Back on 18 October, 2009, I announced in this space that I would reluctantly see the Michael Jackson documentary, This Is It, because “she who will not be denied” decreed that I would. My unheeded complaint is here.
Well, I saw the movie this past weekend and bottom line: “It’s not a bad movie if you like Michael Jackson and rock ‘n roll documentaries.” I, for one, don’t care for “behind the scenes” programs and I stopped being a MJ music fan about 10 years ago. Nevertheless, it is impossible to sit through this Kenny Ortega movie without tapping your feet to the re-envisioned versions of “Thriller” and “Smooth Criminal” or be overwhelmingly impressed with Orianthi’s blistering guitar solo on “Beat It.” To me, she will make you forget the Eddie Van Halen version on the original in ten seconds. And it was her performance that really convinced me that while Jackson was a sad man, he was also a musical genius because he surrounded himself with some pretty darn good talent. The CNN review of this movie is here.
As of today, This Is It has won the weekend box office battle for its release week taking in over $101 million world-wide. However, this is far from the $250 million promoter AEG predicted. Personally, I knew they weren’t going to make their numbers as soon as my wife and I walked into the movie theater. There were only 10 other patrons at the mid-day show we viewed on Friday. Sony, who distributed the film, now intends to leave the film in the theaters until Thanksgiving. So, if you’re waiting for the crowds to thin (yes, that was a joke), you’ll have plenty of time to see this movie in the theater. Or you could just wait a year, for HBO to broadcast it. In retrospect, I wish I could have done that.
