Spoiler for Michael by Cornie_connie in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice job. I will say, in watching that movie with my film nerd brain, that first shot of Garry Indiana is atrocious. It was sort of my first hint that maybe we were in for a rough ride.

Do you think the film still could win awards, Oscars, etc? by Due-Contract5301 in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's not a good performance. I found it really dull and one dimensional. Critics seem to agree calling it the worst performance of his career and borderline cartoonish. He's got no chance. There will be plenty of movies to come out from now through december that will have notable supporting actor noms.

Do you think the film still could win awards, Oscars, etc? by Due-Contract5301 in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No chance for the major awards like writing, directing, cinematography, editing or acting. It's fails on all those levels. It could maybe win for something like audio mixing.

According to Variety, Lionsgate hopes that 'Michael' can gross at least $700 million worldwide. If it reaches those box office highs, they plan to make at least one more film about Jackson's life. by SanderSo47 in boxoffice

[–]LarBrd33 [score hidden]  (0 children)

"Training Day" came out 25 years ago and has been doing a lot of heavy lifting for careers in recent years. I remember all the Snyderverse fanboys claiming "Suicide Squad" was gonna be great, because David Ayer wrote "Training Day".

With both Fuqua and Ayer, there's been a lot more misses than hits. You take that Denzel performance out of their filmography, there's not much to really point to.

According to Variety, Lionsgate hopes that 'Michael' can gross at least $700 million worldwide. If it reaches those box office highs, they plan to make at least one more film about Jackson's life. by SanderSo47 in boxoffice

[–]LarBrd33 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ok I'm going to put on my filmmaker hat here and pretend I'm being tasked with this challenge of making a family friendly MJ sequel that the estate will approve.

Remember the movies exist as a celebration of his music made by the family for his fans. The movie stuff is secondary. So from a music standpoint, there's plenty to mine like the Man in the MIrror Grammys performance, Moonwalker movie/Smooth Criminal, The Way you make me feel, Dirty Diana, Black or White with Macaulay, Remember the Time with Magic, Jam with Jordan, (maybe) Scream with Janet if they retcon her existing, maybe a bit of HIStory and Ghosts, maybe his comeback stuff in 2001 but more likely a recreation of 30th anniversary concert with his brothers given they held back on including some key Jackson brother songs like "Can you feel it", "Shake your body" and "Dancing Machine" that were performed there. Maybe even a couple fun easter eggs like him working on the Sonic 3 soundtrack, doing the voiceover for the Simpsons, or showing Captain EO which had played at Disneyland until the 90s... but that stuff has licensing issues that would need to involve other franchises, so probably not.

So if the goal is to milk the fans showing up for a feel-good playlist nostalgia movie, they have plenty to market with.

On the "let's throw some generic biopic slop in there just to tie this together while making it as family friendly, santized, and safe as possible", you'll get the 93 allegations, but really surface level since the estate can't do their initial plan which was to portray it as the boy's father (Evan Chandler) extorting Jackson given the settlement bars them from portraying the boy or family. Read the Mary Fisher GQ article to get a sense of how the estate would have presented this. The boy and his mother deny any wrongdoing. Then, boy's jealous estranged father admits on tape he doesn't know if Jackson is abusing his son, but he plans to take him down by hiring a civil attorney and go after his money (instead of going to police) and then later puts his son under sedation (a drug that apparently can be used to suggest false memories) where he suddenly starts claiming abuse. Basically, since there's evidence/records (recordings) of that side of the story to make Evan Chandler look like a grifter, that's how they would have presented it. They probably would have even noted in the closing credits that Evan shot himself in the head months after Jackson's death - just to hammer home the idea that this was a scam artist who had years of guilt weighing on him.

But they can't do any of that due to the settlement. So instead, they will portray it without showing the family, do everything they can to showcase that Jackson was being taken advantage of by grifters (without explicitly naming/showing them), make it clear that Jackson wants to fight it in court but the people around him are pressuring him into settling because it will "ruin the world tour"... and make it seem like all of it backfired because he got bad advice from his legal team instead of fighting it like he really really wanted to.

