Well, with five eight-year old boys shaking the house to its foundation, I'll take any diversion I can get. I never saw Martin Scorcese's Stones' film, Shine a Light, so after wiping cupcake frosting off the TV I figured even Mick shirtless was better than finding pepperoni in the Wii. But sadly, with too few exceptions, this one was a yawn. The 'film' is mostly concert footage with what looks like a paid (or rich) audience of New York's beautiful dancing and raising their arms to cue cards as the boys march through the hits. We get desperate attempts at relevancy with Christine Aguilera and Jack White, the latter particularly smarmy and gross as he kept slithering up to Mick's mike for his duet, but neither worked. The other big guest, Buddy Guy, was one of the best moments, as the then 70-year old's voice boomed out of that microphone and the band seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves when he was up there. I also enjoyed Keith singing "Connection," and "Faraway Eyes" was a pleasant little nugget. But let's face it- you've seen it all before, and it's probably not a good sign when you spend a good chunk of the time talking wigs, botox, hair dye and viagra with your wife while watching a rock concert. And we were talking about the band, you fuckers.
Anyway, this is an easy skip. Yes, Mick's ballerina figure remains astonishing, and Keith is a Johnny Depp pirate with the proverbial cigarette dangling. Ronnie Wood looks like wax and not ironically, the oldest and grayest Stone, Charlie Watts, looks just fine. I will always love the Stones, but I've seen enough of them on film. The old records hold up beautifully, but does anybody need to see them again in any context? Maybe an extended interview with tough questions about failed relationships or their inability to make even a decent record in thirty years or whether they feel like old actors pasting on the smile one more time to pay some bills. They played a video of late '70s Stones right after the movie with the band playing aggressively bad disco that was far more interesting than the film because it was raw and unpredictable and a little crazy in a way 65-year old men can't, and really shouldn't, be. Put the cameras away, guys. Let memory do its work.
1 comment:
This review is kinda how I felt about Keith Richards bio. An unnecessary and uninteresting trip of Rolling Stone nostalgia. The 30 years of bad record point is particularly poignant. Both the fact that its been that long and the fact that no one apparently has the balls to confront them with this fact.
To add to today's dreariness, today we watched Waiting for Superman. This was probably the most depressing film I've ever watched in my life. The little kids in it are heartbreaking and the gnawing sense that very little will change is extremely frustrating. I challenge anyone to watch the scenes of lotteries determining who does and does not get into good schools and not be deeply moved. I felt like I was watching the death of American democracy or something. That maybe a bit much but by how much, really?
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