KnoxvilleFilms.com

Man, was I ever excited to go see Shine a Light. Martin Scorcese doing a documentary about the Rolling Stones with concert footage shot at an intimate concert at the Beacon Theatre in NY shot by a legendary team of cinematographers and directors of photography. All this great footage playing on a huge IMAX screen, could it get any better?

Before we get into that, let's highlight the positive. There will never be a better seat available for a Rolling Stones show for $12.50--ever. Scorcese assembled sixteen 35mm cameras and one HD Genesis camera to capture this unique concert. This front row seat gives you a concert experience that's just not possible in real life. It's a trule awesome concert experience.

The film has gotten a lot of heat for being more of a concert film then a documentary but for me, that makes sense on IMAX. I can watch a documentary on TV and be happy. What Scorcese got right was capturing the on-stage magic and projecting it onto the big screen. The show was documented with total accuracy, at times to it's detriment.

Where the concert worked best is when Buddy Guy took the stage. The energy was so electric it was irresistible. Same goes for some of the classics tunes like Jumping Jack Flash, and Brown Sugar. Unfortunately, for me the show peaked early and the last half of the film dragged a little--more as a result of the concert performance than the editing and cinematography which brings me to what went wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, the concert was shot with sixteen 35mm cameras--not IMAX cameras. The recent trend in bringing Hollywood movies to IMAX is being done using IMAX DMR technology. As wonderful as this may sound, it's no substitute for the real thing. Shots that may be a little soft on 35mm go completely out of focus on IMAX. No matter what the press releases say, the grain of 35mm is much more apparent on IMAX and a little fleck of dust becomes huge and distracting after being blown up to a 60 foot screen.

Obviously, I'm no fan of this process. If you have ever sat too close to a DMR IMAX release, I don't have to tell you how miserable that experience can be. Couple that with highlights that were way too blown out during the first few songs and repeated shots that were completely out of focus and it's hard to believe there was so much talent behind the lens. Of course, when the music is at its best, it's easy to get swept away and be a little more forgiving of the technical faults.

All in all, it's an awesome experience that I definitely recommend. There are very few bands that can rock as hard as the Stones, and I can't imagine any that could rock that hard in their 60s. From a technical standpoint, U2 3D has set the bar so high it will be difficult for any IMAX experience to measure up. Regardless, it's still the best seat in the house for what can only be described as a slice of rock and roll history.

Written by Michael Samstag for KnoxvilleFilms.com

Knoxville Showtimes at Regal Pinnacle.

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