Thursday, November 5, 2009

Michael Jackson's "This is It" (2009)

Director: Kenny Ortega. 112 min. Rated PG. Documentary.

This is not cinema, and those who'll make this a blockbuster are not necessarily movie-lovers. This is a 2-hour concert. I was expecting to know more about Michael Jackson's inner truth. The film does not meet that expectation, but instead, offers a fuller picture of the music-making machine we knew. At moments, I had a hard time figuring whether MJ was more man or music. The director makes a wise decision in avoiding any notion of the singer's death at the end, and just keeps the film full of life by beautiful music. But that's all this is: beautiful music.

(PS: And again, "Billie Jean" was undeniably his best.)

Mo says:

5 comments:

  1. I just found it hard to sit through the two non-stop hours of ass kissing. How could anyone live or work in that atmosphere? No wonder he needed an escape.

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  2. Awesome! I will definitely be quoting from you among MJ-lovers.

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  3. A really great job…, I enjoyed it and unexpectedly felt some intimacy to his privacy, personality, talent. And as you said very well,i never felt he was dead and this sense was very good. I was wonder how shy he was !, exactly like a child , as it has been said about him : A child who never wanted to grow up ,like Peter pan!

    I always like him ,not merely for his unique dancing or beautiful music ,but basically because of his voice , his voice was incredible ,…deep and so delicate .

    Among his song it’s really hard to choose which of them is the best. I love so much Billie Jean same as “Beat it “Thriller, Smooth Criminal, Earth Song, You are not alone,Heal the world, We Are the World, Bad,…you see I can’t choose! All of them are best of the best.

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  4. I always prefer to hear famous songs separatedly more than hearing them in such a movie, unless it is based on a story like hearing Beatles's songs in "Across the Universe". On the other side watching the movie didn't help me to know more than what I knew already about him. But I enjoyed the movie just because his songs and his dance reminded me of a memorable period of time in my life. I think if the story of heaven & hell is true, he would be definitely in the first one!

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  5. Maybe some day, somebody will come along and make a movie with a story based on MJ's songs, as good as "Across the Universe" ...

    Hey, that's a great script idea! ;-)

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