Michael Jackson Movie:

		List Price: $28.96		Label: Sony Pictures Salesrank: 60 Released: January 26, 2010
		Our Price: $16.99
		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
SEE THE EVENT OF A LIFETIME AT THEATERS – LOOK FOR IT SOON ON DVD AND BLU-RAY. 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 London's 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 Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson's This Is It captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show. Directed by Kenny Ortega, who was both Michael Jackson's creative partner and the director of the stage show.

Description of Michael Jackson: This Is It:
It's hard not to watch This Is It without feeling a mixture of sorrow and elation. When he passed away in the summer of 2009, Michael Jackson was in the midst of rehearsals for his final tour, an ambitious 50-date engagement. In editing 120 hours of rehearsal footage together, Jackson producer Kenny Ortega proves that it would've been an event for the ages. Michael performs material that spans his career, from a Motown medley to multi-platinum hits from Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. Though he hadn't toured in 10 years, it becomes instantly apparent, despite rumors to the contrary, that Jackson was still in full possession of that unmistakable voice--high-pitched whoops and all--and that he still had the gravity-defying moves of a man half his age. Jackson and Ortega also collaborated on some real showstoppers, such as a graveyard-set "Thriller"; an imposing "They Don't Care About Us," in which several dancers appear to morph into thousands; and a film noir sequence in which the singer slides in and out of Gilda and other black-and-white classics, singing "Smooth Criminal" all the while. Not everything works, like the Jackson 5 numbers, in which he flubs a few lyrics, claiming that his earpiece isn't working properly, but as he readily acknowledges, "That's what rehearsal is for." It's a tragedy that he didn't get the chance to share this dazzling show with the world, but Ortega allows fans to feel as if it actually happened--at least onscreen. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Michael Jackson: This Is It (Click for larger image)

Michael Jackson: This Is It Reviews:
This Is It
2009-12-20 - In March of 2009, Michael Jackson announced a final 10 show concert run, This Is It, to be played at London's O2 Arena. Due to high demand for tickets, the concert was changed to 50 concerts to be played between July of 2009 and March of 2010. Sadly, Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and the grand vision of This Is It was never completely carried. Thankfully though, the rehearsals were recorded for Jackson's personal use, and are now presented by Kenny Ortega (director of This Is It) and AEG Live to show the world Michael Jackson's vision for what could have been the biggest concert series of his career.

Michael Jackson was the consumate performer, forgetting about his personal troubles, he was known equally for his dancing and for his singing talent. From a young age he could imbue a song with emotion that even seasoned musicians had a hard time conveying. With his first solo album, Off The Wall, he sold over 20 million copies and the album was certified 8x platinum. But his true magnum opus, Thriller, spawned 7 singles (the album had 9 songs) has sold an estimated 65-110 million copies, making it the best selling album of all time. The video Billie Jean was the video that helped bring MTv into the limelight, and was also the first video by a black artist to be played on regular rotation by the network, while Thriller, is still considered by many to be the greatest music video of all time. And that's not even counting the millions of copies sold of his other albums after that. Even in death, Michael outsold the billboard charts for weeks after his death, and three weeks after his death, Thriller became the most sold album of the year to that point, surpassing Taylor Swift. With a legacy so prolific, does This Is It live up to the rest?

This Is It is not the morbid experience some people are going to expect. I'm sure some people are going to be watching for hints at his personal life, or for clues of his failing health looking for someone kind of explanation for his death. What you will get is the King of Pop in top form. He has never sounded better, and for 50, he keeps up well with his 20 something counterparts dancing on stage with him. His choreography is still top notch, and you see the genius behind the man. This is it truly is a celebration of the life and music of a genius entertainer and artist, and a perfectionist. Throughout the rehearsals you see him stop and telling people exactly how he wants to hear and see songs performed. This huge production was completely overseen by Michael Jackson, not created by a team for Michael, but created by Michael, and told to the team that he needed to create it for him.

And make no mistake, this was a huge production. Throughout, the movie you see some of what was planned for the visual conterparts to the stage performance, and it was just massive! Thriller included ghosts and a graveyard scene including zombies and a giant spider, all shot to be shown in 3D. Smooth Criminal had a video shot of Michael Jackson inserted into a Humphrey Bogart movie. On top of that were the pyrotechnics which had running fires and fireworks going off in the air over the stage. For purposes of the documentary, though, the focus is mainly on the performances, and besides Michael we get a look at the surrounding crew, and the true standout is Orianthi Panagaris who we see play guitar most notably on Black and White and Beat It. As a shredder she's definitely going to be someone to watch in the future.

But for all the praise that this doc deserves, it feels like it's missing something. Anytime we see Jackson on stage we hope to see him driving at 100%. Don't get me wrong, he sounds as good as he ever has, and even better at times, and he in no way looks or acts sick. But since he's taking in everything around him and still working on getting into shape to take on the full load of 50 shows, he's not exerting himself on the choreography to the point to where he really looks like it's flowing naturally, and seems somewhat lethargic when dancing and moving around stage. Also seeing bits and pieces of the finished project and never all at once as it would have been seen in the final show, this movie, for better or for worse, makes you want more. This could have very easily been a teaser for the This Is It tour, and, considering this is the last time we'll see Michael, that's something of a problem.

