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[MJackson News]

Review: 'This Is It' a homage to Jackson greatness

Watching "Michael Jackson's This Is It" will have fans grieving once again, but this time, it won't only be for the fallen King of Pop, but for what we lost — a brilliant entertainer who gave every inch of his body and soul for what might have been one of the most spectacular comebacks of all time.

Jackson never got to complete that comeback, dying days before his London concerts were to begin in July, but "This Is It," culled from hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage for those shows, does it for him. Even though it's been well edited, the amazing performances Jackson delivers in this film are not a result of camera magic, but Jackson's own.

When Jackson announced his "This Is It" concerts earlier this year, many wondered whether Jackson had any magic left at all. Besides his tattered reputation, he was rumored to be in frail health and hadn't performed a major concert in almost a decade. There were well-deserved skepticism about whether Jackson had the vocal and physical agility to stage the kind of concerts that wowed fans in his prime two decades earlier.

"This is It" gives both answers an emphatic yes. Even though Jackson's looks — with his weirdly delicate face and his stick-thin frame — still makes one squirm with discomfort, once he starts to perform, that discomfort gives way to amazement. At 50, Jackson was still an amazingly gifted dancer with moves that leave your mouth agape. Though we only see him do the moonwalk once, and just fleetingly, his stop-on-a-dime spins, deft footwork and body jerks recall the Jackson the world fell in love with 25 years earlier with "Thriller." And Jackson's voice still dazzles — even when he's trying to play it down.

"I'm trying to conserve my voice," Jackson says at one point — then delivers a vocal that is spine-tingling — and these are just run-throughs, not the actual show.

Fans never get to see what would have been the "This Is It" concert — full dress rehearsals weren't due to happen until the show went overseas for final rehearsals. Instead, the movie takes from segments of taped rehearsals, and also weaves in film segments Jackson planned for the concert to give at the very least an idea of how the concert might have looked.

A graveyard scene meant to be in 3D was planned for Jackson's performance of "Thriller," and a computer-animated dancing army would have accompanied Jackson on screen for a militaristic version "They Don't Care About Us." Jackson kept much of the same moves from his classic "They Way You Make Me Feel" video — including the floor humping — as well as the

groundbreaking choreography from his "Beat It" clip.

But whether it was through new visuals and different musical arrangements, he appeared to be breathing new life into his well-worn catalog, promising fans a show that would have taken Jackson and his fans to new heights. Jackson is gentle but authoritative as he demands perfection from his crew, whether it's gently taking the audio crew to task for making his earpiece too loud or attempting to elicit a grand performance from his young star guitarist.

"This is your time to shine," he says in that famously soft soprano voice before delivering a high wail and challenging her to do the same on her guitar.

The film doesn't give viewers much insight into Jackson outside of performance mode — we only see him rehearsing or hear him talking about music, or the meaning of his songs. Yet the film does give a glimpses into Jackson's personality — alternatively playful and shy, firm yet understanding, often saying phrases like "with love" after giving a command.

The film also splices together different performances of the same song at times, leaving one to wonder why. Is it for a visual effect? Or did he not complete enough in one take?

Thankfully, there appears to be enough full takes so one's mind does not play into conspiracy theories. There were certainly critics of "This Is It" before its release — those who wondered whether it would be an exploitative flick, a quick attempt to cash in on his newfound popularity, and those who felt the preparations for the concert contributed to his death.

But "This Is It" is a beautifully made, loving tribute that gives Michael Jackson what he so desperately wanted — affirmation that he indeed was the greatest entertainer of our time.

"Michael Jackson's This Is It," released by Columbia Pictures, is rated PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images. Running time: 111 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.
PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.


Source: AP

[Sharon007]

Michael Jackson's This Is It Review on RTE.ie

Director: Kenny Ortega

Starring: Michael Jackson.

Duration: 112 minutes


Reviewer Rating ****


User Rating ***

On 25 June Michael Jackson died suddenly at the age of 50 and just weeks ahead of the start of his 'This Is It' final-ever live tour. Millions of fans around the world mourned and thousands were disappointed that they would not now get to see the King of Pop live in concert at London's O2 Arena.

But never let a little thing like death stand in the way of the world of entertainment making a buck off the Jackson name. Now fans can see the man with the quicksilver feet in action after all with the release of this behind-the-scenes film of rehearsals for that doomed tour.

When parts of the video of MJ's rehearsals in Los Angeles came to light shortly after the singer's death, his management was quick to dismiss criticism of the performance by those who said that the star had lost his sheen. Judge for yourself with this 112-minute film of those rehearsals that were filmed from March to June of this year, just before Jackson's death.

