Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
55
Christmas Carol, A
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
33
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
xx
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
43
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
xx
WolfMan, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
46
44 Inch Chest
83
Ajami![]()
73
Amreeka
xx
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
84
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
48
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
68
Departures
62
District 13: Ultimatum
85
Education, An![]()
71
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
68
Girl on the Train, The
52
Killing Kasztner
74
Last Station, The
43
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
73
Me and Orson Welles
76
Messenger, The
57
Missing Person, The
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
xx
My Name is Khan
49
Nine
63
North Face
59
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
69
Red Riding Trilogy, The
29
Saint John of Las Vegas
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
77
Single Man, A
xx
Still Bill
76
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
19
To Save a Life
68
Town Called Panic, A
59
Until the Light Takes Us
57
Videocracy
65
Waiting for Armageddon
82
White Ribbon![]()
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Lightning in a Bottle
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 1 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary | Musical
Written by:
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 22, 2004
DVD: March 8, 2005
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Chris Thomas King, Dr. John, Honeyboy Edwards, Shemekia Copeland, and Natalie Cole
On February 7th, 2003, renowned artists across multiple music genres and generations commandeered the stage at New York Citys Radio City Music Hall to pay tribute to their common heritage and passion - the blues. This documentary captures the nights magic and weaves a history of the blues through the juxtaposition of performances, backstage interviews, rehearsals and archival clips of some of the greatest names in American music. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Bait King Arthur Shooter Tears of the Sun The Replacement Killers Training Day
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
See it with an open heart and a tapping toe.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Lightning in a Bottle has breadth, both in its multitude of perspectives and its spectrum of performances.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A movie which, like all the best blues, makes good times out of bad times, makes smiles out of hurt, makes tears taste like honey.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
When Lightning In A Bottle steps back and simply lets the old-timers ply their trade, the result is consistently riveting.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
Like all good concert films, it's the next best thing to being there.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Simply lets the sinfully gorgeous music and emotions sweep over an audience.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Richard Harrington
Cinematographer Lisa Rinzler beautifully frames the performances, capturing a night of brilliant blues.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Joel Selvin
The end result is something like the best blues festival anyone could have thrown last year, although Lightning in a Bottle falls a fair piece short of its own lofty goal.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Comes alive with the more relaxed performances from its senior set.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Howard Cohen
If you haven't caught Lightning on PBS already, find a theater with a good sound system, sit back and be grateful the music endures.
Read Full Review >New York Post Megan Lehmann
A joyous, toe-tapping celebration of a musical style born of sorrow.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Fuqua's passion for the music comes through in the clear, unobtrusive style of the film, which mixes generous footage of the event's performances with interviews and archival footage, all adding up to a luscious historical snapshot of one America's original art forms.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
Despite some iffy moments, Lighting is the closest one to get to the music from which, as Hubert Sumlin notes, "there is no retiring. You stay with it until the end."
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown
The music's sensational, but you keep waiting for the pledge number to flash up.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
You'd have to be a real curmudgeon not to enjoy a show with Ruth Brown, Mavis Staples, Solomon Burke...
Read Full Review >Film Threat Phil Hall
A documentary which wobbles and weaves as much as often as it soars.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
It's as hard not to ask what former New York Doll David Johansen is doing in their company, prancing his way through an irrelevant version of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," as it is not to wonder why the audience is so overwhelmingly white.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bernard P. gave it a 10:
One can't top Solomon Burke, India Arie, Angelique / Buddy Guy, Shemekia Copeland's performances...this movie is pure heaven...the cover of VooDoo Child by buddy guy & ANgelique is the best cover since SRV and sung with a dead on spritual understanding of the piece...and Solomon Burke rocks the house front to back and top to bottom - even if you are a wanna be blues lover or musician - you better not miss this baby, don't cha miss it at all!!
