NELSON: "This Is It" was a very good tribute to the music Michael Jackson gave to all of his fans. Unfortunately his untimely death took him away from his fans before his "last curtain call" as he said. This was to be his final concert tour although now we will never know. What you get to see are weeks of film shot of rehearsals for the upcoming tour which was to begin just days after he was lost. I myself was a huge fan of his, and even got to see him live at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, TN in 1978. I had pushed my way down with a buddy of mine and we were only about 10 people deep from the stage. What a show and what a showman he was. He was there as Michael Jackson and The Jacksons, which included his brothers who also performed that night. His legal troubles caused me to sort of pidgeon hole Michael into a category other than musical genius, and I often wondered what was going through his mind with all the cosmetic surgeries and the whitening of his skin; my kids sometimes don't believe the young Michael and the later Michael are the same person. Ellie tonight said she liked young Michael better. This movie is very good, but I would have liked to see him perform live, even if they had recorded the final concert. We'll not have that chance, so this is as close as we will get. He looks really good, no signs of health problems at all. I will recommend this film to anyone who ever enjoyed Michael Jackson's gift of entertainment; he was a musical genius and a wonderful dancer. I give this movie 3.5 stars.
Pam: This is a cross between a documentary and a concert movie showing MJ in rehearsals with his band and dancers. He is a legend and knows his music and the type of show he wanted to give to fans and that really comes through in this film. With someone as iconic as MJ, it's ridiculous to think we know even a little of what he was like in real life, but there was one scene that was revealing. Michael's earpiece wasn't working properly and he stopped the rehearsal and made a comment that it sounded like someone was pushing a fist into his eardrum, then quickly followed that with the statement, "I say that with love, with l-o-v-e." It was interesting, because for a second, I got a sense of who he really was as a person. A glimpse of the "real" rather than the performer or the superstar. I am an old school MJ fan - I don't like most anything he did after Thriller - even Thriller was a little too commercial for me. I did enjoy seeing this footage, although I kept getting the urge to go to my computer and search YouTube for the clip of him on stage in his white glove doing the moon dance across the floor...ah...the good ol' days. 3 stars.