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Post by amaya on Dec 3, 2023 3:13:33 GMT
Just finished watching it. I liked it! Would have been nice for them to cover each track in more detail, but I get that this was meant to be about the impact the album, its short films and Michael himself had on the world.
I will admit I cringed a bit at the TikTok part, but I get it. Despite how an old fart like myself feels about TikTok and social media in general, it's part of the culture and does reach a wide audience. Michael being part of the content on these platforms and the large numbers any posts with his songs/videos in it is pretty noteworthy.
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Post by butterflies2 on Dec 3, 2023 3:22:03 GMT
Iโm not a tiktok fan either though I imagine I may have been few years ago when I was posting dance videos before it came out. I think itโs good the new generation is using it to showcase their mj moves
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Post by Snow White on Dec 3, 2023 4:51:09 GMT
I wish they included more behind the scenes of the shorts and unseen footage, it was the best part for me.
And Michael looked so cute and adorable, my heart melted! ๐๐ฅฐ
I cringed with the TikTok and BTS parts. I thought who the hell cares!
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Post by butterflies2 on Dec 3, 2023 4:57:49 GMT
Thatโs cause weโre old
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Post by Snow White on Dec 3, 2023 6:12:40 GMT
You could say we're ancient for TikTok but those inclusions felt forced, like they didn't belong there.
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Post by respect77 on Dec 3, 2023 6:43:24 GMT
I think they are to make Gen Z interested and to connect to MJ. Like:
I'm not interested in BDS or TikTok but I could live with it for the about 3 minutes it got.
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Post by Snow White on Dec 3, 2023 7:03:29 GMT
I see what you mean but it felt cringey either way. Also the end credits too, the mention of the estate projects, that didn't belong in a Thriller documentary.
And you were right about John Landis, he's been a jerk to Michael in the past but in his segment, he was quite a storyteller.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2023 7:38:39 GMT
I watched this a second time when it showed on Mtv 80s last night and I actually do like this documentary, but it's massively flawed. If they had been able to take 30 minutes of what went into Sonic Fantasy and turn it into a 2 hour thing it would be a much better effort, but like everything else they aren't aiming to please that kind of fan. I enjoyed that they had Lukather, Marinelli and Phillinganes but where were Steve Porcaro, David Paich etc? They had hours of footage of Bruce Swedien to pull from but went with a completely forced TikTok segment that actually felt so out of place. Also, Baby Be Mine, PYT and The Lady In My Life were barely scraped upon. More focused on what Thriller achieved than what went into making it. The segment with Paul McCartney was absolutely wonderful. I especially liked one part where you could see MJ and Paul work out harmonies and Paul does this thing that almost sounded like a Beatles/Maca trak - fantastic. It's a shame they could not get him like they got Stevie for Bad 25. There's also plenty of footage of Paul talking about them working together (positively) that could have been used that they would absolutely have the rights to. The Victory Tour footage was amazing and I'm convinced that the are lining up for a release, hopefully soon. I would have loved if Triumph had been covered a bit as a pre-cursor. I really enjoyed John Landis too! After watching Making Michael Jackson's Thriller the night before, it'd mad to see how every single thing he says is said with such enthusiasm and loud energy as he did in '83. I don't remember why some fans don't like him and I couldn't care less - he was entertaining and insightful. All in all, I just wish that the trio of MJ, Bruce and Quincy had been given more emphasis in that these 3 people were the absolute epicenter of Thriller coming together and being released as it was. Quincy was sprinkled throughout (thank God) but there was no emphasis on the importance of Bruce Swedien to the project. Without Bruce and Quincy the butterfly effect would be enormous for MJ's career. Thriller is the most perfect sounding record there is and that wasn't emphasised. The inclusion of stuff during the credits is so on par for John Branca and the Estate at this point, nothing else to say about that. The talking heads did not outstay their welcome like they did in OTW or Bad25 - I enjoyed Mary J Blige and Usher for what they said. These docs work much better when there is only a handful. SmoothGansgsta said "this wasn't aimed for me" and I agree. Until his children, or someone with respect for the original material take over the Estate each release will feel partly like a vanity project for the Estate themselves. No love or kudos for Vincent Price. I enjoyed it for what it is, and will definitely rewatch it. Not sure how I'd rank the 3 docs now (Bad25 is #1 that's all I know). Disclaimer - absolutely unreasonable nitpicks: The barcode on the back of the Thriller LP was so jarring to me everytime I saw it ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) . Also, irked me that they used the 2016 artwork for Off The Wall and not the original.
