Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The Rolling Stones, filmed by Martin Scorsese is a great idea; it's just a pity that it had to happen a good thirty years too late. Contrasted with the punk-inspired, on-form Stones caught on their 'Some Girls' 1978 tour, this DVD just looks a little sad. Respect is due to Mick Jagger, who is still a compelling frontman, A-class guitarist Ronnie Wood and the ultimate garage-band drummer that is Charlie Watts, but Keith... Keith Richards gets a lot further these days on his personality than his guitar playing, which has steadily ossified and actually decreased in abundance over the decades. Since the blazing lead-rhythm 'Chuck Berry meets the Blues giants at a garage-punk gig' style seen so delightfully extensively during the 'Some Girls: Live in Texas '78' DVD, Keith has devolved into someone who plays less and less and poses more and more. Here he seems to play around a quarter (if that) of what he used to play, leaving Ronnie and Mick to take up the slack, which in all fairness, they do admirably. In fact, one is tempted to say that Jagger is now a better (and certainly more prolific) guitarist than Keith, who seems content to noodle about with the odd occasional lick rather than the full-blooded rhythm-chording he used to do. It has been said that he hasn't been the same since he fell out of that tree a few years ago and given this evidence it is difficult to disagree . Elsewhere, in contrast with the stripped-down 1978 tour, there are more people on stage who aren't the Rolling Stones than who are, leaving the actual band-members almost as guest stars at their own concert. The less said about actual guests Christina Aguilera and the execrable performance by Jack White the better (Buddy Guy fits in well though), and despite Scorsese's attempts to create a sense of excitement with his myriad of camera- shots, this gig is a damp squib. On viewing 'Shine a Light', one unhesitatingly salutes the efforts of the increasingly musicianly Jagger (although one strongly suspects that this is a measure adopted perforce to cover Keith's disturbing infirmity), and concedes to Ronnie Wood's stalwart guitar show-carrying brilliance, but it is not enough to save the experience from the near-heartbreaking conclusion that the ageing 'band', with its supporting superstructure of extra musicians, really is milking the last dregs of a career which should have been ended a long time ago.

Scorcese, obviously a huge Stones fan, sets out to make a 'documentary' with this film "Shine A Light" but as you probably have read by now, it is no documentary. It's a concert film and nothing more. We are treated to some pre-show clips and setup, some roadies unloading gear, and a couple of extremely short interview clips. When the concert gets going, The Stones are in true form...again. The songs sound tired and rehearsed. It's all so obviously staged, every single second of it. The feeling is all gone.For those of us who have seen films like "Rock n' Roll Circus," "Let's Spend the Night Together" and even the fairly recent "Bridges to Babylon" concert video, it's merely more of the same. The budget for the production was clearly huge, as we can see every wrinkle in Mick's face the whole time. The cinematography is flashy-dashy MTV-style and we never have the camera on anyone for more than a few seconds at a time.I'd be so much more impressed if The Rolling Stones would stop jumping around on stage like children, grab a few acoustic guitars and give us an intimate 'Unplugged'-style concert. Plain and simple they look ridiculous out there. Keith is haggard as always, still smoking and picking away. Ronnie is really showing the years. Charlie still rocks at drums but now he really looks like my grandfather. And Mick, well...he just makes me uncomfortable, shaking his hips at his age. I loved the appearances, especially Buddy Guy and Jack White. There should have been more of them.If you wanna see Martin Scorcese, see "Mean Streets." If you wanna see The Stones, see "Let's Spend the Night Together." All in all not really a great example of Martin Scorcese or of The Rolling Stones, two artists who I really like, so I can't recommend this one.5 out of 10, kids.

