Shine a Light
Pacific Theaters, The Grove
Los Angeles
By Victoria Joyce
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
SugarBuzz Magazine
First of all, could all of the theater owners in LA please turn down the air conditioning? The sun went down hours ago and it’s April and still chilly. We froze during the movie.
When we heard Martin Scorsese, the world’s greatest director was making a movie with the world’s greatest rock and roll band we were psyched. How could it go wrong?
This rock doc starts out with frantic phone calls in black and white with quick cuts of Mick and Marty fighting about the set list. The list is slammed down on the control console as the house lights dim. Mick won and it went down hill from there.
Scorsese is a big fan. This is a matter of record. Isn’t he the first filmmaker to use the Stones with integrity in his movies? Remember Mean Streets? It’s in my top ten and probably yours too. What happened?
This show was a benefit performance at The Beacon, a small theater in NYC. The Clintons (yeah, Hillary and Bill) show up with friends for photo ops and Bill Clinton introduces the show. That should have been the tip off. This film was uncomfortable from the get go.
Instead of an intimate portrait, we got an extended concert video and not a very good one. Too many close ups of Mick, Keith, Charlie and Woodsy with a few shots of the back up band and singers. Just a few sprinklings of obscure archive footage from the early 60’s about Mick and Keith’s drug busts. You see the back of Brian Jones for a second and I don’t think I saw one shot of Mick Taylor.
Oh yeah, no mention of the other documentary they made. The one where a guy gets killed? Give me shelter.
OK, I know. These guys are old. I don’t care. It’s the Rolling Stones. And the movie is being made by the same guy who did “The Last Waltz” and cut his teeth on “Woodstock,” not to mention the Bob Dylan epic he did for PBS. This film should have nailed you like Christ to the Cross.
Mick kept moving real fast and jumping and shaking like we wouldn’t notice his voice is gone. It’s gone. And Keith just doesn’t care anymore. Unnecessarily dialed up to eleven, the show was too big and too loud for the space and the close ups were too close. The small theater was beautiful and wasted. Not unlike the Stones.
The Stones are joined on stage for “guest appearances” by Jack White, Christina Aguilera and Buddy Guy. Mr. White Stripes does “Lovin’ Cup” with Mick on guitars and vocals. It was OK, I guess. The Christina number was painfully bad. Like a musical number on the Oscars and had us chanting ‘make it stop, make it stop.’
Blues veteran, Buddy Guy steals the picture. Bam. Mick intro’s the number and “thinks it’s a Muddy Waters song.” He thinks it’s a Muddy Waters song?! McKinley Morganfield is spinning in his grave.
The only other thing we remotely liked was Mick’s choice of shirts. And the feathery jacket he wore for “Sympathy for the Devil” was actually beautiful. The jacket, not the song. This was only number that had any life to it. Jagger makes a pretty dramatic entrance for this one, from the rear of the theater, prancing down the center aisle all red and back lit. Oooh, special effects!
Before that Keith was center stage with Woodsy for a few solo vocals. “You Got the Silver” was ruined by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” pin on the lapel of his long black coat. Disney jewelry!! He was wearing Disney Jewelry!!
One shot at the start was Scorsese’s choice for songs vs. Mick’s each in their own hand-riting. Marty wanted “Paint it Black” circled and underlined. Marty wanted music. Mick went for the stadium stuff. Nobody got satisfaction.