Some 80 hours of footage, purportedly originally filmed for Jackson's personal library, was used to mesh together a documentary of what the show was meant to be. There are no interviews with the star but some of those involved in the production do talk about working on the show. The first batch, with some of the dancers when they auditioned, could fit easily into an 'X Factor'-style show, complete with tears and expressions of dreams coming true etc, etc. In fact, some of the dancers' interviews seem very staged. Thankfully there are only a few minutes of that element. The film is really about the concert and we get to see and hear Jackson perform a dozen or so songs, not all in their entirety, but enough to give a taste of what was planned.

But much of what we see is Jackson's dancing rehearsal-style and not singing. He does say a number of times that he is saving his voice for the real performance - undoubtedly left in the film to stave off any criticism of his singing. Although when he does sing you get to see flashes of the artist that won worldwide poplarity for his vocal ability.

There have been suggestions that body-doubles were used in order to complete the film, and there are a couple of times where it appears that this might have been the case, but they are not when Jackson performs on stage. The film also shows a number of special-effect 3-D films that would have been used in the 02 concerts but we will never get to see them as they were meant to be seen alongside the dazzling costumes, using state-of-the-art styles incorporating Swarovski crystal, performances by aerialists, and Jackson skimming across the audience in a cherry-picker.

If you expect to see 'W&&&& J**&&' in this film you will be disappointed. There is only one point in the film where Jackson's eccentricity really shows through. When thanking the performers for their hard work, he ends by telling them he loves them, as was his wont, but he then says he loves the planet too and informs the group that "we only have four years left" to save the earth. Besides that incident, there are no other insights into Jackson other than as an entertainer, who is not only a performer but a perfectionist. Although he appears to be rather meek, he in fact seems very definite about his vision of the concert and what he wants and expects from everyone involved.

This film has the trademark Jackson moves: moon-walk, crotch-grabbing and high-pitched squeals, albeit lacking the zeal that would presumably have been present at the live shows. At times Jackson does look tired and very frail and while he was able to keep up with his dancers, it's clear that he was holding back. Given the task he had taken on and the demands that he put on himself to reach exacting standards of performance, I doubt that he would have been able to complete the series of concerts in London. But had he met the monumental task, there is no doubt it would have been an amazing experience.

Whatever your opinion about Jackson's personal life, there is no denying he was a true entertainer. His whole life was about performance and in death, as in life, for Michael Jackson the show must go on. This film gives a taste of what we had seen in the past and hints at what might have been but whether the King of Pop would have been able to pull off the 50 concerts will never be known... so 'This Is It'.

The film has a two-week limited engagement around the world, which is expected to be extended.


Fiona Hearst

Source: RTE

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This Is It Review on Entertainment.ie



Watch Trailer

Rating ***

Release Date: 28 October 2009
Director: Kenny Ortega
Starring: Michael Jackson
Details: US/112mins PG


Cut To The Chase: Glimpses of the genius that is Michael Jackson are prominent through-out, but fans shouldn’t expect any more than glorified fine-tuning of the concerts that never happened.

Assembled from rehearsal footage for his proposed fifty night residency at the O2 Arena in London, This Is It is essentially Michael Jackson rehearsing for nearly two hours. Sure, there are gushing crew members and dancers, all waxing lyrical about how much of a privilege it is to be on the same stage as the 'King of Pop', while "Creative Partner" Kenny Ortega shines it all up good and nice, but this is hardly insightful stuff. By a Jackson family member's own admission, this is MJ himself at about forty percent. Granted, that still blows the majority of today's pretenders out of the water, but all it does is offer a glimpse of how great Jackson once was, and how spectacular that show at the O2 could've been, if fate hadn’t cruelly intervened.

Regardless of how you look at this (it's not a concert film, it's not a documentary, and it's barely a movie), fans of Jackson will be lining up around the block at the chance to witness rare behind the scenes footage of his creative process. They'll be glad to see he is still an incredibly slick performer, effortlessly flailing limbs with a hypnotic smoothness; proof that you never lose raw ability, grown from a God-given talent. A couple of moments where he's refining musical and dance elements aside, we don't see a lot of him off stage.

Enjoyment of This Is It is all about expectations; if you're an obsessed fan, screaming and fainting is obviously mandatory. Casual fans, too, may enjoy his bittersweet swansong, but given that this was all shot for Jackson's own personal use (?), there's a glaring lack of purpose to the whole thing, rendering it instantly forgettable for non-fans. His musical genius, however, still resonates, even if this only serves as a reminder of that.