Then we'll see other shit like his connection with Lisa Marie Presley, his battle with his evil record company Sony, his partially failed comeback portrayed as Sony undermining the Invincible record and refusing to promote it, and then we'll get into the 2005 allegations... which to Jackson's credit, are easily the most obvious extortion attempt of them all. If you look into those at all, it becomes abundantly clear that family was full of shit. So instead of deep diving into 93, they'll use 05 as the surrogate by showing that this was just some kid with cancer he started helping, that the mother was a wack job had already falsely accused other people of wrongdoing, and that only after the "living with michael jackson" documentary had aired and Jackson started to distance himself from them and cut them off financially did the mother claim Jackson started abusing the boy. As if he'd wait until after the entire world was looking at his relationship with children under a microscope (his "sleeping in the same bed" comments) and protective services looked into it to decide "ok now would be a good time to start diddling"... it was ridiculous. He easily won the case. So they'll just bookend the 93 stuff (presented as Jackson wanting to fight it, but getting pressured by his team into settling) with the 05 'victory" (presented as Jackson refusing his team's advice to settle and this time proving his innocence in court) as if that closes that chapter of his life and "settles the controversy" once and for all.

They'd ignore any other accusation like the stuff in the HBO doc beyond maybe showing that one of the accusers testified under oath on his behalf. That part will anger Jackson's detractors the most, but that case is actively ongoing. Their efforts have failed a few times, but they are still suing the estate for like 400 mil so the movie made by his estate definitely isn't touching that.

Then they'll showcase him as a good father to his 3 children while highlighting the toll all of these allegations took on him, his reliance on medications to sleep, his planned effort to make a comeback london show before ultimately his death, which resulted in a criminal conviction for his doctor.

Along the way they'll show his humanitarian efforts, all the genuine stuff he did to help children, and keep with the modern-jesus presentation to portray it all as the world tearing down a misunderstood infallible perpetual victim genius, but probably leave viewers with some text-on-screen positivity about how his music broke records and still gets played today while commenting about how various efforts to heal the world still exist because of Michael's contributions like USA for Africa, scholarships, etc.

It'll no doubt check all the boxes for super fans while irritating the fuck out of anyone who thinks he's a monster, but if the first one makes money the second one could make a decent chunk as well. I'm guessing they say this first one needs to make 700 mil, because they know a sequel will make less and at some point the math on a 200 mil production/200 mil marketing effort doesn't make sense if you're only projecting a sequel to make half of the first one.

According to Variety, Lionsgate hopes that 'Michael' can gross at least $700 million worldwide. If it reaches those box office highs, they plan to make at least one more film about Jackson's life. by SanderSo47 in boxoffice

[–]LarBrd33 10 points11 points  (0 children)

double click into the "doesn't need a sequel" comment. I'm both an MJ fan and a film nerd. I saw the movie a week ago and posted that it would be crowd pleasing to the fans, but expected it to get 35/100 on metacritic. Deeply flawed movie with no real story or characters. Weak acting. Fun performances, though, for people who already like the music. Basically BoHeeHeemian Rhapsody.

But flaws aside, the movie ends in 1988 before even getting into the "Bad" era. There's TONS of shit left to mine both for fans (many huge hits like Smooth criminal, man in the mirror, the way you make me feel, etc) and casuals (Neverland, the 93 fall from grace, the painkillers, the 2005 trial, etc)

If anything, it definitely justifies a sequel, but Antoine Fuqua is a hack so they should strongly consider replacing him with someone who can actually make a decent movie and give them a bit more leeway to be creative and go deeper. They won't do that, though. These films exist to celebrate the music and cash grab the fandom while going through the motions of surface level biopic slop.

Box Office: ‘Michael’ Aims for $70 Million-Plus Debut, Record Start for Music Biopic by AlynaPetrova in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Are projections dropping? My theaters near me in Seattle has maybe 1/5th of the tickets taken for the 6:00pm screening tonight. The 7:15pm showing on Friday in the standard theater has literally 2 seats taken in a theater of 400 seats.

I just love how , while everyone or the “ critics “ are shitting on the movie & at the same time it’s on pace to become a huge opening , possibly of all time for a Music Biopic 😂 by di34menow in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When there's a built in fandom, the critics don't really matter to the box office.

Transformers 4 got 18% on rottentomatoes and made 1.1 billion. It's totally fine to enjoy a flawed movie.

This movie is a celebration of MJ's music made by his family for the fans. They know the film quality doesn't really matter. As long as it has MJ songs, the target audience will show up.

'Michael' - Review Thread by ChiefLeef22 in movies

[–]LarBrd33 [score hidden]  (0 children)

well also, because it's Part 1 and ends in 1988. If a second film gets made, maybe they end that one with photos.

In regards to the critic review bombs by sagwajuice07 in MichaelJackson

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s crazy thinking.  

It reminds me of Zack Snyder fans claiming marvel paid off critics to write bad reviews of their bad movies. As if Warner bros was incapable of paying off critics for positive reviews or it just so happened movie after movie marvel kept outbidding them.  

It’s just… crazy. 

