Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon
(M. Ryder)

How much of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" can we believe?

Was Jackson, 50 at the time of his death on June 25, in rougher shape overall than the concert rehearsal footage assembled here suggests? Most certainly, yes. Produced with the full, watchful cooperation of the Jackson estate, pulled from 100-plus hours of film and video shot between March and June 2009, "This Is It" has no interest in telling the full story of anything, or the crumbling state of anyone.

Rather, director Kenny Ortega -- Jackson's partner in staging the London concert that never came to fruition -- is simply trying to suggest in some detail what sort of overstuffed career retrospective Jackson was attempting in this phantom arena affair. Naivete, calculation and all, it looks like it would've been a helluva show, complete with eco-consciousness-raising, an onstage bulldozer and 3-D "Thriller" footage, newly created to dazzle audiences left high and dry by fate and Jackson's demise.

"This Is It" is best taken as a bittersweet celebration of Jackson the dancer, the greatest popular dancer since Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, or at least James Brown. When he revisits "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," we see someone who never really grew into any kind of visually recognizable adulthood, belonging to no easily recognizable notion of manhood. But the quicksilver limbs and perpetually busy hands (penguin flippers one second, rotating pinwheels the next, never at ease) were Jackson's way of expressing what he expressed best.

He was a man both confined and liberated by movement, and "This Is It" constitutes a farewell to, and from, that man. He was the only entertainer who, within four bars, could do the mashed potato followed by the moonwalk followed by seven other moves that never really had a name.

The self-made and then self-remade performer surrounded himself with a great group of backup dancers for this concert. Ortega's film showcases their efforts. There's a "Chorus Line" bit at the beginning where we see the cattle call, then the principals selected for the top slots, plus lots of testimonials from dancers addressing the camera on the subject of what Jacko means to them. You forgive the cliches because the dance footage makes this movie. (Though even Ortega might agree: A sharper-minded concert film might've weeded out the blather a little.)

The way Jackson interacts with Ortega ("yeah, I totally agree, Michael!" he says at one point in rehearsal, trying not to sound like a sycophant), or any of the army of collaborators, the audience can piece bits of Jackson's personality together. He is coy, nonchalant, controlling, a trouper, a sweetheart, a poseur -- sometimes all at once. We rarely see the performer in close-up, and the choice seems deliberate; that face was not his greatest piece of self-reinvention, only his most apparent. But in the film's longest extended take, when Jackson duets on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Judith Hill, we see how this performer used a vocal rehearsal to explore, and figure things out, and match his somewhat fraying voice to what he was thinking in terms of movement. He could dance brilliantly right up to the end, it's clear. "This Is It" may be a court documentary, but as a heavily lawyered portrait of an artist, it's still pretty compelling.

 

     RSS

 

"Michael Jackson's This Is It" Movie Trailer

Michael Jackson's THIS IS IT will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in Londons O2 Arena.

Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show.

Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Michael Jackson up close and personal. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jacksons THIS IS IT captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show.

 

Receive Movie Reviews
Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

 

MPAA rating: PG (for some suggestive choreography and scary images).

Running time: 1:51.

Featuring: Michael Jackson.

Credits: Directed by Kenny Ortega; choreographed by Michael Jackson and Travis Payne; produced by Randy Phillips, Ortega and Paul Gongaware. A Columbia Pictures release.

 

Who was Michael Jackson
Victor Davis Hanson

When Michael Jackson tragically died two weeks ago, millions were shocked. The wonder, though, is not that the troubled pop-music megastar died at the relatively young age of 50 under regrettable circumstances, but that he was able to live as long as he did

Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon
(M. Ryder)

Remembering My Michael Jackson
Liz Smith

Here's how I want to remember Michael -- not as the mega-star, not as Wacko Jacko, but as a lovely boy whom I got to know a bit during the filming of "The Wiz" when he was 16. He was shy -- surprisingly so, for somebody who was already a show biz veteran, and a star.