Review by Mike Sheridan

Source: Enertainment.ie

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[Sharon007]

Review: 'This Is It' a Jackson triumph

(CNN) -- Yes, you probably want to see this.

Kenny Ortega's record of Michael Jackson in rehearsal in the days and weeks before his untimely death in June has been a red-hot advance ticket all over the world, even while fans worried about what the film would reveal about the singer's fitness on the verge of the planned 50-date engagement at London's O2 arena.
He's as thin as a rail, so thin that his trilby looks a size too big for him. But any cynical speculation that the King of Pop headed for the exit to save himself the embarrassment of a flop -- that he wasn't just past his prime but incapable of living up to his own legend -- just won't fly.

From the evidence Ortega shows us, "This Is It: the concert" would have been as thrilling and spectacular as his audience hoped it would be. Jackson may have been broke, but this would have been a no-expense-spared extravaganza. More important, creatively, it's obvious he was far from a spent force.

Admittedly, there is no way to tell from the movie whether "MJ," as his collaborators call him, would have mustered the stamina for the demanding schedule he had signed up for.

Ortega, the choreographer-turned-director who worked with Jackson on the Dangerous World and HIStory tours, categorically has not made a cinéma vérité documentary portrait of Jackson on his last legs. This is no death-watch expose. Quite the opposite: It's a slick, "professional" celebration of a great entertainer at work and much more of a concert film than might have been expected.

Ortega dates the first scenes as April 2009 but leaves it at that. The rehearsal footage, we're told, was shot for Jackson's private library -- and there's a lot of it (the entire show, probably), a dozen of the greatest hits filmed on two or more cameras, and often across at least two rehearsals.
This is augmented by relatively brief clips from filmed segments intended for use in the concert, including a new 3-D "Thriller" video and a film noir number that puts a monochrome Michael on the run from trigger-happy Humphrey Bogart ("Smooth Criminal").

There are also sensibly brief interviews with the show's dancers and musicians, none of whom sheds any insight on Jackson the man or the artist but all of whom attest to his incredible charisma.
Happily, we can see that for ourselves. At 50, Jackson wasn't a pretty young thing any longer; close-ups confirm what a terrible travesty he'd made of his face, with his cleft Kirk Douglas chin and a nose that looks like a cartoonist's impression of a skate ramp. But this inspired dancer still had the moves, and even when he's singing well within himself (which is most of the time, here) we can appreciate his fine phrasing, his superb sense of rhythm.

Maybe the movie's greatest pleasure is witnessing how he gently, firmly coaxes out the sound he's hearing in his head from his musical collaborators: insisting on a longer pause or a funkier bass or more dramatic punctuation. "Rapport" would be too intimate a word -- royalty remains untouchable, and not even Ortega seems comfortable putting his arm around Michael's shoulders -- but Jackson could communicate musical ideas with a joy and exuberance that anyone can understand.

His cast and crew, who were also his last live audience, invariably light up whenever Jackson is performing.
And always the sound and the staging seem indivisible in his mind. It shouldn't come as any surprise, but after decades of idle tabloid gossip, lies and innuendo, it's a relief to be reminded of Jackson's prodigious talent, the consummate care and craftsmanship underneath all the razzmatazz.
The performances here are not the finished article. He wasn't, evidently, a man to show up at rehearsals in jeans and T-shirt, but for one rehearsal he sports bright orange trousers and a silver lamé jacket; at another, a red shirttail hangs half in, half out of his trousers. There are mistakes, modifications, mild disgruntlement -- though we're never shown anything resembling a temper tantrum.
"That's why we rehearse," Jackson murmurs more than once, sanguine that everything will be all right on the night.

It wasn't to be. We'll never experience Jackson's "final curtain call" as he envisaged it for himself. But "This Is It" gives us a glimpse of a more human Michael Jackson than the King of Pop ever presented in his lifetime. Imperfection suits him better than he knew.
"This Is It" runs 112 minutes and is rated PG. For Entertainment Weekly's review, click here.

Source: CNN

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THRILLER NIGHT Michael Jackson is back in the spotlight in This Is It

Release Date: Oct 28, 2009; Rated: PG; Length: 111 Minutes; Genre: Documentary; With: Michael Jackson
By Owen Gleiberman
Michael Jackson always said that he wished he could live on stage, and in Michael Jackson's This Is It, there isn't a moment when he looks less than comfortably and pleasurably at home there. On the vast, half-empty, often darkened proscenium of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where we see him in bare-bones videotaped rehearsals for the 50 London concerts that he never lived to perform, Jackson moves lightly and easily, with his herky-jerky demon-marionette grace. On the rare occasions when he's not focused on dance moves and has nothing to do but sing, as in a soaring interlude of ''Human Nature'' or a version of ''I Want You Back'' that he tosses off with affection for his child-superstar pluck, the music pours out of him like sunlight.

