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Movie Review: This Is It

Eric Emin Wood — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:49 +0000

Dunno if you heard, but a concert documentary, starring a little-known performer who died recently, opened across the country at 12:01 this morning.

This performer, Michael Jackson, would likely have been plagued by scandal through much of his adult life had anyone actually heard of him, so perhaps it’s just as well.

To Sony’s credit, This Is It does not feel like a quickie cash-in on Jackson’s death. A bit over-adulatory perhaps, but that’s to be expected. It must be said, however, that Jackson’s death casts a pall over the movie’s early proceedings; to me, his fake cleft chin and overly manufactured nose make his face look like melted wax, his voice occasionally lilts – not in a good way – and some of his dance moves look robotic.

But as time passes, the rehearsals have an obvious effect on him; his dancing becomes smoother, his singing becomes stronger, and he appears to become younger. Performing came as naturally to Jackson as breathing, and while his voice occasionally disappears, he’s never off-key (and explains more than once that he’s trying to save his vocal cords), and every number yields enthusiastic applause from the gathered technicians and back-up dancers.

If there’s an aspect of This Is It worth complaining about, it’s that a series of early interviews with Jackson’s back-up dancers never mentions their names, nor does the movie return to them, making their initial praise of him and nervousness when auditioning both creepily voyeuristic and shamelessly sentimental. It’s also worth noting that we never learn anything about Jackson himself; whenever he’s talking it’s all business, though it’s enlightening to learn just how clearly he knew his music inside and out. As you might expect, Jackson is very affectionate with the people he works with, and the choreographers, musicians, back-up singers and dancers all speak highly of him.

And what of the performance itself? Jackson and High School Musical director Kenny Ortega created a very cinematic production – show-stopping sequences were filmed for at least five of the songs – and after a clumsy introduction, the movie soon feels like a private concert.

Most of the expected hits are here – half of Thriller (the title track; “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”; “Billie Jean”; “Human Nature”; “Beat It”), some of Michael’s early stuff with the Jackson 5 (”I’ll Be There,” “Dance and Shout”), half the singles from Bad (”Smooth Criminal,” “Man In The Mirror”; “The Way You Make Me Feel”) and some of his most popular late-period work (”Black or White”; “Heal the World”; “They Don’t Care About Us”).

Watching This Is It, I couldn’t help but think about what Jackson’s detractors would have thought of the final product. Would they have seen his show and enjoyed it, or dismissed it as overproduced fanservice mounted by a fallen icon? Hard to say, since those detractors won’t see the movie; as for his fans, those who haven’t seen it already can expect a fond farewell. Whatever his faults, Jackson wrote some great music and remained a terrific performer until the end, and my impression is that anyone lucky enough to get a ticket would have seen a hell of a show.

Footloose Remake Loses Director Kenny Ortega

Vanessa Baker — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:55:49 +0000

High School Musical director Kenny Ortega has stepped down as director of the planned remake of Footloose, citing issues with the tone and budget of the film, reports E! News. This comes after Zac Efron also bailed on the project.

Ortega’s latest endeavour, This is It, a behind-the-scenes concert film about the late Michael Jackson, hits North American theatres Wednesday.

“Coming off of the extraordinary project, Michael Jackson’s This is It, director Kenny Ortega has decided it is premature for him to commit to his next film and will not be moving forward with Footloose as previously reported,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement.

The film will star Chace Crawford and Julianne Hough, and is still planned to begin production in March.

Michael Jackson Movie Sells Out in Two Hours

Vanessa Baker — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:49:12 +0000

An early screening of This Is It in Los Angeles sold out of the 3,000 available tickets in two hours, reports CBC. Another early screening is planned for Oct. 27 at the Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 in Los Angeles. The film opens in theatres Oct. 28 for two weeks only.

In London, 30,000 tickets to the film were sold in the first 24 hours of sales, while $1 million American worth of tickets were purchased in one day in Japan.

This Is It was directed by Kenny Ortega, director of High School Musical, and features rehearsal footage from the British tour Jackson never got to perform.

Michael Jackson Film To Hit Silver Screen On Halloween

Ilan Mester — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:16:13 +0000

A deal involving Sony Pictures, to acquire rehearsal footage from Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” concert rehearsal is being finalized. According to Variety, the distribution company hopes to give the film a theatrical release this Halloween.

It has been reported that Sony is paying approximately $60 million for 80 hours of rehearsal footage of Jackson. The footage currently belongs to AEG Entertainment, the company responsible for promoting Jackson’s 50 shows in London.

Kenny Ortega will reportedly assemble the movie which Sony plans to released on October 30, according to MTV News. The “High School Musical” director shot the original footage. According to Variety, the rehearsal film will feature “at least three” videos, and one of them could be an alternative version of Jackson’s hit “Thriller.

A slew of distributors were reportedly interested in the footage, but since Sony’s music division owns the publishing rights to the king of pop’s songs, it’s fitting for them to own the rehearsal footage as well.

Concert Promoter Plans Tribute Show For Michael Jackson

Ilan Mester — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:14:35 +0000

CEO of AEG Live Randy Phillips — the Los Angeles-based concert promoter of the now-canceled This is It London concert series that would be Michael Jackson’s last tour — told Sky News he would like to see a musical tribute to Jackson.

“This show was beyond anything, the technology, the size of the show,” Phillips said. “It was Michael Jackson. It was bigger than anything else could ever have been, it was beautiful and amazing, and he was amazing in it. [Concert director] Kenny [Ortega] and I have discussed this. At some point, the world needs to see this production. And I would imagine if we could do it, it would be done as a tribute, with the family, with the brothers performing and the sisters and other stars who loved Michael and were influenced by him.”

It has been reported that AEG has over 100 hours of footage from show rehearsals, including Jackson’s final run-through that was completed hours before his death.