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The Sparks Brothers

The Sparks Brothers

Documentary · Music · 2021

Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.

Movie details

The Sparks Brothers

“50 years. 25 albums. 345 songs. Unlimited genius.”

2021 Documentary · Music 2h 20m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.4 / 10

Community rating

Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Sparks Brothers?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Anvil! The Story of Anvil

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Edgar Wright

Written by

Edgar Wright

Ron Mael

Ron Mael

Self

Russell Mael

Russell Mael

Self

Beck

Beck

Self

G

Gary Stewart

Self

M

Mike Berns

Self

Jane Wiedlin

Jane Wiedlin

Self

Sal Maida

Sal Maida

Self

Court is in session

Put The Sparks Brothers on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.