Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS* [ALL REVIEWS HERE]

[ginvid]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

It is at 81% now on the tomatometer!

 

[Ashtanga]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

I'm so happy for Michael and so proud of him!

:smilerolleyes:

:wild:






Well....

I was watching the movie today and I will watch again on Saturday. I just loved Smooth Criminal, Thriller, Earth Song...:wild::wild::wild: Finally, the entire movie. :wub: A great genius who shows all his genius and talent. :clapping:unk:The movie answered all my questions and thoughts. :yes: "This is it" is far from what some people are saying about the rechearsals. :smilerolleyes:

I'm very, very, very happy and proud... :wild:

I am simply without words... :wub:

 

[wendy2004]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

Thanks for posting all these amazing reviews. I'm stunned, yet--not, since I thought the film was amazing as well. Wonderful to read and know others are "getting it". Still hurts that he had to pass away for this to happen. Bright side is that ppl are experiencing Michael the way he wanted. Such a diverse group of ppl coming together to see TII, hear his message and appreciate his talent. It's like a flashback to Thriller days..except he's not here to enjoy the adulation and respect. Besides Murray, I think that's always going to be the "bitter" part of the bittersweetness for a long time.

Otherwise...SWEET! Go Michael! And Go Team TII! Kenny Ortega didn't let me down. Nailed it, imo. unk:

 

[Ankita]

Re: this is it reviews

VERY nice review on a leading Indian TV news channel from a critic who was all praises for Michael's creative genius, confessed she got emotional many times, heaped praise after praise on Michael. Her candid praise for Michael, the movie and his extraordinary genius made me cry throughout the long TV special. Every news channel generously covered the premieres and showed long clips of the movie...nothing but PRAISE FOR THE KING OF OUR HEARTS EVERYWHERE!
Love you and miss you Michael...tears rolling down again..
Thankyou for everything...hope to meet you up there very, very soon..

 

[froggytuff]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

What the heck is this dude "Rick Warner"s deal? That was a total crap review. He wasn't watching the same movie I was.

No he was definitely not watching the same movie as us.

He was watching it with a MASK of loathsome and pure hate.

Let him be. His demons will catch up to him.

If not, then seeing that he is in the minority [re: his review], amongst his critic collegues will surely put him in his place.

he has probably never felt L.O.V.E.

 

[Tom]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

I'm starting to dislike IGN...

This Is It UK Review
Our verdict on the Michael Jackson movie.
By Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK

UK, October 28, 2009 - The biggest movie release of the week is this somewhat bizarre documentary/concert film that chronicles what turned out to be the final weeks of global pop phenomenon Michael Jacksons life.

The flick is made up of rehearsal footage of Jackson's ill-fated 'This is It' swansong tour, which would have seen the singer perform 50 (sold out) concert dates at London's 02 Arena. Fate intervened however, with this distillation of the hours of material shot for a making-off documentary all the public will end up seeing of the sure-to-be-spectacular show.

When the movie was announced, a mere 9 days after Jackson's death, many criticised tour company AEG (who financed This Is It) for shamelessly cashing in on his demise and trying to recoup the vast amounts of lost revenue with a rushed tie-in.

Thankfully the finished movie doesn't feel as exploitative as its origins probably were. Indeed the fact that Michael Jackson's This Is It focuses solely on his upcoming concert, and is not an all-encompassing documentary dealing with the rest of his life or still-unresolved death is definitely to its advantage. Indeed his death is mentioned only in the opening trail of the film.

MJ still does the business in This Is It.

​

Instead it's structured like a concert movie, with occasional interviews with dancers and other collaborators spliced between footage of the man himself running through some of his hits. Unless there's some very good editing afoot, the footage is a rebuke to those who said that Jackson was unable to sing and dance his way through the back catalogue.

Despite looking dreadfully thin, MJ is healthy enough to effortlessly keep up with his buff 20-something support dancers. And whilst he is mostly only at three-quarter pace for much of the rehearsals, it remains an pleasure to see the man glide and dance across a stage.

