Shine a Light (2008)
Grand Entertainment

Description

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the world's greatest rock'n' roll band, The Rolling Stones, unite to bring audiences the year's most extraordinary film event, Shine A Light. With special appearances by Christina Aguilera, Jack White and Buddy Guy, and four Rolling Stones performances not seen in theaters, Shine A Light is a must-own for rock'n'roll fans across generations.

Tags

2000s, Rock, Concert

Collected reviews and ratings

9.0 New York Times | Stephen Holden

This is a concert film with frills that places you on the stage with the band and, with a finely trained eye, observes the musicians’ interactions with one another and with the audience.
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8.8 Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

The Stones play to the audience, not the camera, but the setting is so intimate and Scorsese's focus is so intense that you seem to experience the concert in three dimensions. This you-are-there spellbinder is a master director shining his light on the best rock band on the planet.
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8.0 Washington Post | Desson Thomson

In "Shine a Light," Martin Scorsese's vibrant and engaging documentary about the Rolling Stones, it's clear these aging boys have it.
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8.0 Empire | Will Lawrence

A triumph for Scorsese and a document for the band, Shine A Light is a five-star experience for Stones fans. For those less enamoured with the ageing rockers, it goes a long way to explaining their longevity.
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7.0 Wall Street Journal | Joanne Kaufman

Director Martin Scorsese enlisted 18 cameras to record the fall 2006 Rolling Stones concert documented in the fluidly shot "Shine a Light." Seventeen of those cameras at New York's Beacon Theater surely must have been trained on the cappellini-skinny Mick Jagger.
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7.0 Variety | Todd McCarthy

Scorsese doesn’t attempt anything nearly as ambitious here as he did with the Band on “The Last Waltz” or with the epic Dylan piece “No Direction Home.” Other than initial glimpses of the helmer planning the shoot and fretting over not having a song list in advance, ”Shine a Light” doesn’t really bear much of the director’s imprint.
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5.0 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

Shine a Light is a blistering parade of hot rocks, but it's never quite startling, like Stop Making Sense, or transcendent, like Scorsese's The Last Waltz. What it captures is a band that has figured out the best way to endure — by becoming eternal.
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