His solo "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" albums were just around the corner. He was still the brilliant lead singer of the Jackson Five -- a group that never would have gotten off the ground had it not been for Michael's unique talents.

 

Recent Movie Reviews - Films in Theaters

 

Carey Mulligan & Peter Sarsgaard

An Education
Carey Mulligan & Peter Sarsgaard in An Education

Novelist Nick Hornby's screenplay for British journalist Lynn Barber's memoir sands a few edges off the corners of its heroine's story, yet the film is awfully charming. It bops along with so much esprit and lively acting.

 

Hilary Swank & Richard Gere

Amelia
Hilary Swank & Richard Gere in Amelia

This Amelia Earhart biopic isn't a bad movie, but it's distressingly ordinary for such an extraordinary subject. Played by an aptly cast and game Hilary Swank, Earhart becomes a checklist of Historical Legend accomplishments

 

Astro Boy Anime Movie Feature

Astro Boy
Freddie Highmore & Kristen Bell in Astro Boy

Astro Boy first appeared in a Japanese comic in 1951. His adventures led to a '60s Japanese TV series, then to the first of the American spin-offs, and now "Astro Boy" hits the big screen. I wish the film version of "Astro Boy" provided a stronger antidote to mediocrity. With the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell and Nicolas Cage

 

John C. Reilly & Patrick Fugit

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
John C. Reilly & Patrick Fugit in Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

In this campy vampire flick, the truce between vampires who sip, leaving humans a little weaker but none the wiser, and those who gorge, leaving death and destruction behind, comes to an end. This is an adaptation of the frothy kids book series by Darren Shan.

 

Where the Wild Things Are
Max Records & Catherine Keener in Where the Wild Things Are

Based on Maurice Sendak's 338-word storybook, Spike Jonze's film strikes minor chords and plaintive emotions where other directors would've gone for the throat. A boy (Max Records) coping with a household unsteadied by divorce sets sail for an island where the Wild Things wrestle with the same clique issues and hurt feelings the boy deals with back home.

The Damned United
Michael Sheen & Timothy Spall in The Damned United

This engaging film, a winner for soccer fans and soccer idiots alike, focuses on Brian Clough, one-time English footballer turned failed manager of the Leeds United club. Michael Sheen, who played David Frost in 'Frost/Nixon,' portrays Clough

New York, I Love You
Natalie Portman & Maggie Q in 'New York, I Love You'

The ongoing 'Cities We Love' project that began three years ago with 'Paris, je t'aime' continues its global exploration with 'New York, I Love You.' Eleven directors and 16 screenwriters contributed to the omnibus affair. I like the idea of the film more than the film itself; the batting average with the Paris project was a good deal higher. Nonetheless, this one provides some compensatory satisfactions

Couples Retreat
Vince Vaughn & Jason Bateman in Couples Retreat

Four couples on a tropical retreat think they're in for umbrella drinks and beach time. They're met instead with a stern regimen of 'couples-whispering' tactics. Though it boasts a good cast that also includes Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Jon Favreau, 'Couples Retreat' is pretty meager and more than a little depressing.

A Serious Man
Michael Stuhlbarg & Richard Kind in A Serious Man

Set in 1967 in the Minneapolis suburbs, 'A Serious Man' is a tart, brilliantly acted fable of life's little cosmic difficulties, a Coen brothers comedy with a darker philosophical outlook than 'No Country for Old Men' but with a script rich in verbal wit.

