Retirement age Mick Jagger displays awe inspiring energy in this unimaginatively shot an edited documentary by Martin Scorsese. Jagger's St. Vitus routine is still crisp and sharp after forty (40!) years and it's amazing just to see Keith Richards breathing while the retiring Charlie Watts remains the coolest Stone, placid demeanor in check to all the pretense and bombast around him. As a filmed concert angles are clear and the recording sound pitch perfect but Scorsese a generation removed from the better planned and crafted The Last Waltz lends little more than his celebrity status to the production where he is flustered and frustrated by the Stones reluctance to fork over a set list until the lights go up. When they do it is little more than a nostalgia show or Elvis in Vegas.
As for the Stones, they are a long way from being the threats to Western Civilization as they were perceived thirty plus years back evidenced by vintage documentary footage of the band that Scorsese employs between tunes. They do some driving covers of Jumpin'Jack Flash and Brown Sugar but most of the numbers (All Down the Line is a travesty and Keith warbling You Got the Silver and Connection comes across as cynical self parody much to the delight of the audience) had me reaching for the vinyl relief of Aftermath and Beggars Banquet where the ghost of Brian Jones still resides. Up against the scruffy rebellious blokes in the documentary footage the multi millionaire rockers are like Olympic divers dressed in tuxedos. If they can't get any satisfaction who can?
"Old buildings, whores and politicians gain respectability if they last long enough", in-tone's Noah Cross in Chinatown. The Stones have clearly achieved that In Shine a Light, but for me the guys that provided background music to my rebellious youth are better served sharing the stage with Hell's Angels (Gimme Shelter) than Bill Clinton. With the latter it's downright unseemly.
Note: I did not see this film in its original IMAX release but I feel safe in saying that in this case it's not about size since my 1965 monaural copy of Out of Our Heads in all its primitive glory provides sufficient proof of their talent and passion. They do not have to be as tall as a five story building or enlist an A list director to convince me of this.
As for the Stones, they are a long way from being the threats to Western Civilization as they were perceived thirty plus years back evidenced by vintage documentary footage of the band that Scorsese employs between tunes. They do some driving covers of Jumpin'Jack Flash and Brown Sugar but most of the numbers (All Down the Line is a travesty and Keith warbling You Got the Silver and Connection comes across as cynical self parody much to the delight of the audience) had me reaching for the vinyl relief of Aftermath and Beggars Banquet where the ghost of Brian Jones still resides. Up against the scruffy rebellious blokes in the documentary footage the multi millionaire rockers are like Olympic divers dressed in tuxedos. If they can't get any satisfaction who can?
"Old buildings, whores and politicians gain respectability if they last long enough", in-tone's Noah Cross in Chinatown. The Stones have clearly achieved that In Shine a Light, but for me the guys that provided background music to my rebellious youth are better served sharing the stage with Hell's Angels (Gimme Shelter) than Bill Clinton. With the latter it's downright unseemly.
Note: I did not see this film in its original IMAX release but I feel safe in saying that in this case it's not about size since my 1965 monaural copy of Out of Our Heads in all its primitive glory provides sufficient proof of their talent and passion. They do not have to be as tall as a five story building or enlist an A list director to convince me of this.