If you're a Rolling Stones fan, you'll surely love "Shine a Light" even more than I did. It's pretty much a Stones concert show with interviews in the middle but it's as good as a concert movie can be. Let's face it, even an average performance by the Stones isn't boring. With all the genius that the director Scorsese brings, it was pretty good, not monumental, but really defines the Rolling Stones. Although "Shine a Light" was filmed decades after the band's peak, it proves that these epic rock 'n' roll bad guys, despite their age, still know how it's done. This was my only chance to afford front row tickets to a Stones concert and so watching this in the theater was pretty damn cool and downright fun.

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.

finally,after three unsuccessful attempts at picking a good movie,my friend and i hit pay dirt,with this Martin Scorsese documentary chronicling a benefit concert by the Rolling Stones in 2006.there is also brief footage of Mick and the gang being interviewed in their earlier days, and some of the answers they give to the interviewer are humorous and ironic.most of the songs the played i had never heard of,but they were all enjoyable.there were quite a few bluesy sounding numbers and a bit of country,and a ballad or two.plus,the gang are visited by three special musical guests(at separate times)who join in the singing.all in all,this was a fast paced,entertaining documentary.for me,Shine a Light is a 7/10

Early in the picture, there's the greatest exchange between director Martin Scorsese and one of his engineers. Talking about the precautions needed with the stage lighting and how hot it might get:Scorsese - "You mean like flames?" Engineer - "He (referring to Mick Jagger) might catch on fire". Scorsese - "We can't do that". I don't know what I got a bigger kick out of, that conversation, or the sight of Bill Clinton getting a hug from Keith Richards. You have to admit, that was pretty bizarre. Now don't take this the wrong way, I've been a Rolling Stones fan right from the get go, but seeing them up close and personal the way they appeared in this concert film, is about the closest you'll ever get to seeing a band of corpses performing live. Sort of on the order of the Crypt Keeper in 'Tales From The Crypt'. Except for Charlie Watts maybe, he looks pretty much like a regular old man. And again, I'm not making fun, just taking liberty considering the fact that I'm not much younger than any of the Stones.But man, that Jagger has energy to spare, and he can pound it out with the best of them. Kind of makes you want to get up out of a comfortable sofa and kick out the jams along with the boys. Every rock number that Mick belts out is raw energy, and when you figure that in forty plus years of performing they must have played "Satisfaction" a few thousand times, it's a blast to hear it like it was fresh and new. I particularly liked the way they mixed their set with a take on a Motown favorite, "Just My Imagination", along with a great bluesy presentation of "Champagne and Reefer" accompanied by the legendary Buddy Guy. It was also cool to hear Jagger reach way back to the early days for a stab at an acoustic version of "As Tears Go By".I was taken aback somewhat the first time an interview clip from the Sixties popped into the picture; hard to imagine that the Stones were ever that impossibly young. Responding to a question about the band's prospects after their first two years of touring, I think you'd have to score Mick's answer as the understatement of the rock era - "I think we're pretty well set up for at least another year". And what keeps Keith Richards going? - "My luck hasn't run out yet". I've never seen The Stones live in concert, but "Shine A Light" is a pretty reasonable substitute. There's no shortage of old favorites and long time fans will know and appreciate every tune. Kind of makes you wish that each performance will set them up for at least another year.