Good Hair
Chris Rock & Paul Mooney in Good Hair

Comedian Chris Rock's 'Good Hair' consists of two documentaries braided together, one enjoyable, the other enjoyable and provocative. Rock and a film crew covered the 2007 edition of the Bronner Bros. Hair Show in Atlanta and its climactic Hair Battle Royale

Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore in Capitalism: A Love Story

At its best, this uneven work represents Michael Moore at the peak of his argumentative skills. Roughly a third of its anecdotal and illustrative footage hinges on precise details strong enough to support Moore's wider indictments of the Western world's preferred way to make a buck and treat its citizenry. It is the right time to be dealing with these questions

Big Fan
Patton Oswalt & Kevin Corrigan in Big Fan

Starring comedian Patton Oswalt, 'Big Fan' is a poignant, dead-on examination of a crisis in the life of the most die-hard of die-hard New York Giants football fans. Its situations can be outrageous, but its sense of the core reality it describes is impeccable.

The Invention of Lying (3 Stars)
Ricky Gervais & Jennifer Garner in The Invention of Lying

In the world according to 'The Invention of Lying,' truth rules because no one has thought of the alternative. First encounters are brutal. And then comes the epochal First Lie Ever. The movie may be softer than you'd expect from Gervais, but the premise is so rich, you forgive the problems.

Zombieland
Woody Harrelson & Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland

Honing the dry comic skills he brought to "Adventureland," Jesse Eisenberg plays a kid from Columbus, Ohio, who joins head-splattering forces with Woody Harrelson, having a high old time as humankind's last best hope. It's a strangely high-spirited lark, giving its leading players plenty to eviscerate in between sweet nothings and wisecracks

Whip It
Ellen Page & Marcia Gay Harden in Whip It

Drew Barrymore's feature directorial debut runs on an easygoing mixture of cliches and grrrl-power, and its cast is good company. (Nice to see Kristen Wiig of 'Saturday Night Live' in more than a novelty role.) A young heroine named Bliss (Ellen Page of 'Juno') goes from the world of teen beauty pageants to roller derby competition after meeting a fiercely alluring gang of roller derby queens.

The Boys Are Back
Clive Owen & Nicholas McAnulty in The Boys Are Back

Clive Owen plays a sports columnist in Australia whose life is upended when his wife (Laura Fraser) dies and he must juggle a return to work with a 6-year-old (Nicholas McAnulty) who doesn't grasp Mom's death. His laissez-faire approach to parenting shocks relatives, but the consequences of it don't fully manifest themselves until a son from an earlier marriage (George MacKay) shows up

Paranormal Activity (2 1/2 Stars)
Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat in Paranormal Activity

A middle-class couple (Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat) living in a San Diego subdivision set up a camcorder with night vision to see what's making weird noises in their home every night, and they gather video evidence that something is messing with their relationship

Fame (2 1/2 Stars)
Debbie Allen & Charles S. Dutton in Fame

One's response to this happy, PG-rated remake, which stands in stark contrast to the R-rated pre-"High School Musical" original, probably depends on your personal relationship to the old version. The newer version, with a cast that includes Debbie Allen and Kelsey Grammer, has a sweet spirit and offers only one true moment of inadvertent camp

The Informant
Matt Damon & Scott Bakula in The Informant

In this deliciously deadpan comedy from director Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon gets a chance to work his sly comic chops in the role of a biochemist who becomes a corporate whistle-blower. Based on Kurt Eichenwald's exhaustive nonfiction chronicle, the film is both outlandish and subtle.

Jennifer's Body
Megan Fox & Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body

Striving for horror, comedy and anti-mean-girl empowerment, Jennifer's Body wants it all. Yet the tone wavers, the direction's slackly indecisive and visually drab, and in the middle of it is a thinly conceived antagonist played by Megan Fox.

Love Happens
Aaron Eckhart & Jennifer Aniston in Love Happens

Aaron Eckhart plays a best-selling therapist and grief guru whose bereavement counseling gig in Seattle is improved when he meets a flower arranger played by Jennifer Aniston.

The Burning Plain (2 1/2 Stars)
Charlize Theron & Kim Basinger in The Burning Plain

Charlize Theron once again plays a damaged woman running from her past. But storytelling tricks make this an intriguing outing for her, with a cast that includes fellow Oscar winner Kim Basinger and John Corbett.