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Movies / On DVD / Shine a Light
Shine a Light

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Shine a Light (2008)

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Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:29

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: It may offer little new for fans, but Martin Scorsese's document of the Rolling Stones' electrifying live show should provide satisfaction to audiences.

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for brief strong language, drug references and smoking.

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Theatrical Release:Apr 4, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $5,355,376

Synopsis: The music of the Rolling Stones has lit up the soundtrack to so many Martin Scorsese films ("Gimme Shelter" has appeared in no less than three of his features--GOODFELLAS, CASINO, and THE DEPARTED)... The music of the Rolling Stones has lit up the soundtrack to so many Martin Scorsese films ("Gimme Shelter" has appeared in no less than three of his features--GOODFELLAS, CASINO, and THE DEPARTED) that it's little surprise to find the director teaming up with the legendary rockers for this concert recording. SHINE A LIGHT begins with a few glimpses of the preparation that went into the recording of the show, which was staged over two nights at New York City's Beacon Theatre in 2006. Scorsese also includes some candid footage of the Stones doing a pre-show meet-and-greet with guests Bill and Hillary Clinton, which highlights some of the different personality traits in the band. Keith Richards and Ron Wood are the clowns, always goofing around; Mick Jagger is the consummate professional, always polite to a fault; Charlie Watts caries a real air of dignity, as befits someone who enjoys a dual career as a noted jazz musician. The bulk of the movie is dedicated to the multi-camera shoot at the Beacon, which captures the Stones playing some of their biggest hits and a few lesser-known numbers. Special guests such as Jack White, Buddy Guy, and Christina Aguilera are ushered on at various points in the show, and the concert footage is broken up by some amusing vintage footage of the band. By using so many cameras, Scorsese captures a side of the Stones that is rarely seen, such as Watts turning to camera and puffing out his cheeks and Richards offering encouraging words to Jack White as he exits the stage. SHINE A LIGHT provides a welcome glimpse into the Stones' world at this advanced stage in their career, and continues Scorsese's obsession (see also: NO DIRECTION HOME and THE LAST WALTZ) with documenting some of the most influential characters in rock & roll. [More]

Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood

Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Guy, Bill Clinton, Jack White, Rolling Stones

Director: Martin Scorsese

Director: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Victoria Pearman, Michael Cohl, Zane Weiner, Steve Bing
Studio: Paramount Vantage

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Release:

Jul 29, 2008

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Reviews for Shine a Light

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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The effect was intense and overwhelming, but I mean that in a good way.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
04/07/08
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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At times, the cutting shifts from the hasty to the impatient to the borderline epileptic, and, while never doubting Scorsese’s ardor for the Stones, I got the distinct impression of a style in search of a subject.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
04/07/08
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
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The genius of Scorsese's film, which is being shown in IMAX in 93 theaters, is that it reveals the Stones' mortality while celebrating all that makes them more than mere mortals.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/04/08
Elysa Gardner
Elysa Gardner
USA Today
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It's showbiz, after all. And the band still rocks like none other, true to their creed that if their adored blues masters can play into their dotage, then so can they.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
04/04/08
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
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He brings all his skills as a filmmaker to the film, but Scorsese did not achieve the monumental dimensions of his movie from cinematic savoir faire. Shine a Light is huge because the Stones are giants.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/04/08
Joel Selvin
Joel Selvin
San Francisco Chronicle
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Amazingly, Jagger turns 65 in July. And although his face is carved with lines, his stage act hasn't changed much since the band played Madison Square Garden nearly 40 years ago.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
04/04/08
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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The movie easily beats paying $250 to experience the Bones in person; you can see everything without having to stand up, and the sound at a multiplex is far better than any arena.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
04/04/08
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
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Regardless of age, they can still rip this joint.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/04/08
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
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The music's insistent richness builds and builds, its sound becoming so deep and persuasive that qualms about age fade and the rhythms carry us away.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
04/04/08
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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What he has created, inadvertently, is an invaluable documentation of semi-fossilized Stones -- musicologists may like it, sociologists should love it and, some distant day, anthropologists will treasure it.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/04/08
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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This is how great rock and roll was meant to be filmed: By great filmmakers.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
04/04/08
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
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There's more than a bit of satisfaction to be had in Shine a Light, which starts with a clever tussle of the dynamic wills of Jagger and Scorsese.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
04/04/08
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
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As Jagger is the ringmaster in front of the cameras, Scorsese is the maestro behind them, assembling a crew under Robert Richardson that reads like a Who's Who of award-winning cinematographers.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
04/04/08
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
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Aside from threading in a few black-and-white clips of the band being interviewed in the mid-60s, Scorsese doesn't have much to say about the Stones, and their unfeeling professionalism onstage says quite enough already.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/04/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
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Some may argue that Shine a Light could have used more such flavoring. Stones' fans won't be among them.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
04/04/08
Joanne Kaufman
Joanne Kaufman
Wall Street Journal
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The filmmaking tries to generate excitement; it doesn't capture it.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment 1 Comment
04/04/08
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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Shine a Light combines his foreknowledge with the versatility of great cinematographers so that it essentially seems to have a camera in the right place at the right time for every element of the performance.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/04/08
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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As the director of the documentary Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese is a besotted rock ’n’ roll fan who wholeheartedly embraces its mythology.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
04/03/08
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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Martin Scorsese meets the Rolling Stones in Shine a Light. The synergy is so brilliant, it's nearly blinding.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
04/03/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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For the most part, Scorsese (as he did in The Last Waltz, his brilliant documentary about the Band) largely lets the Stones be the Stones.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/03/08
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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