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movie references in MJs music

Hot_Street

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This thread is about movie references in his music.
Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, Invincible and more.

As is known, Michael had plans to make his own movies at the time of Invincible. My question now is how these plans influenced the album.
Are there movie references?
 
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kai said:
how does anyone here know?
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just listen to the songs
For example the intro of Whatever Happens. It sounds like the music from Ennio Morricone, who composed music for western films.
 
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He had plans to make movies after invincible, in 03. I don't think he had any movie plans related to the album.
 
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SmoothGangsta said:
He had plans to make movies after invincible, in 03.
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you are wrong
this is from 2001:
Michael Jackson will be calling "action" in his new job as a Hollywood film-maker. The self-styled "king of pop" is set to make his directing debut alongside old pal Bryan Michael Stoller on a film about a lovelorn little boy. Entitled Home of the Angels, the film will shoot next May in Stoller's native Canada. However, the pair are still hunting for a studio to back the project.
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www.theguardian.com

Michael Jackson to direct first movie

The self-styled "king of pop" is set to make his directing debut with a film about a film about a lovelorn little boy
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Okay, I don't see what this has to do with the invincible album. Shower thought thread tbh.
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it's about collecting thoughts
Michael was about to start his directing career at the time of Invincible
Just open your mind.
What about Fall Again? Threatened? The intro of YRMW? Blue Gangsta?
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Okay, I don't see what this has to do with the invincible album.
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doesn't this sound like The Lost Children?
"It's a story of a boy about eight-years-old," explains Stoller, who previously directed such opuses as Undercover Angel and The Random Factor. "He finds himself in and out of orphanages. It's Stand By Me with a little bit of Oliver!... It's sort of all about growing up and who to trust, and [the boy] being afraid of trusting people because the people he cares about tend to go away. It's a pretty emotional piece." https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/14/news
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Hot_Street said:
As is known, Michael had plans to make his own movies at the time of Invincible. My question now is how these plans influenced the album.
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It appears that these film plans influenced his upcoming music videos (from the 'Invincible' album), rather than the album itself.

Apart from the full version of the 'You Rock My World' music video, he also planned his 'Unbreakable' music video with a film concept in his mind.
SmoothGangsta said:
He had plans to make movies after invincible, in 03. I don't think he had any movie plans related to the album.
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It was reported back then that Michael Jackson in 2002, just a few months after the release of his 'Invincible' album, he planned to enter the film business industry with the launch of his own independent film company called Neverland Pictures.
 
As much as Michael may have wanted to have a Hollywood type career , I highly doubt he would have been able to successfully launch movies etc.

Just like all those dodgy business deals in the late 90s, to build theme parks and big empires, it was just pie in the sky stuff.

Michael was mentally unwell in the 00s , I just don't think he had the capability to pull off stuff like this whilst battling his demons and addictions.
 
What about Rod Serling in Threatened?
What about Chris Tucker in YRMW?
What about Fall Again for the movie soundtrack?
What about the intro of Whatever Happens?
What about the plot of The Lost Children?
What about the 3D glasses in the intro of 2000 Watts?
Even Blue Gangsta sounds like it was made for a movie.
I see many movie references.
 
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I don’t understand your point. He has always used certain effects or storylines which are also present in cinema. What does any of this have to do with the Invincible period in particular though?

He has always been attracted to cinema and has been wanting to start a career in this business since the late 70s. Much of his work, including his music videos obviously, are cinematic.
 
dethorro said:
I don’t understand your point. He has always used certain effects or storylines which are also present in cinema. What does any of this have to do with the Invincible period in particular though?

He has always been attracted to cinema and has been wanting to start a career in this business since the late 70s. Much of his work, including his music videos obviously, are cinematic.
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true.
I thought there was more movie stuff on Invincible than on his other albums.
 
I don’t understand the thread especially not after reading the replies.

Based on the thread title I was going to add “you heard what the doctor said” in Morphine which is a line from ”the elephant man”
 
On the music side, I always thought Childhood and Smile and maybe Little Susie sound very "cinematic". Threatened too. (And maybe some versions of Blue Gangsta )

I can get why people consider Whatever Happens sounds like western movie music, I wouldn't have thought of Ennio Morricone in the first place, but that's close in style.

Other than this, I don't think that MJ's songs appearing in movie soundtrack really answer the question. And I'm not convinced than cinema influenced his music works more if he did have this plan to make his own movies, cinema is simply part of things people can refer to.
Maybe the fact the Free Willy 1/2 soundtracks were on "MJJ Productions/MJJ Music" and that he co-produced them is somewhat relevant.
 
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Yes, ‘cinematic’ is a trendy term that is applied to almost anything. But I do think that it could rightfully apply to certain aspects of Michael’s music, not the least to songs with sound effects. Michael loved those. The opening to Thriller is a good example. Tabloid Junkie. Stranger in Moscow. It’s pretty much everywhere in his music when you start to think about it.
 
the force in DSTYGE:
So that started me wondering – what does he mean by “the force”?
Joie: Willa, that is a really interesting observation. And because I am a little bit of a science fiction geek, I feel compelled to point out the obvious here and say that this album came out in the summer of 1979 and, just two years earlier in ’77, one of the greatest films of all time was released – Star Wars!
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dancingwiththeelephant.wordpress.com

The Force, It’s Got a Lot of Power

Willa: Last week, Joie and I treated ourselves to a really fun look back at Off the Wall. So of course I had to listen to “Don’t Stop til You Get Enough” over and over again &#82…
dancingwiththeelephant.wordpress.com dancingwiththeelephant.wordpress.com
 
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