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Civil Brand

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Civil Brand (2003)

11%
67%
66%
N/A
N/A
N/A
11 %
Reviews Counted: 18 Fresh: 2  Rotten:16 Average Rating: 3.6/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Synopsis: “Welcome to the plantation, sister Frances.” With those words, Frances Shepherd, a beautiful young mother and nurse, is greeted upon her arrival at Whitehead Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. Surrounded by hardened repeat offenders, this meek... “Welcome to the plantation, sister Frances.” With those words, Frances Shepherd, a beautiful young mother and nurse, is greeted upon her arrival at Whitehead Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. Surrounded by hardened repeat offenders, this meek woman—incarcerated for killing her abusive husband—has just joined the ranks of one of the most lucrative businesses in America: the prison industrial complex. With every eye-opening day that passes, with every cruelty leveled against Shepherd and her fellow inmates, it becomes more and more obvious that profit—not rehabilitation—is the goal at Whitehead. After a series of pivotal events force the women to rise up against the injustices at the penitentiary, they band together against the “new plantation” workplace that harvests human labor for profit. But the odds are stacked against them. Neema Barnette’s feature film debut freshly injects socio-political commentary into the prison-film genre. With a cast that includes rap stars DaBrat, Mos Def and MC Lyte and features standout performances LisaRaye, N’Bushe Wright and Monica Calhoun, CIVIL BRAND fiercely takes on “the system” that women face in today’s corrections structure. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Lisa Raye, N'Bushe Wright, Monica Calhoun, Mos Def, Clifton Powell

Director: Neema Barnette

DVD Info

Release:

Mar 1, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Stereo - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Neema Barnette - Director

Reviews

 
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1 - 19 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
N/A

Wildly uneven, rife with a virtual checklist of human tragedies that build to easy emotional crescendos but fail to engage the audience well enough to evoke any meaning.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/15/03
Todd Gilchrist
FilmStew.com
Ratings Image
1.5/4

It's impossible to ignore the strain of misogyny that taints the movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/16/03
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
Ratings Image
N/A

It's guilty of gross B-movie meltdown, but mitigating circumstances include honest anger and a scattering of vivid scenes.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/13/03
Bob Campbell
Newark Star-Ledger
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
10/11/03
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders
Ratings Image
2/5

There's way too much of the usual bonding, beatings, petty humiliation by guards, cat fights in the yard and trips to the hole.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/10/03
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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1/4

Barnette, a veteran TV director, means this as an exposé of prison abuse and exploitation, but the film is too simplistic and derivative to succeed.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/10/03
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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D

Artistically, its heavy-handed clumsiness undercuts its goals.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/10/03
Tom Long
Detroit News
Ratings Image
2/5

It presents a heated-up, awkward blend of earnest outrage and down-and-dirty exploitation.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/09/03
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
1/4

Plagued by continuity problems, ham-fisted storytelling and a problematic voiceover by Da Brat, Civil Brand feels less like a prison movie than a prison sentence.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/09/03
Robert K. Elder
Chicago Tribune
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N/A

Without a scorcher like Pam Grier, the sub-NYPD Blue dialogue and acting dilute what could have been a shrieking wake-up call about for-profit prisons.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/08/03
Laura Sinagra
Village Voice
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1.5/4

If Civil Brand hopes to raise awareness or instigate reform, what it really needs is a greater focus on character over convention.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/09/03
Peter Debruge
Premiere Magazine
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1.5/5

Hollywood still doesn?t seem to understand that just because someone can sing doesn't mean they can act. If this film doesn't prove that point, nothing will.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/30/03
Blake French
Filmcritic.com
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N/A

Although the film loses its way in the late going with a preponderance of melodramatic elements that dilute the more compelling social message, for much of its running time it packs a visceral punch.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/30/03
Sheri Linden
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
C-

Women behind bars! While that's the perfect set-up for a late-night, soft-core cable movie, this flick is guilty of being nothing more than a jailhouse crock.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/29/03
E! Online
Ratings Image
1/4

The movie is every bit as exploitative as the old Roger Corman babes-behind- bars flicks without having nearly as much campy fun.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/29/03
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News
Ratings Image
N/A

After two smart acts, the film almost becomes the exploitation flick it so desperately wants to avoid.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/29/03
James Hill
BET.com
Ratings Image
4/5

A compelling, highly charged film that brings a contemporary perspective to classic prison picture elements.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/28/03
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

If Civil Brand works ... as an updated women's prison melodrama with a strong whisper of political consciousness, there are some crippling flaws in the film.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/27/03
Ernest Hardy
L.A. Weekly
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Muckraking mess of a movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/22/03
Susan Green
Boxoffice Magazine
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