Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

I was never a fan of Michael Jackson. I didn't even like the music of the Jackson Five. So, I went to this film under duress and as a favor (I'm so magnanimous) to my movie buddy, Linda. Well, I was mesmerized. Recognizing that hours and hours of Jackson's rehearsals were cut skillfully to produce this favorable portrait of the troubling, troubled star, I am still taken in by what I saw. The talent and the perfectionism are evident. He demands the best from himself and others, and demands it, not as a tyrant or martinet, but as a benevolent despot who repeatedly thanks all those around them for their hard work by saying, "God bless you." He doesn't say this in an affected or ingenuous way; he says it carefully, with sincerity -- as if he really means it. Ironically, he seems to be at the top of his game. If he is addled with drugs, he shows no signs of it. At the end, we still don't know who Michael Jackson really is, but we do know that a gifted, complex soul once moonwalked this earth.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it