part of your daily agenda, you may approach the Freedom of Speech Tour with preconceptions about its motivations and content based on the band you remember. Although the... [More]
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Starring: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Stephen Colbert
Reviews
Top Critic
Neil Young, though he be the writer of some of the finest, most trenchant, angriest political songs of the last fifty years, has no skill at marshaling arguments in a cinematic context.
07/31/08
The problem isn't what it's communicating. It's the awkward structure and tendency toward redundancy. The film's a hodgepodge of songs, old footage and stories of the Iraq War that just doesn't come together with any sense of narrative cohesiveness.
07/29/08
One can't help finding it funny that the most poorly positioned elements in the film are musical ones, yet the uniquely raw and under-produced sound of the band does find itself a comfortable home in this raw and under-produced doc.
07/25/08
Many come to the shows unprepared for the heavy sermonizing. Others call for it. The documentary seems equally divisive.
07/25/08
Top Critic
Come to think of it, maybe the reason the movie spends so much time patting the band on the back is because it is obvious movie audiences aren't likely to.
07/25/08
CSNY Déjà Vu doesn’t break any new documentary ground, but it does exactly what it sets out to do: Preserve a live event and make it available to a broader audience.
07/25/08
CSNY Déjà Vu has some delicious moments, but you never quite shake the feeling that it's documenting a tempest in a teapot.
07/25/08
Top Critic
The band's harmonies have crumbled and their new songs sound like paint being chipped off an aluminum shed with a garden rake. Their hits would sound better on the next eight-track you see at a yard sale.
07/25/08
Top Critic
Young, who directed the movie, compares today's climate with the Vietnam era, and doesn't bother hiding his disappointment in the present.
07/25/08
Top Critic
Recent and archival interview, news, war and music footage, which often juxtapose the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts, round out this unflinching, well-constructed picture.
07/25/08
Top Critic
It will doubtlessly end up preaching to the choir -- Bush backers beware -- but that choir should enjoy it.
07/25/08
Top Critic
The movie makes you glad that CSNY is still out there rocking in the free world. It makes you doubly glad they're not leading it.
07/25/08
Top Critic
Might have packed a stronger punch with more commitment to both the music and the message.
07/25/08
The film avoids discussing politics directly, and instead discusses the right to discuss politics.
07/25/08
...a mix of music and politics, outrage and respect, past and present that is both thoroughly entertaining and reflective.
07/25/08
Wears its heart squarely on its sleeve for all to see and takes no prisoners in stating its political mind.
07/25/08
Top Critic
It presumably won't change many minds and those not already predisposed to the music of CSNY but those with a predilection for either the singers or the sentiments will likely finds this film to be a valuable document indeed.
07/24/08
Much like the album it's promoting, it's both urgent and regrettably cacophonous.
07/24/08
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