Would a Big Screen Have Made a Difference?

We're into August! I started going to the movies a lot this month. It will take some time to review them all.

Rolling Stones fan Tim and I talked about seeing Shine a Light at Lincoln Square in the spring, but the timing never worked out. I thus caught it on DVD about three weeks ago. I can't decide whether I'm glad I saved $15 (we would've seen it on IMAX) or whether I wish I'd seen this jumbo-sized.

1) Shine a Light (Aug. 8, on DVD)

U2:3D, a concert flick released earlier this year, prompted a “you are there” sensation, a desire to wave a lighter during “With or Without You.” Shine a Light, the latest performance documentary about the Rolling Stones, is … a nicely filmed live show. I suspect some of Mick and Keith’s impact was lost on a 13-inch television screen, but director Martin Scorsese - who has shot musical documentaries before (The Last Waltz, The Blues) and explored the Stones’ catalog in several of his feature films - doesn’t make the two nights at New York’s Beacon Theater in 2006 much more than a bonanza of moving cameras. Sure, Bill and Hillary show up (one concert is for Bill’s 60th birthday); Scorsese intersperses clips from Stones’ interviews in the 1960s and 1970s as well as pre-show chatter; and guest musicians from Jack White to Christina Aguilera enliven proceedings. It’s not enough to disguise the fact that we’re watching merely an above-average concert special.