This Is It is not in any way ghoulish. It has now been established that when Jackson died, he was, physically speaking, a relatively healthy man. And so we're spared the macabre spectacle of combing the movie for any literal signs that he was knocking at death's door. It should also be said, though, that in This Is It, Jackson shows no telltale signs of a broken spirit, either. From the moment he takes the stage, he's loose, robust, and in control. Maybe a little too in control. In the relative privacy of these rehearsal sessions, which took place from March of this year until his death on June 25, Jackson comes off as his friends have often described him — as a gentle, sweet, but very shrewd soul who was also a painful perfectionist. Coaching his keyboardist and musical director, Michael Bearden, on how to play ''The Way You Make Me Feel'' with the exact right syncopated pull, Jackson says that he wants the song to sound ''like you're dragging yourself out of bed,'' but Bearden can't seem to get it. Though they banter a bit about the word ''booty,'' we get a hint of what a frosty taskmaster Jackson could be. When he's displeased, it stings.

As the last set of images we'll ever have of Michael Jackson, This Is It offers a raw and endearing sketch of a genius at work. The movie was directed, by Kenny Ortega, with enough liveliness to make up for its home-movie scruffiness, and I had a good time reveling in what amounts to a soft-edged vérité scrapbook for Michael-maniacs. By the end, though, This Is It feels like the half-complete experience that it is — a mere diagram of the excitement that Michael, for his comeback, had planned to unleash upon the world.

It's clear from the movie that the London concerts were conceived as a very grand series of onstage music videos, each with a huge, intricate set that at times involved digital projections, and each choreographed as a disco-inferno Broadway showstopper. (''Thriller,'' one of the few songs we watch as it was meant to be, had a full earth-packed graveyard.) The dancers were going to pop out from beneath the stage and crawl over skyscrapers, as Michael shimmied and boogied and got lifted into the air. Watching this without most of the sets, with the gears and pulleys still showing, and from two functional camera angles in front of the stage, we get the flavor of the songs but not the majesty.

And that's not just due to the lack of trappings. Jackson, it's clear, held back in rehearsal. In This Is It, he's singing and dancing, but he's also watching himself sing and dance, stepping out of his performance. What's missing — what the film gives you only a tantalizing glimpse of — is his ferocity. When he does a tamped-down version of his solo whirligig in ''Billie Jean,'' playing air guitar on his crotch (a gesture that elicits a round of cheers from the dancers in the Staples Center), you feel him sketching in the heat without quite committing himself. ''At least we get a feel of it,'' he says.

This Is It is fun, but it's a slightly airless experience. If the movie allows you to bask in Michael Jackson's aura, it also uses his image to foster ''nostalgia'' for a concert epiphany that never quite was. Maybe it was Michael's destiny to leave us all wanting more. Would those concerts have returned him to his magical pedestal? We'll never know the answer, of course. But watching this movie, at least we get a feel of it

Source: Entertainment Weekly

[magic]

Imagine if the concert would be finished!!! What they would say? now this is just rehearsal but ppl already love it

[Sharon007]

Plus Michael was only in Rehearsal mode so he wasnt giving his full value yet people still love it which is great. Also people who never got to see him in concert before get a chance to see what he was capable of.

[magic]

Here's another nice review that my friend posted in Facebook

Review: Michael Jackson stars in sizzling, sad “This Is It”

The best thing about Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” is how its breathlessly exciting rehearsal footage makes you anticipate the larger-than-life series of shows to follow.

And the worst thing about Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” is that it makes you anticipate the series of shows to follow…because there aren’t ever going to be any shows.

The movie, which shares the name of the 50-concert series in London that the late King Of Pop had planned for last summer, is part behind-the-scenes glimpse, part fan “Thank You” and part genuine revelation, because the Michael Jackson seen putting various dancers, musicians and personnel through their paces often bears little resemblance to the one we thought he knew. This Michael is more grown-up, more masculine, deeper of voice, professional but perfectionist and generally more…normal than the whispering, ashen-faced Peter Pan of tabloid and stand-up comedian lore.

