What The **** Are We Saying?

Posted on Author Ryan McNeil

It pains me to be in this position today. I’m never “That Guy”, but I have to openly wonder:

THIS IS IT. What’s the big deal??

Just yesterday, I gave it a three out of four rating. However, coming up with that rating was actually quite difficult, since my first reaction was that it was an event that couldn’t be rated. It’s not a movie…not really…so how could I assign it a score that puts it in a league with THE WATCHMEN and PUBLIC ENEMIES?

Today I find myself annoyed. Annoyed because once I put up my review, I started looking around to see what others thought of it. Roger Ebert gave it four stars. Peter Travers gave it three and a half. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave it four. These are three critics I usually trust and agree with…but today I have to wonder if they are mixing the movie with the man.

I mean really??? We’re going to rank this concert film on the same plane as TRUTH OR DARE…as STOP MAKING SENSE…as WOODSTOCK??? It’s good, and worth seeing, but I would never call it a must-see. Does the passing of an icon really slant our collective judgment that far?

If this isn’t bad enough, I also have to shake my head at the Sony marketing machine. Headlines everywhere Monday morning blared about how THIS IS IT pulled in $100M worldwide. Read that again – worldwide. Usually North American media outlets report the domestic box office take, not the global receipts. Why the sudden shift in measuring stick? I’ll tell you why – at North American theatres, the film brought in $23M this weekend. Impressed? Me neither.

Let me put that into perspective, two weeks prior, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY pulled in $21M. For how much bigger a star Michael is, he should have beat that handily. heck, even the copy of Rolling Stone that arrived in my mailbox today predicted that the film would open to $40M to $50M. Of course, Sony has all the time in the world to make up the difference now, since they quickly abandoned their “Limited Two Week Run” strategy, and announced that it would play for at least five weeks.

I still say, that for any fan of Michael Jackson, this movie is not to be missed. However, for the world at large, the movie changes nothing.

In short, I have to believe that the same people who are praising it to no end, are the people who started endlessly playing Jackson’s music again, even though they hadn’t touched his tracks in over a decade.

8 Replies to “What The **** Are We Saying?”

  1. Short answer: yes. When someone whose music was so beloved by so many they automatically become untouchable. Dr. Parnassus could be the worst movie of all time and every review would be sure to note "But Ledger is amazing" or "Ledger gives a great farewell performance", etc. etc. and to be honest Ledger wasn't that famous. He went from an up and down performer with some great films, a few in the middle, and some bad ones to "the single greatest up and coming actor of our time."

    I don't know why but death of a performer skews everything they do into positive… This Is It is just riding the positive train.

  3. @ Univarn… I know nobody wants to trample on anyone's grave, but it feels strange to give nothing but praise because that person is gone.

    I know what you mean with Heath. Loved him as The Joker and in BROKEBACK, but wasn't nobody calling him one of the best actors of the generation when he was making THE BROTHERS GRIMM and CASANOVA.

    @ Rae… Um, wow!

    I know TII isn't eligible for the Best Doc Oscar because of how the nomination process is structured, but it's still open to every other category (except editing).

    If Oscar voters are really so blind as to make this the first doc ever nominated for Best Picture, I would officially give up on following The Academy Awards.

  4. Univarn is right when he says that death clouds our judgement. Not to knock The Dark Knight I know it has its [huge] fans but it is not lie that the death of Ledger gas engorged the public/critic's response to the film.

    That being said, at least it was an actual film. I don't buy the Oscar buzz though. Love Michael Jackson but that won't happen.

  5. @ Andrew… Interesting that you bring up TDK. I loved it despite the attention from Heath's death, not because of it. I thought the early calls for him to get an Oscar nomination/win were similarly out of proportion. I'm happy that he eventually got an Oscar, but I'd wager that he doesn't win for that role if he didn't die.

    I'm with you – I dig Michael, and like-but-didn't-love this movie. If it starts working it's way into the Oscar conversation i won't be impressed.

  6. Regarding star ratings, I know that Roger Ebert assigns his on a relative basis, and also that he HATES assigning star ratings. When he gives a film four stars, he's comparing it to other music documentaries, not to Citizen Kane. It extends beyond genre into film composition, theme and other areas as well.

    Even though I didn't like the film as much as he did, I think that's a good way of looking at ratings. If you are going to rate films, you should treat the ratings as relative and not absolute. The meat is in the explanation, as always.

  7. @ Joel… That's the thing though. When I compare it to the best rock docs of all time (THE LAST WALTZ, STOP MAKING SENSE, WOODSTOCK, TRUTH OR DARE)…THIS IS IT pales in comparison.

    It might be about as good as something like RATTLE AND HUM, which isn't what I'd call a four star concert film.

    Again – it's good. Just not "Four Star Rated Concert Film Good"

  8. This strikes me as being in the same vein as lashing out against comedies that receive high star ratings. I agree and disagree with this sentiment, and don't know if there is a way to reconcile it. I think the best way to consider it is to think of the rating as an "enjoyment-o-meter," even though it might sound wrong to say that you enjoyed Requiem for a Dream or some other mostly depressing flick.

    That said, I have no interest in watching a stick figure star in a "concert film" that feels much more like an advertisement for a tour that never happened.

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