The combination of music with the performers' dedication makes this more moving than a concert souvenir, though they are almost upstaged by touching moments with veterans.
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11/27/08
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CSNY Déjà Vu (2008)
66 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 38
Fresh: 25
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
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
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... [More]
Starring: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Stephen Colbert
Director: Bernard Shakey
Reviews for CSNY Déjà Vu
This is not a rock tour film for CSNY fans so much as a rambling, occasionally thought-provoking, sometimes moving enquiry into the question of whether the sixties protest music generation has lost its leverage over hearts and minds.
10/18/08
What saves CSNY/Deja Vu from its self-importance is the surprisingly lively, timely and timeless music.
09/12/08
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
Latest News for CSNY Déjà Vu
September 29, 2008:
CSNY fires up this rousing rockumentary, the camera's rough cut tendencies not withstanding. In other words, call me stuff like geriatric and bloated - as malice-minded talking head reporters do - but whatever you do, don't diss my peace activism. 
More...
September 21, 2008:
NeilYoung.com: CSNY fires up this rousing rockumentary, the camera's rough cut tendencies aside. In other words, call me stuff like geriatric and bloated - as malice-minded talking head reporters do - but whatever you do, don't diss my peace activism.
More...
July 24, 2008:
Critics Consensus: File The X-Files Under "Disappointing"
This week at the movies, we learn that the truth is out there (The X-Files: I Want to Believe, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson) and that step-sibling rivalry can be... More...
June 29, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review
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Related Forums for CSNY Déjà Vu
New concert film review: 'CSNY Deja Vu' with Neil Young, David Crosby
by: lovelacy 7/29/08
by: lovelacy 7/29/08
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