Also, Jackson’s apparent physical and vocal competence in the film make an indirect but very intriguing case for the theory that Jackson was murdered, and also for the theory that some tabloids are dirty, filthy liars who make stuff up. Because unless pretty much the entire movie is the work of camera tricks, Pro Tools and an “E! Hollywood Story” re-enactment team, there’s no matching the man on screen with the frail, wrecked-voice wraith that Jackson was supposed to have become. This Michael Jackson, at 50, just weeks before his death, still has eerily sublime pitch and vocal purity, and the sharp, fluid moves of a dance master. If he does not hit every beat with the same enthusiasm as his young dancers, including West Palm Beach’s Kriyss Grant, it’s because he seems to be saving his energy, as he explains, for the show, not because he doesn’t have any left to give.

Because when he gives it – boy, does he. Again, the frustrating part of “This Is It” is the forever unfulfilled promise of all this practicing and planning. If the numbers, some rehearsed in costume and with still-evolving staging and special effects, are any indication, these shows would have been amazing. Many of Jackson’s huge hits are covered here, most strikingly the haunting “Human Nature,” which becomes a sort of vocal master class, and the intriguing black and white movie clip that had a zoot-suited Jackson flirting with Rita Hayworth and trading gunfire with Humphrey Bogart as an intro to “Smooth Criminal.”

The most telling exchanges, though, are some of the non-musical ones, as Jackson insists on nuances that initially escape the other musicians, or dedicates a song to his brothers and mother, Catherine, but never mentions his estranged father Joe. The singer, who went out of his way to seem larger-than-life, has never seemed more human – or more strong. By the movie’s end, set to the always-emotional “Man In The Mirror,” it’s obvious that while Jackson had a lot professionally at stake, he still derived a joy at performing and at the cheers that the crew emitted whenever he hit a perfect note that’s as obvious as the smile on his face.

If only this had just been the dress rehearsal, and not the final goodbye.

THIS IS IT (PG, 1 hour 51 minutes). Grade: A


http://www.pbpulse.c.../#comment-27693



The only thing is that this person missed Joe. He was mentioned together with Katherine.

[magic]

I really loved this one


Michael Jackson Still Had it at the End

Trying to duck the trick-or-treaters on my block on Saturday night (Halloween induces a bark-a-thon at my house), I escaped into the closest movie, Michael Jackson's This is It. I expected nothing. Like everyone else, after Jackson died I watched every person who ever met him once parade through Larry King Live saying what a good person he was, and listened to Liz Taylor moan about how she couldn't go on. While I never thought Michael Jackson was a child molester, I wasn't a true fan, either. And I probably believed he couldn't make it through fifty shows on the drugs he was on.

I now question my own judgment. The very first show would have electrified the world and given Jackson the adrenalin to go on. The man was a genius. Coming into rehearsals, he clearly knew every song, every move, every note. It was as if the music poured out from inside his DNA , where it always lived and now was being given the chance to express. Having never been anything but a performer, Michael Jackson was still a performer at 50, capable of astounding dance moves and exquisite timing. Not only that, but at 50 he was happy to be in the role of mentor to the younger dancers and musicians, rather than a competitor with them. He clearly wanted to give them an opportunity to shine. The audience would have loved him. Did he do every acrobatic move that the younger dancers did? Of course not. But he reminded me of a great tennis player who can win a match through superior strategy even though athletically past his prime.

At the rehearsals, he seemed comfortable with the show. Never irritable on camera, he appeared gracious and loving. By the time they were set to go to London, he had accepted the cast and crew as family, and they gave him the adulation he deserved. Many of them had traveled around the world to audition for the show. It's sad they never got the chance to hear the applause. And it's sad Michael never got a chance to do even one show, because the sets, costumes, lighting, and graphics would have been out of the ballpark. Go see this movie to see what they were working on; this production would have been worth the ticket price even if the understudy went on for Michael Jackson.

The footage was shot with two cameras, fortunately in high definition, but nothing like a finished movie. It was meant to be for Jackson's personal archive, and it is truly a documentary -- it documents the rehearsals without window dressing. In it you can see the mutual respect between Kenny Ortega, who directed the movie and co-directed the show with Michael, and Michael Jackson. Clearly they are used to working together, and they help each other out. I especially liked it when Ortega told Jackson to "hold on" to the bars on the cherry picker the first time Jackson took a ride on it. Jackson seemed fearless, wanting to take it higher and sing while doing it, but Ortega only wanted him to take the ride and test the safety.

Was Michael Jackson a sick drug addict? No way. Did we, the public and the media, hasten the death of a man who felt for the planet and wanted to deliver a message of love to the world? Probably. We have a grim way of eating our public figures alive these days. I'm sure Michael Jackson wasn't perfect, but neither are we.


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