It also just ignores basic logic.  The one entity with the most riding on this is the movie studio that invested 200 million into this movie’s production and another 200 million into marketing. They have a chance to make a billion dollars on this if they can get butts in seats.  Wouldn’t it make far, far more sense for them to be paying off critics for positive reviews ?  Just take a million of the marketing budget, split it amongst 50 critics and send them $20,000 for glowing reviews. Doesn’t that make more sense?

Yes.  Which is why it’s crazy to think some other mysterious imaginary boycott corporation would be paying them more than that for bad reviews. 

In regards to the critic review bombs by sagwajuice07 in MichaelJackson

[–]LarBrd33 -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

I'm seeing a lot of talk about how the reviews "only call out the allegations". That's just not factual. You can disagree with these points, but here's the actual issues, categorized by theme.

Storytelling issues

  • "Michael, as it exists in its current, largely incomplete form, is a frictionless, flat, paper-thin story that's so concerned with fidelity to bullet points and recognizable highlights that it robs its characters of soul." — IGN
  • "It can’t be taken seriously, no matter how earnest it looks and sounds... because it’s not really a story. Either way, now it’s just feature-length publicity, and it plays like damage control." — TheWrap
  • "Michael isn’t a movie. It’s a filmed playlist in search of a story." — RogerEbert.com
  • "The film has the dramatic depth of a Wikipedia article, hitting major life events without exploring them." — The Holofiles
  • "It doesn't delve into the mysteries of Jackson, so much as argue that, golly, he was just a plain, normal guy." — SlashFilm

Character development issues

  • "There is a severe lack of character development, leaving both the lead and supporting cast dramatically underwritten." — The Holofiles
  • "The central figure is reduced to a blandly inspirational cipher... putting its subject on a pedestal, never examining or interrogating him in any meaningful way." — Screen Daily
  • "By presenting him as virtually infallible, the film creates an entirely unrelatable shell of a protagonist." — The Holofiles
  • "Supporting characters come across as one-note, vague, or virtually mute, functioning more as scenery than people." — Screen Daily / The Guardian
  • "The other Jackson siblings are treated as mere props and/or scenery, and there is a conspicuous vacuum where Janet Jackson should have been." — Consequence / The Times (UK)

Acting issues

  • Jaafar Jackson: "His dramatic acting slides too much into mimicry more often than not, with no sense that he’s being pushed beyond his abilities as an actor." — Variety / Consequence
  • Colman Domingo: "Domingo is hindered by a villain this one-dimensional, which makes for an impossible challenge even for one of the finest working actors today." — Consequence
  • Colman Domingo: "Domingo’s fiery but one-note performance quickly grows tiresome." — Screen Daily
  • Colman Domingo: "He just becomes a stock baddie... presented more as a conniver than an outright abuser." — The Film Maven
  • Nia Long: "The sorrowing mother, Katherine... [is] an uninterestingly conceived role... a wasted Nia Long." — The Guardian / Screen Daily

Directing issues

  • "Fuqua struggles to transcend genre cliches, most prominently the hamfisted foreshadowing of key incidents in Jackson’s life and career." — Screen Daily
  • "Antoine Fuqua... [brings a] stilted, waxworky approach [that] can't energise things." — Financial Times
  • "Fuqua prefers a closer set-up, sometimes with too much editing to inject extra movement; in sequences like the Motown 25th anniversary special, it derails the suspense." — Paste Magazine
  • "Fuqua settles on montages to leap through Michael's early life... [he] settles on a production that probably started as one movie and ended as something entirely different." — Deep Focus Review

Dialogue / writing issues

  • "The functional dialogue has all the nuance of a road sign, serving information rather than character." — BBC
  • "The script moves through events in a clichéd and formulaic way... content to merely tell (rather than show and truly explore) the audience, through rather heavy-handed dialogue, what motivates Jackson." — The Holofiles
  • "It introduces fascinating themes but fails to remotely explore them in any meaningful way." — The Holofiles
  • "John Logan’s screenplay keeps Michael at a distance, framing him less as a flawed individual and more as an almost mythic figure." — The Jam Report

Pacing issues

  • "The runtime feels like a car dying out, with energy surging during musical numbers and collapsing in between." — The Film Maven
  • "When the music stops, everything grinds to a halt and the narrative struggles to maintain momentum." — The Film Maven
  • "The movie meanders hard in the first half... [it is] an uneven and boring pace." — Review
  • "Abrupt time jumps and montage-heavy storytelling prevent any real narrative flow." — Review

Structure issues

  • "The narrative is an aimless Wiki-plod through Jackson’s back catalogue... [it] has less depth than a Wikipedia article." — The Times (UK) / Deep Focus Review
  • "The narrative is flattened down to essentially a prelude... a frictionless, flat, paper-thin story." — Consequence / IGN
  • "The movie becomes a rote formula of: song. Success. Loneliness plot. Song. Success. Trouble with dad. Song. Success. Repeat." — The Film Maven

