Now In Theaters - This Is It

Earlier this year we lost one of the most influential performers of the past three or four generations when Michael Jackson passed away. You know a guy is meaningful when both your grandparents AND your teenage cousins idolize him. I have to admit when MJ passed, I was pretty torn up about it. My father grew up on young MJ and I grew up to the MJ that became a GLOBAL icon. Beyonce, Brittney, Timberlake, Chris Brown, Omarion, Usher... you name the pop star and they will tell you that Michael was a huge influence on them wanting to become musicians.

Before Michael's unfortunate passing, he was planning one final worldwide tour. The rehearsals and various other aspects of the planning phase of the tour were recorded at his request. He had hoped to have this as something to remember his final tour with. This film was made instead, and it is a WONDERFUL tribute to the legend. It opens up with some of the dancers giving their account on MJ and why they wanted to audition. Dancers flew from all over in order to have the opportunity to just be in front of the man they idolize so much. The emotion in there voices and how many of them were on the verge of tears when expressing their admiration for him was a very, very moving opening to a very emotional film.

Being a fan of MJ it was a pleasure to see the behind the scenes on how he creates his shows that have sold out arenas in so many different countries. he had no problem stopping things and letting everyone know that there needs to be just a small change here. In watching this film, it becomes so obvious that the man was a perfectionist. He demanded perfection of himself, so of course it would trickle down on those around him. From the dancers, to the musicians, to the backup singer all the way to the lighting crew!! And despite his desire for perfection and nothing less, he was not without praise when they got it right. He was quick to throw out a "God bless you" LOL. I especially loved how he wanted his performers to all be recognized. At various times throughout the show he wanted his supporting cast to really "ham it up" so to speak. There are a few times when he outright stops them and tells them, "this is your moment."

I cannot tell you how many times I sat there and said to myself, "This man is 50???" I am 30 and I can't imagine myself doing half the things that MJ was doing. And what is really impressive is that he wasn't even really going 100%. Often he wouldn't do all the moves or hit all the notes, but it was obvious that he wouldn't miss a beat when it came to show time. It was a few times that he went all out (and to be honest, I wouldn't be shocked if he still could have gone harder) and I was blown away. Even the other performers were looking at him with that "WOW" expression. You could read their minds. You just knew they were thinking "I'm 25 and having trouble keeping up with this 50 year old!!" It is just plain amazing how this man still glides across a stage.

There are several video cut sequences that were to be incorporated into show as well. Very impressive CG scenes and even a few 3D sequences were going to be used. I found myself wondering how much was the budget on this thing? They were doing green screen and CG that you see in big major motion pictures. I was thoroughly impressed!! It's hard for me to give this one a true rating. For one, this is my first time reviewing a documentary. Another reason is because I am just a huge fan of the artist. I mean, MJ could come out on stage and stand there for 10 minutes, do a spin move and leave and I would probably lose my mind. Anyone out there that is a fan of MJ should RUN out and see this. As a fan, I give this one a 9.75 out 10 easily. But if I try to put my MJ biased to the side and look at this from purely an artistic aspect I would still give it a very solid 8.5 out of 10. It was very well put together.

Now In Theaters - Couples Retreat

Here we go again with another "save my relationship" couples movie. Will these things ever get old? Well I guess not. Let me see if I can guess the plot... couple is having slight problems in relationship, he's not being sensitive to her needs, she isn't understanding his side of things, hour and a half of antics, both realize how much they love the other and want to start doing what it takes to make them happy. Do I have it? Well this one was pretty much the same type of thing... multiplied by four. The good thing is, Vince Vaughn is in it. Can't go wrong with this guy.

This one has an amazing cast. Both with the core members and as well as the supporting members at the island. Jean Reno gives a good performance as usual and Carlos Ponce steals the show as the Latin yoga instructor. Anyone in this cast is capable of making you laugh instantly. Only bad thing is, they really didn't do so as much as they should.

This movie comes to us with good ol' Jason Bateman, playing the role of Jason, asks his buddies to join he and his wife on a marriage saving getaway. After begging he convinces three other couples to tag along for a weekend in paradise. But of course, once they get to the island, it's not quite what they all expected. And of course, this is when the crazy antics begin. Everything from 6am relationship building classes, married men attempting to sneak over to the singles side of the island and of course Faizon Love doesn't wear underwear.

My only knock on this one is that there wasn't quite enough laughs. There were some laughs, and the funny parts they had were really funny. But with a cast like this I expected it to be a riot. It just seemed to leave me hanging a bit on the laughs. It wasn't a bad movie by any means, just not all it could've (and should've) been. Overall I would give this one a pretty solid 7 out of 10. Not something you need to rush out and see, but it's worthwhile.

Now In Theaters - The Box

I wasn't very excited to see this one, but there just isn't a lot of choices out there right now. This one definitely had the necessary star power to make good things happen. With a cast boasting Cameron Diaz, James Marsden (Cyclops from the 'X-Men' franchise) and Frank Langella (most recently Richard Nixon in 'Frost/Nixon') and directed/written by the man who gave us 'Donnie Darko'... you would think you have a formula for success on your hands. Well sadly, the cast was the only thing exciting about this one.

The story centers around a married couple in the mid 1970's. Both husband and wife are working full time, yet the couple is still making it. The husband, Arthur, is working at NASA and aspiring to be an astronaut. While the wife, Norma, is a teacher at the school their son attends. Amidst their financial struggles, the family receives a very peculiar package one morning. The package contains a box with a large red button. Later in our story, a very mysterious visitor (Langella) explains that the the couple will be paid a sum of one million dollars if one of them pushes the red button. The bad news... someone on earth, will die.

An interesting dilemma for the family that is living check to check. And this is where our movie turns drastically downhill. The entire film drug on very slowly. There was never a high point, or "climax" so to speak. There are more "what the heck is going on right now?" moments and often times the movie never connects loose ends. I remember being a young boy and watching 'The Pelican Brief' for the first time. I knew that after I watched it the first time that I would have see it again in order to fully understand it. After seeing this, I know for a 100% fact that I could watch it 5 more times and still not quite get it. And I know I'm not alone... as I stood outside the theater looking over the poster for the upcoming 'Shutter Island' an older gentleman walked by me shaking his head and said, "I have no idea what I just saw."

I honestly don't have a single good thing to say about this movie. It was slow, boring and just did not close the book on too many open subjects once the credits began to roll. There was no laughter, there was no action... why do we spend our hard earned dollars to be entertained? Oh I know, we are also entertained by suspense and mystery. I guess you would have to file this one under mystery, but I'm sorry, it just does NOT capture your interest. I got a mystery for you... how is it that a couple that is supposed to be struggling check to check has a nice new shiny Corvette and springs for a sitter to watch their son as they are out on the town catching shows and such? I have to give this one about a 4 out of 10. If this is your only choice of something to watch in the theaters, make it a Redbox night instead. Instead of spending 20+ bucks on this, buy 'Star Trek' when it comes out on DVD next week. LOL