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Post by SoCav on Dec 3, 2023 7:41:07 GMT
Really average. The snippets of unreleased footage are the only thing that make this worth watching. That Victory Tour entrance shot - wow.
The whole 'let irrelevant talking heads tell you how great and culturally relevant this album was'-approach is so played out. It should be about showing us rather than telling us. We need something like Get Back for MJ.
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Post by respect77 on Dec 3, 2023 9:29:18 GMT
I don't remember why some fans don't like him and I couldn't care less - he was entertaining and insightful.
He made some jerky remark about his looks in Black or White. I don't even think MJ looked bad in BoW, I actually think he looked great there, but Landis was bothered by his change of look since Thriller and made some comment on it. It was a jerk comment, but not enough for me to "cancel" him and want him to be banned from MJ projects. The director of this documentary said worse things in the past...
Quincy too made some jerk remarks, also about MJ, including as an artist ("he stole Billie Jean" and that kind of crap), but I still think it's a shame he doesn't get on these documentaries because he was an important part of these three albums. But then he should only be there if he could put aside his nasty, bitter old man persona for that. Otherwise a documentary like this wouldn't benefit from his presence.
And yes, it is a shame that Bruce wasn't even mentioned. I don't think he was. So Sonic Fantasy would be a great complementary to this doc as that one centers Bruce. I wish Marcos could get it on streaming platforms and this one would be on more streaming platforms as well, so people could play these docs back to back then to get the full picture. And while we are at that, it would also be high time to remaster Making of Thriller and upload it to streaming platforms as well. Or at least the official MJ YouTube channel. The fact that the most successful music documentary VHS of all time never get a re-release after the VHS era is pretty shocking.
Yes, I didn't mind the talking heads in this one. Some were unnecessary (like Brooke), but all in all the things they said were relevant - and it wasn't just "Thriller was the first album I bought at 10" kind of stuff. There was such talk as well, of course, but not just. I liked for example, the ballet dancer talking about MJ as a dancer. Those kind of things.
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Post by SmoothGangsta on Dec 3, 2023 9:51:08 GMT
Landis parts in this were genuinely good. The director still thinks MJ was a nonce so there's really a stain over this whole thing for me not even considering the doc itself.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2023 14:01:38 GMT
And yes, it is a shame that Bruce wasn't even mentioned. I don't think he was. So Sonic Fantasy would be a great complementary to this doc as that one centers Bruce. I wish Marcos could get it on streaming platforms and this one would be on more streaming platforms as well, so people could play these docs back to back then to get the full picture. And while we are at that, it would also be high time to remaster Making of Thriller and upload it to streaming platforms as well. Or at least the official MJ YouTube channel. The fact that the most successful music documentary VHS of all time never get a re-release after the VHS era is pretty shocking. He did get a mention thankfully, literally blink and you'll miss it but heads would have been called for if he was omitted. Sonic Fantasy missing the actual music is such a shame, but that documentary is the one for "us". It's really remarkable what Marcos did with what I can only imagine to be a miniscule budget. I's so good. Agreed about Making Michael Jackson's Thriller. It's genuinely good and I don't see any legal/material reasons why it can't be done. The version on archive.org is in great quality. I tried ripping my VHS the other week (testing my software) but my tape was so worn it didn't play great.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2023 22:28:46 GMT
Not one member of the Jackson family promoted this doc online. Interesting.
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Post by butterflies2 on Dec 3, 2023 22:36:57 GMT
Yeah cause they are against the estate
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Post by respect77 on Dec 4, 2023 4:21:58 GMT
Yeah cause they are against the estate Are they? Then why is Jaafar playing in an Estate backed movie?
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