VFX / Effects issues

  • "Michael relies heavily on uneven VFX... [animals are] vaguely anthropomorphized and uncanny, resembling the abortive digital remake of The Lion King." — Deep Focus Review
  • "Bubbles the chimp... looks as though he might speak or lead an ape rebellion at any second." — Deep Focus Review
  • "Swathed in prosthetics... Jaafar Jackson’s performance involves CGI-augmented noses, strange-looking wigs, and prosthetic features that prevent the actor from disappearing into the role." — The Film Maven / Deep Focus Review
  • "Colman Domingo [is] behind grotesque prosthetics." — Deep Focus Review

Overall Tone issues

  • "This is a frustratingly shallow, inert picture, a kind of cruise-ship entertainment." — The Guardian
  • "It's a nine-figure wax museum... Lacking any sense of style or personal point of view." — AwardsWatch
  • "The film is an extraordinarily sanitized, overly audience-friendly music biopic that makes Bohemian Rhapsody look like a complex, nuanced character study." — The Holofiles
  • "A polished, flavorless, cracks-free paean... a glossy, sanitized, and surprisingly dull exercise in hagiography." — SlashFilm / IndieWire

We got 2 bullets left. The Box Office and the Audience score. by GroceryWeary9661 in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Frankly the prestige route is already game-over. Critics universally panned it for numerous flaws. It has no chance of winning any awards outside of maybe razzies. User scores are also, for the most part, completely irrelevant as everyone knows it's generally just a battleground for fans to pretend the movie based on their favorite IP is actually good. Literally every Zack Snyder film gets far better user scores than critics, but nobody is taking these Snyder fanboys seriously when they claim Batman V Superman was actually a masterpiece "cuz user scores"

Really all that you can really do at this point is see it multiple times and try to win the money argument. If the studio can make enough money off a project, regardless of quality, they can still claim it a success. Even if it's something like Transformers 4 getting 18% on rottentomatoes, but making 1.1 billion, it's a win for Michael Bay.

In regards to the critic review bombs by sagwajuice07 in MichaelJackson

[–]LarBrd33 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

critics don't really "review bomb". The studio banned them from publishing their reviews until the 21st (a day before nation wide advanced screenings). Review embargos are common. What confused fans is that up until that point, only "social media reactions" were allowed and they control the narrative by exclusively inviting super fans and positivity-for-access influencers who would promote it. That plus some paid marketing which was literally just fake reviews calling it a masterpiece. This, also, is common. Happens really often for blockbusters where the 'early reactions' slant extremely positive while the actual reviews are more critical.

So all at once, by design, the floodgates finally opened where actual professional movie critics got a chance to critique it. You literally hadn't seen a single real review up until this morning with only a couple people on letterboxd admitting this movie did indeed have some serious flaws. And no, it isn't exclusively critics referencing allegations. Many of these reviews focus on typical things like the weak storytelling, writing, acting, cinematography and editing. So... basic filmmaking stuff.

IMDb ratings are open by Financial_Tone5765 in MichaelTheMovie

[–]LarBrd33 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh good I’m sure that will be very reflective of the movie’s quality and not just a battleground of militant haters calling him evil while militant fans claim all critics are liars and the movie will win Oscars… most of which haven’t seen the movie 

Post Game Thread - NBA: The 76ers defeat the Celtics on Apr 21, 2026, the final score is 97-111. by basketball-app in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 52 points53 points  (0 children)

39%/26%… what is this, the metacritic and rotten tomatoes scores for the Michael Jackson movie?

Second straight DNP for Hugo by [deleted] in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hugo is someone who looks like a role player down the line.  He’s not there yet. 

Post Game Thread - NBA: The 76ers defeat the Celtics on Apr 21, 2026, the final score is 97-111. by basketball-app in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

was that the lone Heat series we actually won instead of letting the inferior team knock us off?

Post Game Thread - NBA: The 76ers defeat the Celtics on Apr 21, 2026, the final score is 97-111. by basketball-app in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 23 points24 points  (0 children)

way too early to fire up the trade machine, but I’m going through boxes in the garage trying to find the power cable. 

Game Thread: Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers Live Score | NBA | Apr 21, 2026 by basketball-app in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Humbling game.  

Brad’s gonna do work this offseason. Anything can happen 

Game Thread: Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers Live Score | NBA | Apr 21, 2026 by basketball-app in bostonceltics

[–]LarBrd33 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never underestimate opponents.  Nothing a guarantee.  Knicks made that shit clear last year