All Concert Films & Rocumentaries < Stop Making Sense.

I know! I promised a dependable schedule, and then I ran off and ditched you again.

But I'm back! With a review, and wise enough not to promise something regular until my life settles down that I have a routine of my own that ensures I will be a well-rested, fairly-adjusted individual before I make oaths of updates.

That said, let's get down to business. Before I get into anything, I want to explain myself:

I grew up listening to the Rolling stones but it took me until my first two years of college to discover Neil Young, Talking Heads, The Band, "The Last Waltz," and "Stop Making Sense." (Much to the annoyance of friends and roommates.) When "Heart of Gold" was released, I went to see it the first week. I was one of the youngest people in the audience. That felt good in a strange way. Long story long, these are some bands I love, and concert films/rockumentaries I found (and, in some cases, fell in love with) as a result.

I am hesitant to review Martin Scorcese's "Shine A Light." Partly because, I missed a lot of the beginning.

I did, however, get to see the concert portion, which was enough to make me want to add the subtitle, "Mick Jagger Doesn't Think You Saw Enough of Him Yet."

When you make a concert film, you choose what the audience sees. So, thank you, Marty, for taking us backstage with the quirky insight to Mick the Diva (Wow, who knew. Yawn.) and kooky Keith Richards (okay, I found this charming, but I'm a sucker for all things Keith). But once this show starts, Mr. Socrcese, please show me something new. How many times have the Rolling Stones been captured performing on film? Everyone in this audience knows Mick Jagger and how he moves, and it's awesome, don't get me wrong. And thank you for showing Keith some love, but I'm pretty sure I saw more of Ron Wood in that last movie you had with him, and Charlie Watts is damn near invisible. And that's just the actual nuclear band everyone knows as the Rolling Stones!

I consider their touring band to be absolute essential, and I think I saw more of them on that HBO "Forty Licks" special in 2003 than I did in "Shine A Light." I'll grant that Scorcese didn't have any of the campy "Look-Ma-I-Just-Learned-Photoshop" filtered transitions found in the HBO special, "Shine A Light" had more than enough shots of other cameras, closeups of Mick doing what Mick does best, and (I'm almost confident in this one) the same shot of Keith leaning on Ronnie.

Please, Mr. Scorcese. Jonathan Demme studied "The Last Waltz" to make his first concert film - are you going to tell me you learned nothing from "Stop Making Sense," or even "Heart of Gold?" I could go on for hours listing my grievances as to why I feel like this film failed to match up to "Stop Making Sense," and, perhaps I will if the mood strikes. But the way I'm carrying on I make it sound like I could have done a better job standing among the crowd with my old Sony Whateveritis from when I was in high school. I don't mean this at all. And I also think that the Rolling Stones gave a killer performance. I just wish I saw more of it.

So, let's go through the highlights so I feel less like a shrieking harpy, especially because this was worth the price of admission.

I mean for one, when are you ever going to have more affordable seats to see the Stones? (I recommend going to IMAX, but get there in time to get a good seat.)

The be all and end all best part of the film is "You Got the Silver." Maybe it's because Scorcese focusing on one single thing (in this case, Keith), isn't making you wonder what's going on offscreen. It's just Ron Wood playing and Keith's singing and his mumbling, pacing, smoking, his way through underscores everything I love about that song. I checked several times on YouTube in hopes that someone pirated it so I could watch those three and half minutes again.

The special guests were great, too. Jack White was enjoyable through "Lovin Cup," and the interplay between the Stones and Buddy Guy during "Champagne and Reefer" was an appropriate dose of "Waltz" nostalgia. And fine, I'll fess up, I kind of like Aguilera in "Live With Me." It's one of my favorite tracks from my favorite Stones album, and she did right by it, for the most part. Also, for one brief shining moment I didn't mind Scorcese going away from the music -- the close shots of her stillettos mimicking the fast back and forth of Jagger's feet was a perfect slice -- what you'd want to see at the concert, if only you could.

And I think that's what pushes me into that category of every other person who's reviewed this film saying, "It's great, but 'Stop Making Sense' will always be better." In both "Heart of Gold" and the Talking Heads film, Demme allows the viewer to feel like they're at the concert. He goes to the most interesting thing on the stage, which isn't always Neil Young or David Byrne. At the arrival of a new sound, he'll take you to the source. So, instead of spending your time watching Mick Jagger and wondering where those vocals/that brass was coming from or if it was Ronnie or Keith who just played that solo, you get to see the broom at the start of "Harvest Moon," (in fact, I think, through the whole song), or Chris Franz's drumming through "Thank You For Sending Me An Angel," or Bernie Worrell over the keyboards at the start of "Burning Down the House."

As I said before, the Stones give a solid performance, and we all know that we'll never again be able to see them for the low low price of $16 a ticket. And even less for IMAX.

One final thing: Mick Jagger's attempt to join in the hoots during (the calmer, gentler, edited) "Sympathy for the Devil" have now made Neil Young's Jamaican "Cortez the Killer" (see: "Rust Never Sleeps," another brilliant concert) and rotoscoped nose mere footnotes in the lexicon of Embarrassing Performances in a Concert Film.


That same night I also finally saw "loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies." I may review this tomorrow, if at all. Thanks for checking back, guys.

Oh God! Where have I been?

Hey guys, remember me?

So it says that my last post was on September 11, and quite a few things have happened. The WGA went on strike and reached an agreement with the AMPTP, I (twice) felt the cold sting of unemployment, wrestled if I shouldn't just pack up my things and go back home, but most importantly, every movie nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards was released.

And No Country For Old Men won. Hurray!

Also during that time I did get to the movies. Sydney White was a little better than I thought, Across the Universe made me think about redacting my prereview about every time I thought about not updating the site, Sweeney Todd went above and beyond my anticipations and at the back of my mind I'm wondering if it's still playing anywhere nearby.

As for the nominated films, I'll give as brief as possible. I saw Atonement in a theatre filled with people laughing - I was one of them. Juno underwhelmed me, and how it got Best Original Screenplay continues to elude me. (Nothing against Ms. Cody, I enjoyed the film, enjoyed her speech and her article in EW, but really? That was the best thing all year? Really?) Both There Will Be Blood and No Country left me speechless and took me hours to get them out of my system. And I think someone may have to explain Michael Clayton to me. Yes, I understand the story, but, for whatever reason, I never connected. I understand these reviews are unsatisfying. The next film I see I am resolved to take notes because...

THE QUARTHOUSE IS OPEN AGAIN.

I will be updating on Sunday evenings. Every Sunday. If I miss a trip to the pictures that week, I'll review one of my favorites, so hold onto your hats.

Or I'll bitch about one of my projects. Anyway, prepare ye the way of the Quarthouse, I'm back. Brace yourselves.