Vocally he comes across even better. In the last weeks of his life Jackson still seemingly had the voice of an angel, with one of movie's highlights a "duelling banjos" duet with a female singer on 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You', with the pair pushing each other until Michael - who is supposed to be resting his voice - performing some stunning vocal pyrotechnics.

MJ's singing and dancing are most brilliantly showcased in his run-through of 'Billie Jean' - the highlight of the movie. As a group of backing dancers look-on dumbstruck, Jackson blazes through the track at nearly full-pelt and gives a reminder of why the number became such an iconic classic.

It's also interesting to see some of the expensive-looking filmed sequences shot for the concert; including a 3-D version of 'Thriller' set in a haunted mansion, a cliched rain-forest segment for 'Earth Song' and, most impressively, a short for 'Smooth Criminal' that sees Jackson spliced into various classic black-and-white gangster movies, and go head to head with Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.

Despite these highlights however This Is It still feels somewhat unsatisfying. Firstly, whilst it's initially exhilarating to see Jackson sing and dance on screen again - as opposed to walk in and out of courtrooms shielding his face from paparazzi - after a while one pines to see the man perform in front of fans and at full speed. Some of the performances felt like almost a ghostly shadow of the deeds he was once capable of (eerily appropriate given the context of the movie). Footage of his 'Dangerous' concerts in the mid-90s are far greater testaments to his on-stage genius.

Another aspect that felt undeveloped was the supposedly once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Jackson's creative process at work. Whilst we do see the singer interacting with his musicians occasionally, this few minutes is hardly the definitive insight into what made him creatively tick that we were promised. Aspects such as how he went about staging the numbers or selecting the tunes, were obviously either not filmed, or deemed superfluous.

Jackson and his crew at work.​

We do see a smidgen of his personality shine through - Jackson comes across as extremely humble, gracious and awfully nice in the footage selected, but nonetheless the film still feels very disconnected and removed from the man. He never speaks directly to the camera and human interaction obviously doesn't come easy to him - perhaps Jackson is too bizarre a character for anybody to really know, no matter how long you followed him around with a camera.

One also has to remember that this isn't a warts-and-all doc; it's an almost hagiographic portrait of Jackson and his music made mainly for his fans. Die-hard supporters of the Jackson will get a lot out of This is It, and will be most heartened to see that - even in his twilight weeks - the man was still an extremely talented performer.

Those with less of an interest in the singer however will be unsatisfied by the movie's inability to reach beneath the surface, and also troubled by the slightly grubby genesis of the movie.

IGN UK STAR RATING: 3 out of 5 STARS (6/10)

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/103/1039906p1.html

 

[The Special One]

Re: Movie Reviews *NO SPOILERS*

Since this is where most of the people who haven't seen the movie must be staying don't forget: STAY AFTER THE CREDITS!


L.O.V.E.

why?

after heal the world?

 

[ginvid]

Re: this is it reviews

Hello all, There's already a thread for keeping all of the reviews.

 

[andyroser]

Small review on amajorlove.com

How do I start this? Like really?
It’s hard to put words to the movie (let alone breathing/blinking when watching.)
Truly a breathtaking and moving 2 hour experience. I want to emphasise the word “rehearsals”. This was no full scale production, it was simply a work in progress. If only we’d of seen the master with 20,000 screaming fans in front of him.
However, This Is It was outstanding, not just Michael’s astonishing note perfect vocals and everything else about him but the cut of the film, the enthusiasm from others’ working around him. Everything was innovative, fresh or revamped (like Wanna Be Startin’ Something.)

(I’m still struggling to put this to words, bare with me.)

http://amajorlove.com/?p=390

 

[sharon007]

Michael Jackson's This Is It
Director: Kenny Ortega

Starring: Michael Jackson.

Duration: 112 minutes


Review 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.

Watch a rehearsal clip from 'This Is It'.

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 '***** *****' 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: http://www.rte.ie/arts/2009/1029/thisisit.html

 

[angelofhope]

I loved it. Went to see it this afternoon. Gave me alot of comfort, but so sad sad. AMAZING! MICHAEL WAS A LEGEND NEVER TO BE REPLACED!