a. www.zap2it.com - 'Michael Jackson's This Is It', By Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune | October 28, 2009 (şi un fragment):
The self-made and then self-remade performer surrounded himself with a great group of backup dancers for this concert. Ortega's film showcases their efforts. There's a "Chorus Line" bit at the beginning where we see the cattle call, then the principals selected for the top slots, plus lots of testimonials from dancers addressing the camera on the subject of what Jacko means to them. You forgive the cliches because the dance footage makes this movie. (Though even Ortega might agree: A sharper-minded concert film might've weeded out the blather a little.)
The way Jackson interacts with Ortega ("yeah, I totally agree, Michael!" he says at one point in rehearsal, trying not to sound like a sycophant), or any of the army of collaborators, the audience can piece bits of Jackson's personality together. He is coy, nonchalant, controlling, a trouper, a sweetheart, a poseur -- sometimes all at once. We rarely see the performer in close-up, and the choice seems deliberate; that face was not his greatest piece of self-reinvention, only his most apparent. But in the film's longest extended take, when Jackson duets on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with Judith Hill, we see how this performer used a vocal rehearsal to explore, and figure things out, and match his somewhat fraying voice to what he was thinking in terms of movement. He could dance brilliantly right up to the end, it's clear. "This Is It" may be a court documentary, but as a heavily lawyered portrait of an artist, it's still pretty compelling.
b. USA Today - 'This Is It' film: Equal parts thriller, off the wall, HIStory By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAYUpdated 10/30/2009 (şi un fragment mai jos):When Sony Pictures announced that it would release a Michael Jackson film culled from tapes of rehearsals for concerts that he would never get to perform, some hearts surely jumped at the prospect of seeing one of pop's most exuberantly talented entertainers back in peak form.
Let's be honest, though: That's not what most of us expected from This Is It (* * * out of four), which opens wide today. The Jackson who shook off his mortal coil on June 25 wasn't the vibrant young performer who regularly electrified stadiums, and hadn't been for many years. (...)
Even when just marking his movements, Jackson shows signs of the physical and vocal fluidity and sheer charisma that he retained. Watching him work with his band and backup singers and dancers, one senses the excitement and joy that talented performers can bring to the often grueling process of assembling a show.
Jackson's creative team and crew emerge as engaging personalities in rehearsal and interview segments that are surprisingly funny or moving. (Jackson himself reveals a sense of humor that mitigates his more eccentric traits.)
Of course there is the music —I'll Be There, Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground), Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Billie Jean and on and on.
c. blogul numitului Roger Ebert (cunoscut critic de film - cunoscut, adică, la ei) - This Is It BY ROGER EBERT / October 27, 2009 (+ fragmente):"This Is it," Michael Jackson told his fans in London, announcing his forthcoming concert tour. "This is the final curtain call." The curtain fell sooner than expected. What is left is this extraordinary documentary, nothing at all like what I was expecting to see. Here is not a sick and drugged man forcing himself through grueling rehearsals, but a spirit embodied by music. Michael Jackson was something else.(...)
Never raising his voice, never showing anger, always soft-spoken and courteous to his cast and crew, Michael with his director, Kenny Ortega, micro-manages the production. He corrects timing, refines cues, talks about details of music and dance. Seeing him always from a distance, I thought of him as the instrument of his producing operation. Here we see that he was the auteur of his shows. (...)
His audience in this case consists entirely of stagehands, gaffers, technicians, and so on. These are working people who have seen it all. They love him. They're not pretending. They love him for his music, and perhaps even more for his attitude. Big stars in rehearsal are not infrequently pains in the ass. Michael plunges in with the spirit of a co-worker, prepared to do the job and go the distance.
How was that possible? Even if he had the body for it, which he obviously did, how did he muster the mental strength? When you have a doctor on duty around the clock to administer the prescription medications you desire, when your idea of a good sleep is reportedly to be unconscious for 24 hours, how do you wake up into such a state of keen alertness? Uppers? I don't think it quite works that way. I was watching like a hawk for any hint of the effects of drug abuse, but couldn't see any. Perhaps it's significant that of all the people in the rehearsal space, he is the only one whose arms are covered at all times by long sleeves.
d. Time - Michael Jackson's This Is It Review: He's Still a Thriller By Richard Corliss Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 (& fragment):Jackson is hot again. His old albums — now sacred relics, for which the faithful did not pay so much as tithe — sold better after his death this summer than they had in this millennium. A poll of visitors to the Fandango website showed that the No. 1 movie costume for this weekend's Halloween revelers would be Michael Jackson. The singer, whose worldwide success was built on CDs and concerts, not movies, became his own fictional character. And like the runners-up — Wolverine from the X-Men films and the Twilight series' Edward — Jackson is a hero from the dark side.
So what is This Is It? A concert film without the concert. A backstage musical that takes place almost entirely onstage. A no-warts hagiography that still gets the audience closer to the real Michael Jackson — MJ the performer, that is — than anything in the man's avidly documented history. Wisely and decently ignoring the circumstances of his death and the circus that followed it, Ortega focuses on the re-creation of about a dozen Jackson standards for the concert.
e. Rolling Stone - This Is It by PETER TRAVERS (Posted: Oct 29, 2009):Where This Is It triumphs is when it has the sense to keep it simple. Yes, Jackson holds back on the vocals. "Don't make me sing full out," he pleads to the crew, cheering him on in rehearsal as he duets with Judith Hill on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." He needs to conserve his voice for the actual performance. But the slight rasp adds emotion and warmth to "Human Nature," "Man in the Mirror" and "Billie Jean" — a vulnerability rare in Jackson, who rivaled Fred Astaire in the surgical precision of his presentation.
Şi mai sunt vreo două linkuri. Iată şi nominalizările (asta că tot fură Gloabele de Aur, nu? Numai că Asociaţia criticilor străini de film de la Hollywood nu dă premii şi pentru documentare. M-a şi mirat că au băgat la grămadă comediile cu musicalurile, în paranteză fie spus.):Michael Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ film has been nominated for the following 2010 awards:sursa: kennyortega.com
NAACP Image Award: Outstanding Motion Picture (NAACP este The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, adică o organizaţie a minorităţilor etnice din SUA, adică un fel de UDMR sau Romani Criss ale lor, nu?)
Critic’s Choice Award: Best Documentary Feature
ACE Eddie Award: Best Edited Documentary (e vorba despre nişte premii anuale acordate pentru creativitate) - (Don Brochu, Brandon Key, Tim Patterson & Kevin Stitt, A.C.E.)
