I ended up going to see the Michael Jackson movie, This Is It, by myself today. It was probably for the better, I didn’t cry, but quite a few times especially in the beginning I wanted to.
I don’t know where to start in “reviewing” it. I think it is a fascinating look into what goes into putting together a giant pop music spectacle. It’s also a great look at Michael as a person and as a brilliant performer. He knew exactly what he wanted from the band and the dancers and what was best for the “show”. (“it needs to simmer” haha) I think some people take it for granted, what a great talent he was. He wasn’t like pop singers now, who get songs handed to them, videos put together for them, and they just show up and do it. MJ had his hands in every aspect of his career – he wrote songs and music, he came up with video concepts, he choreographed, designed sets and costumes. He was an artistic genius, even if you are not a fan of pop music. The songs are just absolute classics, perfect pop songs. I forget sometimes. The movie showed him at his most comfortable, I think, at work, on stage doing what he loved. He was in control, he was himself. He was likeable, and not at all “weird”.
There were times where you could tell MJ was not giving it his all, since all this footage was just from rehearsals, and it was still fantastic. This was going to be a great show. I was so completely impressed at how much he actually sang. As MJ fans know (and Britney Spears fans ha), pop stars do not sing live alot. The HIStory tour was mostly lipsynched, and I expected that to hold true if these shows had ever happened. But nope, the majority of the songs they showed were sung live and were incredible. He still had quite the voice (though “black or white” seemed akward being sung high, same with the end of “earth song”). “Human Nature” is always a favourite of mine for showing off his voice and it didn’t disappoint. “The Way You Make Me Feel”, which I so badly wanted to see at my 2 HIStory shows, was great. “Thriller” had a funky cool ending and great visuals to go along with it. “Man in the Mirror” got to me, but like I said, I managed not to cry.
I wish they would have shown more of the aerialists and “pole dancers”, or mentioned what song they were performing in at the very least. That could have been amazingly cool (I can only hope it was “Who Is It”, since it was being played during that part, but I doubt it).
The filmed bits for songs like “Smooth Criminal” and “Thriller” were cool and had a musical theatre vibe to them that I liked. But I’m slightly disappointed that the routines were all from the past. For MJ wanting to give people something they hadn’t seen before, seems odd that there was no new choreography in the show. I understand it’s hard when these songs are so classic, with videos so iconic, people don’t want to see an all new routine for “Thriller” etc. I admit, I too want to see these iconic moves, but there are songs such as “They Don’t Care About Us” that didn’t have a hugely choreographed dance sequence, which could have been reworked from the HIStory tour routine, but totally wasn’t. Oh and I could TOTALLY DO WITHOUT THE GIANT BLACK WIDOW SPIDER! Jesus christ, that was unnecessary.
I hate the orange pants. LOL I just hate orange. He looked good, though skinny, but healthy and completely able to perform. If he was in pain, as he said before, from knees or whatever, you couldn’t tell. He looked happy, and proud of the show he was going to put on. I don’t understand why he wore wigs out in the media, his real hair, curly and pulled back looked so much better. The dancers all looked so ridiculously excited to be part of the show, I feel bad they weren’t able to get to London, but happy they got the chance to at least work with him in planning it all.
Everyone who ever liked any MJ song should see this. Anyone who ever paid attention to him, even if just for the “freak show”, should see this. Any dancer or aspiring pop star should see this.
Now the depressing part…We shouldn’t be seeing this, we should have been seeing it for real in London. Blame can be laid upon many people, like the thisisnotit campaign claiming it’s AEG’s fault he died, to my personal belief that if the autopsy report says he was healthy, he shouldn’t have died, but he did because Conrad Murray gave him propofol. (goddamnit when is he going to be arrested?!?!). MJ had a drug problem, he had a doctor problem, he had a yes man problem. Yes, I think as thisisnotit does, that people should have stepped in at some point, but when was that point? Just now when he agreed to the shows and was overworked, or years ago when he started having a drug problem? This might have happened without preparing for a tour, or without AEG, as these doctors prescribing him anything were around regardless. It’s sad, but I am sure this is going to happen again to some other pop star (Britney? take notes dear). I don’t know how to fix this hollywood problem of doctors doing whatever celeb patients want, but it need to be fixed or we’ll lose more and more of our stars. In the end, ultimately this is where I think the blame lies…MJ wasn’t addicted to street drugs, he was addicted to things he could get (and did get) from his doctors like Arnold Klein. People gave MJ whatever he wanted, seemingly without a care. Someone should have cared.
I don’t know what else to say.
*edit* MJ wore an awesome long (thigh length) black coat with a black cross on the back at one point. want. want so bad!
