Gazza wrote on Oct 18
th, 2012 at 4:35pm:
Good, well edited movie with some clips that were new to me - but the end took me by surprise...footage of Fort Worth 78 morphing into 1981 and then....roll the credits interspersed with footage of the Stones playing "All down the Line" at the Beacon in 2006..
My first thought was - 'where the fuck is the rest of the movie' and then my mate pointed out that its not a career spanning documentary but that it was subtitled 'The Rise of the Rolling Stones'
Pretty enjoyable as a documentary, funny in parts (Charlie especially) and sad as well (the footage of Brian looking lost and forlorn in the outtake footage of "One Plus One" and "Rock n Roll Circus" is REALLY poignant)
..but one really major drawback
Not a single mention that this guy
ever even existed. An oversight that's utterly criminal.
Was also a bit strange that all the Stones wives and girlfriends were airbrushed out of the story completely - you cant really do a documentary on the Stones in the 60s and omit Anita and Marianne - but removing Stu from the whole thing (although hes seen in the background once or twice) is a pretty criminal slight on the man's memory.
This sums my own impressions on the film. Its enjoyable but feels quite hollow as they gloss over some of the more rough stuff, brian dying is the darkest place they go - and altamont - and they get to 81 and leave it, i guess they don't want to document the jagger/richards rift and them aging etc but it felt like the ending of sopranos.
its a decent film, but its not excellent, or maybe its just the glaring omissions tarnish what is a well made film with some great unseen footage and snippets of very clear quality rehearsals / outtakes etc from the late 60s / early 70s
and of course THE glaring omission, Stu.
also got to hear a bit of one more shot and it sounds very stonesy, not 'better' than doom but maybe more appropriate or closer to their sound - looking forward to its release
enjoyable enough but maybe not worth many more watches (though maybe it just can't compare, i watched it in the same theatre where i saw Pearl Jam Twenty, now THAT is a biopic!)