Movie Review

Lightning in a Bottle (2004)

Reviewed by Scott Brown | Oct 20, 2004

Scott Brown

Scott Brown writes the Hit List for EW and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

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EW's GRADE

B-

Details Limited Release: Oct 22, 2004; Rated: PG-13; Length: 106 Minutes; Genre: Documentary; With: Aerosmith, Gregg Allman, Chuck D, Natalie Cole and Bill Cosby...

Image credit: Lightning in a Bottle: Paul Brissman

DELTA HEIRS Blues masters (including B.B. King) gather for a one-of-a-kind megaconcert in Lightning

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''Looks like y'all hired the phone book,'' comments piano man Dr. John, ''looked in the yellow pages under 'Blues.''' That's exactly what billionaire Paul Allen, his indie film unit Vulcan Productions, and producer Martin Scorsese have done with Lightning in a Bottle, assembling a pantheon of blues and blues-inflected deities, from Solomon Burke and Ruth Brown (still cooking at 75) to a very spacey Macy Gray, for a massive February 2003 superconcert at Radio City Music Hall. The occasion commemorated 100 years of the art form, and director Antoine Fuqua (King Arthur) tries gamely to bring Delta roadhouse intimacy to a mammoth corporate event. The music's sensational, but you keep waiting for the pledge number to flash up.

Originally posted Oct 20, 2004 Published in issue #790 Oct 29, 2004 Order article reprints

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