All in all, though, this is a great swan song for the King of Pop. It's a reminder that no matter what else, no matter what happened in his personal life, no matter what everyone thought of him or what public perception was, the public's eye really needed to remain focused on what mattered: the music, the performance, the genius. Whether you're a casual fan, or a die hard fan of Michael Jackson, I highly recommend you give this a try. If you were a fan, but dropped out when crap hit the fan in the 90's, you should still give it a try and put the artistry in perspective. This doc definitely doesn't disappoint!

4.5/5

Unfortunately, this is it
2009-12-18 - I enjoyed this documentary so much, I went with a few of my friends and we found ourselves pretty much singing and dancing to the music. It hit all the great songs Michael did and even some not so popular ones. This would have been a great concert to attend, the dancers were top notch as was the musical band behind him. While watching we realized that he was true perfectionist when it came to his sound, which was great because we see too many "performers" who don't care how they look on stage and can barely sing. Michael Jackson, despite how you feel about his personal life, he was a true musical artist with actual talent. He could still dance and move while singing without a hitch, it was wonderful to see him in such a positive light after so much negativity for so long. Gone too soon.

This is, in fact, it.
2009-12-11 - This Is It (Kenny Ortega, 2009)

I think everyone knows this by now, but for the record, the footage that was compiled, edited, and released as This Is It was never meant to be seen by anyone but Michael Jackson (and, presumably, a handful of trusted advisors, as well as those working on the shows). Nothing about this is finished; this is not in any way a concert film. If you're not the kind of person who can listen to a third-generation bootleg tape and visualize the original concert, This Is It may not live up to your expectations. (This is, in fact, exactly the reaction my daughter, a Michael Jackson fanatic, had to the movie.) As a document of the creative process involved in the making of such a massive live show, however, it sheds light that very few people have seen, and in that way, it is quite valuable.

One does not put together a cast-of-hundreds live performance at the drop of a hat and simply allow everyone to do what they want. Michael Jackson has to ride herd on an incredible number of artists here, including a few full complements of dancers, a large number of musicians, a gaggle of lighting and video techs, and all the other people involved in order to pull something like this together. And while some of the management methods may seem a little on the odd side, whatever the man did, it held him in good stead for quite a number of years and quite a number of huge performances; from the looks of things here, it was going to work again. We only get to see, in many cases, the barest outlines of what would have been. In some cases, not even that. (The whole girls-in-cages thing, for example, gets a few mentions, and we see some early cage prototypes, but nothing of the actual routine.) In other instances, the routine is almost completely worked out, and we see, sans lights, big explosion effects, and most of Jackson's vocals (it's mentioned by a few people that he's preserving his voice), the finished product ("Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "Beat It" being the two that seemed closest to done to me). Throughout it all, Jackson stops the action once in a while to tweak something, however small it may be. Control freak? Perhaps, but there are quite literally thousands of little details, and every last one of them has to be worked out, especially in songs with video accompaniment ("Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal", for example); everyone's got to do everything right when it's supposed to be done. You can't pull that off without some control freak in you, I don't think.

It's not bad, but more than anything it's frustrating, seeing what might have been (and I say this as someone who's never been all that big a Michael Jackson fan). And, like most concerts, I found myself wondering why some songs had been included and others ("Rock with You", "Off the Wall", "P.Y.T.", all number one hits) had been left off the list. But what's here is kind of fun to watch. Instructional as well, not that any of us would ever be putting a show this big together, but you can always dream. ** ½


Michael Jackson: This is it review
2009-12-09 - The new movie "Michael Jackson: This is it" is a very interesting and captivating movie. This movie is about the 50 date concert rehearsals that were supposed to take place in London. It was supposed to be Michael Jackson's big comeback. This movie is very important because it is real footage of Michael Jackson in his final days. I would give this movie a 5/5. The movie was perfect except that they could of made a short clip of Michael Jackson's life. If you were a big fan of Michael Jackson, you should definitely go see this movie. Also, if you weren't really a fan of Michael Jackson you should go see it anyway just to see one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived.

Was never a fan before the announced O2 shows.
2009-12-08 - I had not been a fan.I had planned to get on UK ticketmaster & get some tickets to resell 'the tickets of the century on ebay'. Then, something happened. I really did not know how it happened. Near impossible, I scored early tickets way up front to his July 2009 London shows (in March 2009). I felt fortunate & special, as if I'd won some lottery. From then on, for months I played his music in great anticipation. I bought the rest of his albums from Amazon that I didn't have. I listened EVERY single day during my work outs & commute to work. I looked at MJ's youtube past performances in absolute awe. I quickly became a great admirer of his. I was actually going to go make two separate one week trips/pilgrimages, from Chicago, just to see him in London. These excellent seats were going for 1k each. I would not have sold them for anything. I realized how special he really was. When he unexpectedly died,I was left with such a tremendous hole in my heart. I was incredulous. Then,...I cried. I could not understand this mania that came over me. (I loved Michael Jackson the entertainer.) I lamented so sorrowfully that I would never see his last work. I NEEDED this film. It gave me closure. Of all the tributes MJ had, no one could come close. MJ's tribute to himself. I could not have asked for anything else. Just the opportunity to see him one last time, to see this legend perform, just one last time to spend with Michael. Just one last glimpse, for us, to be with him. "This is It." I loved it. He was so loved, he knew how to spread love. Michael Jackson will forever be missed by the world.