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  • 2010
  • Unrated
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2010
  • Unrated
  • 1 h 42 m
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector

Summary Legendary pop music genius, record producer Phil Spector created the “wall of sound” behind some of the greatest hits of the ’60s: Be My Baby, He’s a Rebel, Da Doo Ron Ron, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, to name just a few. Today he is imprisoned serving 19 yearsto- life for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. During his first...

Directed By: Vikram Jayanti

Written By: Mick Brown

  • 2010
  • Unrated
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2010
  • Unrated
  • 1 h 42 m

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Legendary pop music genius, record producer Phil Spector created the “wall of sound” behind some of the greatest hits of the ’60s: Be My Baby, He’s a Rebel, Da Doo Ron Ron, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, to name just a few. Today he is imprisoned serving 19 yearsto- life for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. During his first...

Directed By: Vikram Jayanti

Written By: Mick Brown

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
69% Positive
9 Reviews
31% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 13 Critic Reviews
70
69% Positive
9 Reviews
31% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
What makes "Ecstasy" essential viewing for any pop-music fan and any student of celebrity pathology is the interview itself. Spector, despite his immodest comparisons of himself to Bach, da Vinci and Galileo, is surprisingly entertaining company, not simply the mad recluse with crazy hair that was his shocking image during the trials.
FULL REVIEW
80
To have been in junior high school when rhapsodic fugues of yearning like "Spanish Harlem," "Uptown," or "Be My Baby" first poured from the radio is to have a sensibility, if not a fantasy life, in some way molded by this monster of self-absorption; to see The Agony and the Ecstasy is to be discomfitingly haunted by the specter of that long-ago innocence.
By J. Hoberman FULL REVIEW
80
Veering wildly between paranoia (being judged by "12 people who voted for George Bush") and self-aggrandizement (modestly comparing himself to Da Vinci, Bach and Galileo), Spector makes a fascinating subject.
By Ronnie Scheib FULL REVIEW
75
The film casts Spector in a sympathetic light. You can't help feeling sorry for the tormented genius.
By V.A. Musetto FULL REVIEW
63
Jan 27, 2011
A fascinating shambles of a documentary - fascinating because its subject is so influential and so deranged, a shambles because its filmmaker can't decide which approach to take and so takes all of them.
By Ty Burr FULL REVIEW
60
A little more in-depth insight into a person who both produced that song ("Be My Baby") and pulled a trigger might have been nice.
By David Fear FULL REVIEW
40
Most of its truth (and any irony) is undercut by director Vikram Jayanti's fawning approach.
By John P. McCarthy FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company BBC Arena, VIXPIX Films
Release Date Jun 30, 2010
Duration 1 h 42 m
Rating Unrated
Genres
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