After checkin' out the Michael Jackson documentary, 'This Is It' a few weeks ago with Northside Shorty, I commented on the ride home that I really needed to drop a post on that joint. I initially fell through expecting to see some slapped together, recanned clips put together by the Jackson family to pull down one last payday. Instead what I saw still has a brother ravin' about this movie two weeks later.Like Michael said in London during the announcement of his fifty show tour that it would be the 'curtain call' to his career, this film - due to his tragically early demise - fills that role all too aptly and, like most curtain calls at the end of a great concert, you really didn't want this movie to end...
First off - Ol Ty bestows 3.5 (out of 4) Spinners on this flick. Any movie that leaves me wantin' more has to get at least 3, y'all. I always reserve that last 0.5 for what I consider a 'perfect' movie - which this isn't, but it's seriously entertaining. I'm a sucker for behind the scenes movies - ol Ty likes to see how things are created before they hit the bright lights and all the behind the scenes footage in this joint hinted that had the concert series come off, it would have been the concert to end all concerts. The dancin' was tight, the concepts hyper imaginative and, despite all rumors, Michael seemed to really be at the top of his game...at fifty! Ol boy still had the dance moves, there was *no* deterioration of his voice - his live singin' sounded just like the album tracks - and the sets were on point.
But the most fascinatin' thing about the movie was the undeniable fact that Michael really was a musical genius. Hold up, now. Ol Ty doesn't throw that title around lightly - check it out for youselves. MJ may have been soft spoken and painfully polite but when it came to his music he never half-stepped. He knew all his music down to the last beat and he would be quick to call out any musician who didn't get it right. One part that had ol Ty laughin' was when he called out the musical director for rushin' a piece on his keyboard and he told homey he needed to slow it down cuz the music needed some time to 'simmer'. He was similarly scrupulous about the choreography and it became clear that his perfection was not to satisfy himself, but to satisfy his fans who knew his music and choreography as well as he did.
On the drive home, ol Ty was reminded of another flick he checked out - Amadeus - about Mozart, another musical prodigy (didn't think ol Ty was that deep did, y'all?). At the beginning of that movie, Mozart's rival - Antonio Salieri - was lamenting the death of Mozart, an admittedly strange thing for a rival to do. Through flashbacks we see how initially, Salieri was all jealous of Mozart and minimized his musical abilities. Eventually, fate pulled these two together as Mozart was dying and tryin' to complete one last symphony for the King. It was Salieri's plan to steal it and palm it off as his own, but as the two worked together Salieri saw how effortlessly Mozart could weave the various musical pieces together - horns, percussion, strings - just by thinking about them and by the end of the night Salieri found himself in awe of Mozart's true genius and embarrassed at his juvenile behavior toward him.
It's the same deal with Michel, y'all. Yeah - he had Bubbles, the cosmetic surgeries, slept in a hyperbaric chamber, bought the Elephant Man remains, wore outrageous outfits, married Lisa Marie, lived at Neverland, preferred the company of children, named two of his children Prince Michael, blah, blah, blah. But in the end, in ol Ty's opinion, he finally gets the true recognition he deserves as a musical genius in his own right. It was no accident that he became the most famous Jackson. It's no accident that his catalogue of music - 98% self written - has no peer. It's no accident that his appeal remains global and knows no cultural boundary.
So if you haven't seen Michael's final curtain call, see that joint in all it's glory on the big screen, with the big sound. Even more so if you've been a MJ hater - a modern day Antonio Salieri. Your ephiphany is just a movie ticket away. It's true you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but it's also true that last impressions linger always. This is a really good last impression, y'all.
Peace@Least,
Tyrone