I own many Stones records. Who my age doesn't? So, of course, I knew many of the songs and was looking forward to hearing them. After a few minutes I was cringing in my seat. I thought this was one of the most embarrassing movies I have ever watched. Flat singing by Jagger in his usual exaggerated fake American accent was to be expected, but the guy made no effort whatsoever to sing the melody of the songs or phrase the lyrics in any way that made the song recognizable. Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards sounded like they were playing in different bands and in a time of their own. Charlie Watts did a fair job of keeping time, but after every song looked like he was going to pass out from the effort. I don't even know who is on bass these days, but he seemed to be the only one in the front line-up displaying competence as a musician. The whole effect was like a very bad garage band backed by some excellent backing musicians. Without this large complement of additional helpers they would have sounded very very bad indeed. I was soon thinking that these guys had passed their sell-by date by several decades and stank like a dead beached whale.One high point of the documentary was the historic footage that Scorcese cut in, even if in retrospect it exposes them to be a group of vacuous wasters with nothing interesting to say. The very high point was a great performance by Buddy Guy, showing the Stones up as a group of white boy wannabee pretenders. Jack White's duet with Jagger would have been better if Jagger had left him to sing alone.The Stones are like the Lou Gehrig of rock and roll. They go on playing long past when they should have retired, making an embarrassing spectacle of themselves so they can set some kind of longevity record.

During passing black-and-white footage beginning the film, we see Scorsese as he sketches out shot charts to map out the sequence of the songs, right down to the solos, and who would be where on the stage. His hopeful intention is to be able to direct his cameramen through earpieces. However, Mick Jagger fiddles with the list in continuous wavering. We observe over his shoulder at songs scratched out and written back in, as he brings up nonchalantly that naturally the whole set might be altered on the spot. It sounds as if after playing together for half a century, the Stones agree on their song order through mind- reading.What I love about this opening is that it speaks volumes about the role of a film director. Scorsese has been working as a director for over 30 years now, and he has for almost as long been one of the most beloved and respected filmmakers at least in this hemisphere. However, no matter how many A-list stars he has directed, no matter how many millions of dollars have gone into his projects, and no matter how long he struggled with depression and anger and anxiety during the 1980s trying to make The Last Temptation of Christ, he just cannot seem to wrangle the Rolling Stones! When one deems someone fit to be a director, or anyone in a position of charge for that matter, one primarily discerns based on how they perceive that person's ability to control a hundred or so people. This criteria is not so skewed, as many of these large masses of people to wrangle towards your concrete vision of the end result are big celebrities, superstars, megastars, who are so spoiled and pampered by their status that they work noncondusively, treat the director and others with utter contempt, cause selfish problems, and other such things. However, there is the argument that if one is willing to do absolutely anything to tell a story, to make a statement, to realize their vision, they will put up with as much as they have to in order to do so. (Really, the argument can be made that one could never truly know if they could handle a director's job till they actually do it.) Scorsese proves in these first ten minutes or so that no matter who you are, there are simply some people who are not compatible with you in hands-on creative situations. He also proves that in spit of this, a project can still come to seamless fruition.The problem is that Shine a Light is not a story, not a statement, and really nobody's vision. Actually, it disregards cinema. It is a filmed concert. At a concert, the audience enjoys a succession of performances. When an audience sees a movie, they enjoy a progression of events. That includes documentaries. Not every documentary has a narrative structure, but every sequence changes something. A documentary could be a story told in reality, or it could be an argument formed from bullet point to bullet point. Simply filming a concert gives the audience none of that. The audience languishes through impressive coverage of a rock concert.Take it from a fan of the Rolling Stones! Gimme Shelter, Street Fightin' Man, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Sympathy For the Devil, Monkey Man, Let It Loose, You Can't Always Get What You Want, so many quintessential rock songs. Mick Jagger's lazy, drawling vocal style is timeless. I even like to sing like that when I'm in my car, whether Let it Loose ("Leddeh Looh!") has been stuck in my head or if I'm belting Fly Me To the Moon ("Flah Me Tooh d'Mooh"). I enjoy the performances of Champagne & Reefer with Buddy Guy, and their beautiful rendition of As Tears Go By.Jagger is a dancer and a confidently sloppy one, too, and if I were at that concert, I would enjoy that. He employs his wiry body to command the attention of the audience. Keith Richards and Ron Wood are lazily lithe, Richards especially looking as if to disregard physics as his body leans at impossibly obtuse angles. Surely it has the most excellent coverage of the onstage performance. Directing cinematographer Robert Richardson, Scorsese set up a group of nine cinematographers, all either Oscar winners or nominees, to cover a concert, when if it was possible to round up such a dream team he could have made the most incredible movie imaginable.