Michael Jackson: This Is It
Michael Jackson: This Is It
Michael you are missed Customer Reviews:
This is the closest we will get to see Michael perform on stage. Too those people who got to see him live consider yourself very very lucky. You were a part of history. We will never see someone like Michael Jackson in this life time. I miss him and love him very much. I cannot wait to get this dvd.
MJ Sizzles and Simmers
Wow, what a movie! Having seen MJ perform twice live during the Dangerous and History World Tours, it’s a real pity we didn’t get to see his creative genius culminate in This is It!
The movie provides glimpses of what was to be and it would have been a multimedia spectacular! Only someone like MJ could have had the vision of combining song and dance with film, on stage, with aerialists, fireworks and 3D effects.
The movie takes us through the songs that MJ was to perform. We see how he works with the musicians, director and choreographer. We see him laugh, goof up (e.g. forgetting the lyrics), chide, encourage, and most importantly, as he puts it “sizzle” and “simmer”.
There are moments in the movie you feel his joy as he performs songs from the Jackson 5 era. He breaks into a smile at the end of “They Don’t Really Care About Us”. He “misses his cue” as the set for “Smooth Criminal” begins, but firmly tells the Director that no he didn’t miss his cue, he’s just “sizzling” i.e. taking in the audience’s adulation. You see the perfectionist at work, but you also see his playful innocence as he enjoys his ride on the cherry picker that was supposed to take him over the crowd.
Of course there were his trademark dance moves and his undeniable talent for singing. He doesn’t go all out in every song, but when he does you realize he still had the performer in him.
The movie is bittersweet. You feel his joy as he steps through his rehearsals, but at the end you’re left thinking what could have been. I can’t wait for the DVD to be released. Until then, fans and non-fans will just have to go to the movie theaters and watch glimpses of the concert that never came to fruition.
Awesome Movie And One Of The Greatest Experiences Ever
My boyfriend and I saw this in IMAX at Midnight Oct 27th. Being a huge fan of Michael since 1983, made me so happy to experience this moment. My boyfriend didn’t really like Michael til he saw the movie. And loved it too and thought it was one of the best movies he ever seen. He’s now a fan too.
The crowd clapped and screamed Michael’s name at the end of every performance. There was also some clapping and whistling during some performaces. Michael’s performance was just as excellent as the 80’s, maybe better at some times. It so was wonderful to watch this. Throughout the movie, he tells how to do stuff and the beats of the keyboards and sounds. He tells/shows how wants the special affects and more. Thriller is the best performance I ever seen him do for this song. The whole thing is awesome with creepy zombies special affects. Earth Song was also the best ever, but sad at points. The whole movie was just excellent from beginning to end. I felt like I watching a him perform onstage and not on the screen. It felt so real, like he was right there in front of us. This is an experience I will never forget and always remember. It’s sad, that None of us will ever see him perform onstage again. But watching this movie, makes me feel like I just walked away from watching him perfoprm in concert. If I could rate this above a 10, I would rate it way, way up. It deserves more than a 10. I definately recommend watching *This Is It*
Sadly after seeing the *This Is It*. It makes me a little depressed and sad. Cause of watching him for many, many years. Sadly he’s gone. Watching *This Is It* made me so happy, like he was really there. Like I said in another post. It felt so real. In reality, he’s gone forever. But his legacy, memories and music will always live on forever in my heart.
Amazing that this film was assembled in less than four months
“This Is It” is likely one of the best concert films ever produced, and that’s saying something considering that the actual concerts never happened, and the limited time available to shape the ample rehearsal footage into a polished final product.
While the film includes interviews with those associated with Michael Jackson’s planned London concerts, many snippets of creative discussions, and other “behind the scenes” activities, director Kenny Ortega wisely focuses on performance in the film. Serving that end, “This Is It” is chockful of energetic, heartfelt songs, meticulously-produced dance numbers, and other incredible elements that would have been included in the concerts, including some wonderful filmed sequences (one “co-starring” Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth).
And when Ortega chooses to include footage of performances that are interrupted (usually by perfectionist Jackson) with creative banter on how this or that song should be tweaked, or how a musician should lengthen or highlight a chord or bar of music, it’s all extremely fascinating. We see from Michael Jackson’s interaction with his musicians and producers that, despite his time away from the limelight, he was still sharp, engaged, and still very much touched by genius in the area of music and performance. Oh, and he also repeatedly came off as a gentle, nice person. And a generous one: a particularly touching scene shows Jackson urging his female back-up guitarist to step up and not be afraid to make the most of a solo moment (”this is your moment to shine!”).
It’s also uplifting (and even a little funny) to see Jackson not being able to resist giving full-fledged, amazing rehearsal performances despite the many times he says, “Now I’m going to hold back a little and save my voice for the shows”. After one such performance (Jackson singing a wonderfully re-imagined “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” with an enthusiastic but pretty outclassed duet partner), Jackson apologizes to the crew for again getting lost in the moment and not holding back. To which Ortega essentially tells him to not worry about it because, after all, how can Michael Jackson not help but be Michael Jackson?
“This Is It” will be a wonderful DVD to own (I’m sure the extra features will be amazing), but I’m glad that I made the trip to see the movie on the big screen. If you can, see it that way first to get all the more impact from this entertaining, illuminating, and bittersweet farewell to Michael Jackson, both the musical icon and, more importantly, the man.