What a set list.
Opening with "Wanna Be Starting Something" and "Jam" back-to-back, closing with "Billie Jean" and "Man in the Mirror." A Jackson 5 medley culminating with a heartbreaking rendition of "I'll Be There." A show-stopping "The Way You Make Me Feel" arrangement. Hits upon hits in the spaces.
On the shoulders of the catalog and smart pacing, Michael Jackson's
curtain-calling "This Is It" concerts would never fail (unless you
wanted some Off The Wall, which was entirely omitted).
The spectacle was set to be an avalanche of melodrama and choreography and all the ambitious fanfare that makes musical theater worthwhile. The accompanying videos prepped for the stage screens (a shootout with a spliced in Humphrey Bogart preceding "Smooth Criminal," a gloriously self-serious and goofy rain forest narrative with evil bulldozers, 3-D zombies) were completely absurd, digestible bits of Michael.
Seeing this opus manifest behind the scenes is the most worthwhile contribution "This Is It," the rushed, moment-capitalizing film, offers. Yet it's the perfect bit of media for an artist with such a meticulously crafted, guarded public image and line of creative presentations.
Kenny Ortega's film is a capably edited reel of backstage moments: dancers welling up at opportunity in candid interviews, the crew cheering in an empty arena after emotive solo rehearsals of ballads, Michael bickering with the house band over a millisecond difference in cadence, Michael pushed to showing off pipes during "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and then humbly apologizing for over-exerting his voice.
There's hilarious, warm interaction everywhere. There's a healthy, spirited perfectionist heavily involved in every detail of his comeback.
There's no contextualizing concerts with current events. No narrative besides the natural arc of the concert's progressions. And when the film abruptly, sadly stops and the title track (a retooled demo rom an abandoned 1982 session with Paul Anka) drops, there's closure.
The spectacle was set to be an avalanche of melodrama and choreography and all the ambitious fanfare that makes musical theater worthwhile. The accompanying videos prepped for the stage screens (a shootout with a spliced in Humphrey Bogart preceding "Smooth Criminal," a gloriously self-serious and goofy rain forest narrative with evil bulldozers, 3-D zombies) were completely absurd, digestible bits of Michael.
Seeing this opus manifest behind the scenes is the most worthwhile contribution "This Is It," the rushed, moment-capitalizing film, offers. Yet it's the perfect bit of media for an artist with such a meticulously crafted, guarded public image and line of creative presentations.
Kenny Ortega's film is a capably edited reel of backstage moments: dancers welling up at opportunity in candid interviews, the crew cheering in an empty arena after emotive solo rehearsals of ballads, Michael bickering with the house band over a millisecond difference in cadence, Michael pushed to showing off pipes during "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and then humbly apologizing for over-exerting his voice.
There's hilarious, warm interaction everywhere. There's a healthy, spirited perfectionist heavily involved in every detail of his comeback.
There's no contextualizing concerts with current events. No narrative besides the natural arc of the concert's progressions. And when the film abruptly, sadly stops and the title track (a retooled demo rom an abandoned 1982 session with Paul Anka) drops, there's closure.
Subscribe to the 1000G feed
Having not seen it, the one thing that bothers me about this movie is how quickly they produced it. To me, that just screams "WE DID THIS TO MAKE MONEY OF HIS DEATH BECAUSE WE FELT RIPPED OFF BY IT."
Seems like it could have been a much more personal experience if they waited until a year after his death, but feared that by that time people would have come down off their mourning and less likely to shell out the bucks. I'm just skeptical of their intent.
Ramon - does this come across in the movie at all, or am I full of shit?
You're right. There's definitely an opportunistic element.
I mean Sony paid, like, $60 million for rehearsal footage.
But, serendipitously, the product is perfect. Michael Jackson's death is such an enormous story that testimonials and early footage just wouldn’t make sense. The bang in the buck is seeing him at work, unscripted, candid.
Hi. I wanted to drop you a quick note to impart my thanks. I've been observing your blog for a month or so and have picked up a heap of effective information as well as relished the way you've structured your site. I am attempting to run my own blog however I think its too general and I would like to focus more on smaller topics.
What the Hell??? I have to keep Refreshing the page to even be able to view the post can someone fix this issue please?
This page wasnt working earlier i tried accesing it but it timed out 4-5 times now i can access it. Whats going on?
Michael Jackson was certainly the most impressive artists of all time. I even now can't believe he's gone.